MacCaig, Norman Alexander (1910-1996: primary school teacher and poet)

Norman Alexander MacCaig ( 1910-1996 ), poet, was born in Edinburgh and educated at the Royal High School and the University of Edinburgh where he studied classics. His father was a chemist and his mother was born in Scalpay, Harris, Scotland. MacCaig was a dedicated primary school teacher for almost 40 years. His two anthologies Far Cry ( 1943 ) and The Inward Eye were said to put him in the New Apocalypse school but he later disowned these poems when his Collected Poems were published in 1985 . Other collections include: The Sinai Sort ( 1957 ), A Round of Applause ( 1962 ), Measures ( 1965 ), A Man In My Position ( 1969 ), The White Bird ( 1973 ), The Equal Skies ( 1980 ), A World of Difference ( 1963 ), Voice-Over ( 1988 ) and Collected Poems (new ed, 1990 ). He was the first fellow in creative writing at the University of Edinburgh ( 1967-1969 ) and (after retiring from school-teaching) lectured in English Studies at the University of Stirling ( 1970-1979 ). He was awarded the Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry in 1986 .

From the guide to the Papers of Norman Alexander MacCaig, 1910-1996, primary school teacher and poet, 1971-1992, (Stirling University Library)