Edwin Morgan's Adventures in Calamerica

Scottish poetry is traditionally proud of its internationalist outlook: of seeing itself in relation to world, rather than English, literature. This tendency is epitomized in the poetry of Edwin Morgan--Scotland's major living poet, but one whose writing is still not only underestimated but also under-examined. ¹ Morgan is also renowned as a translator--from Russian, Hungarian, German, French, Spanish, Italian, and Old English--and all these literatures have fed into his poetry. ² Without minimizing these influences on his work, I want in this essay to focus on the importance of American culture (in the broadest sense) for Morgan's poetry, and in particular on his rewriting of the modernist city poem. In order to understand this process, I will argue, it is also necessary to consider Morgan as a critic, and this essay will look at parallels between his conception of the writerly "resources" of Scotland and early-twentieth-century American modernist thoughts on the subject of national resources.

I. "Our bigtime dream place"

The distinct links between Scottish and American writing have long been acknowledged. Andrew Hook's Scotland and America, for example, examines "the impact upon America of the literary and intellectual movement which distinguished Scotland in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries," while Susan Manning argues that Calvinism provides the link between what she sees as two comparable versions of "the puritan-provincial vision" in nineteenth-century literature. ³

In the twentieth century, the Americo-Scottish link continues, but as in all facets of the transatlantic relationship, the direction of the influence seems to have been largely reversed. ⁴ Indeed, there is a certain irony in the fact that twentieth-century Scots look to America for guidance on literary content and form, given that nineteenth-century Americans had looked to Scotland--more particularly, in the earlier part of the century, to Scott. ⁵ By the second half of the twentieth century, as Gordon Williams puts it in the poem that prefaces his going-to-America novel, Walk Don't Walk (1972), there is no doubt that "America was our bigtime dream place." When his protagonist arrives in New York, he is surprised to feel disoriented, for "this was not a foreign country. . ., this was America and he had lived around here for the better part of his life." ⁶

The widespread Scottish feeling of living in an offshore state seems particularly strong in the west coast city of Glasgow. Indeed, according to Liz Lochhead, one of many poets writing today who acknowledge Morgan's enabling influence, "Glaswegians tend to think they're American." ⁷ Morgan himself provides both a geographical and an ideological "explanation":

Glasgow and the West of Scotland face America--Edinburgh faces Europe--and there was always a huge amount of trade between Glasgow and the United States. I think you're aware of that in Glasgow--that historical and geographical thing. But also there's the fact that Glasgow put up a great number of high rise buildings in the 1960s--Edinburgh had much less of that, hardly any of it in fact--and to some extent the changing city then with these often quite large blocks (over 30 stories) gave it the look of an American city. Not one of the very big American cities, but something of the look of an American city. That's one thing--the buildings. And what else? I think there's maybe something of the spirit of Glasgow that has something American about it--a kind of "do it" spirit. You put up things and you maybe regret it, but you've done it anyway. You maybe pull them down ten years later but there's a go-getting spirit in Glasgow, which is probably something like the American spirit. Edinburgh is much more conservative and traditional-minded in that sense, whereas in Glasgow if you're going to make mistakes, make them big mistakes, then recover and do something else...