'Delightful offerings of daily life'

 

Anybody who writes doesn't like to be misunderstood.” – Norman MacCaig

 

Born in Scotland on this date in 1910, MacCaig was a highly regarded teacher and poet whose writing was known for its humor, simplicity of language and easy understandability.   Despite that, his first book, Far Cry, published in 1943, was considered difficult to read.  So he listened to his critics and adopted a free verse style that was clear-cut and filled with humor.

 

At the time of his death in 1996, fellow writer Ted Hughes wrote about MacCaig that, “Whenever I meet his poems, I'm always struck by their undated freshness; everything about them is alive, as new and essential, as ever.”  

 

For enjoyable poetic reads from his 5 decades of writing, check out A Common Grace, A Man in My Position, and Ordinary Day, each presenting delightful offerings of daily life, people and the world.

 

“All I write about is what's happened to me and to people I know,” MacCaig wrote.  “The better I know them, the more likely they are to be written about.”