Notes on Iona Hostel Poems

The Iona blogeen started out as a small memory fragment and then I was overwhelmed with all the history I wanted to include. Hence, the "Under Construction" sign. Will I ever got back to it?

As I researched Iona, I later found out that St Columba is the Patron Saint of poets, the reason why all those laminated poems were stapled to the undersides of our bunks at the hostel. Now, how did I miss that crucial bit of information?

The 12 posted poets/poems (there were more) I managed to record with my camera were:

The Bloody Orkneys, Anon (penned by a bored naval officer, Hamish Blair stationed there during the War)
Whitby-sur-Moyola, Seamus Heaney
The Eemis Stane, and The Bonnie Broukit Bairn, Hugh MacDiarmid
Can I fly Too?, Philip Hobsbaum
Evening, H. D.
Intrusion of the Human; An Ordinary Day; and Wild Oats, Norman MacCaig
The Bride, Tom Scott
The Tree, Maureen Sangster
The Voyeur, Tom Leonard
The Moment, Kathleen Raine

There were many more poems...and so little time. I was in hog heaven, at the hostel at the end of the island. Poems, twilight, and the white sand shore.

Outside the front door of the hostel, on the hill was a stone carved with a verse about being still that I forgot to take a photo of. I wish I had it now.

I looked up the poets on the internet and most seem to be either from the West of Scotland (writing in Scots dialects, primarily of the beauty of untrammeled nature), or they lived in the West of Scotland.

I found that many of these early to mid- 20th c. poets were associated with Philip Hobsbaum's literary school, "The Group," including Seamus Heaney. I do remember Seamus mentioning Hobsbaum and "The Group" as being central to his writing style.

And some of the selected poets were friends of Hugh MacDiarmid (Christopher Murray Grieve) or Louis MacNeice. Some are associated with the Universities of Edinburgh or Glasgow.

Anti-Scottish Romanticism seems to be a core element, as is Scottish Modernist/ Nationalism. Of course, Heaney and H.D. aren't Scottish... H.D. and Norman MacCaig write in an imagist free verse style, closest to my own work.

I couldn't find "The Tree", or Maureen Sangster anywhere on the internet. If anyone has information, it's be much appreciated.

My low-light photos of the poems are very poor, I was able to find several poems online. Maybe I will write a blog on them later. Meanwhile, this entry will serve to identify the poems. If anyone else has any info on the poems or other poems hot listed, please drop me a line.