Norman MacCaig
Norman MacCaig
Norman Alexander MacCaig OBEwas a Scottish poet and teacher. His poetry, in modern English, is known for its humour, simplicity of language and great popularity...
NationalityScottish
ProfessionPoet
Date of Birth14 November 1910
writing mean thinking
I never think about poetry except when I'm writing it. I mean my poetry.
writing misunderstood
Anybody who writes doesn't like to be misunderstood.
writing people happened
All I write about is what's happened to me and to people I know, and the better I know them, the more likely they are to be written about.
real writing men
In some ways I'm a reticent man, and for quite a number of years there wasn't very much of my real true deep feelings in my writing.
books might
There are books up there I haven't read for many years but I wouldn't put them out. I never know when I might want to read them again.
rivers borders fish-tanks
I used to fish the Border rivers, but nowadays you have to queue up for a shot and I can't stand that.
nature love-is hills
I'm very gregarious, but I love being in the hills on my own.
eye thinking names
And some poets are far better read off the page because they're very bad speakers. I'm thinking of one in particular whom I won't name, a good poet, and he reads in such a dry, boring way, your eyes start drooping.
true-love nice book
But I hang on to books. I love them. I even think they're very nice decor in a room - far better than paintings... That's not quite true!
sex character play
If I wrote a play with four characters every single one of them would talk like me regardless of age or sex.
mimicry invention said
I said I have no powers of invention. Well, I also have no powers of mimicry.
boys great-love lasts
I used to have a great love for Dostoyevsky and Tolstoy, the big boys of the last century.
light literature chuck
Well, I'm a light traveller. I chuck things away.
breathing conversation persons
It's like breathing in and out to me. It's like having a conversation with someone who isn't there. Because it has to be addressed to somebody - not a particular person, or very rarely.