Faber & Faber

The Lost Leader: Mick Imlah

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Synopsis:

‘No poet in Scotland now can take as his inspiration the folk impulse that created the ballads, the people’s songs, the legends of Mary Stuart and Prince Charlie,’ proposed Edwin Muir. Yet many of the poems in Mick Imlah’s new collection do take the most over-worn of Scottish myths as their apparent starting points, spanning the Wallace and the Bruce; the Bonnie Prince (pivotal Lost Leader of the title), Robert Burns and Walter Scott; whisky, Clydeside and football.

Imlah’s approach to this folklore is brilliantly fresh, a modern, sardonic but strongly-felt rendering of Scotland: from AD 500, by way of a guided tour of Iona, to yesterday at a Dumfries bus depot. And, as the chronicle reaches the twentieth century, the poems turn to friends and family - childhood reminiscences, elegies and celebrations - influenced still by sporting and military fantasy, the charm of history and the power of anachronism.

Tags:

Categorised as:

Poetry

Sub-categories:

Poetry Collections

Places:

Scotland

Genres & Themes:

Celebration; Childhood; Folklore; Identity

Awards & Prizes:

Forward Best Collection - Winner 2008; T.S. Eliot Prize - Shortlist 2008

Related Articles:

Mick Imlah Wins the Forward Prize for Best Collection; The Faber Forward Four - Poetry Shortlists Announced