Alan Bold
Encyclopedia
Alan Norman Bold was a Scottish
poet
, biographer and journalist.
He edited Hugh MacDiarmid
's Letters and wrote the influential biography MacDiarmid. Bold had acquainted himself with MacDiarmid in 1963 while still an English Literature student at Edinburgh University. His debut work, Society Inebrious was published in 1965 during Bold's final university year. It contains a lengthy introduction by MacDiarmid which is only partly relevant to Bold's poetry. This early publication kick-started a prolific poetic career with Bold publishing another three books of verse before the end of the decade, including the ambitious book-length poem The State of the Nation.
Bold also edited The Penguin Book of Socialist Verse (1970) and published a biography of Robert Burns
.
A lifelong heavy drinker who dealt with the boozy life of the poet in such collections as A Pint of Bitter, Alan Bold suffered a heart attack in early 1998 and died in a hospital in Kirkcaldy
at the age of 54.
Scottish people
The Scottish people , or Scots, are a nation and ethnic group native to Scotland. Historically they emerged from an amalgamation of the Picts and Gaels, incorporating neighbouring Britons to the south as well as invading Germanic peoples such as the Anglo-Saxons and the Norse.In modern use,...
poet
Poet
A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
, biographer and journalist.
He edited Hugh MacDiarmid
Hugh MacDiarmid
Hugh MacDiarmid is the pen name of Christopher Murray Grieve , a significant Scottish poet of the 20th century. He was instrumental in creating a Scottish version of modernism and was a leading light in the Scottish Renaissance of the 20th century...
's Letters and wrote the influential biography MacDiarmid. Bold had acquainted himself with MacDiarmid in 1963 while still an English Literature student at Edinburgh University. His debut work, Society Inebrious was published in 1965 during Bold's final university year. It contains a lengthy introduction by MacDiarmid which is only partly relevant to Bold's poetry. This early publication kick-started a prolific poetic career with Bold publishing another three books of verse before the end of the decade, including the ambitious book-length poem The State of the Nation.
Bold also edited The Penguin Book of Socialist Verse (1970) and published a biography of Robert Burns
Robert Burns
Robert Burns was a Scottish poet and a lyricist. He is widely regarded as the national poet of Scotland, and is celebrated worldwide...
.
A lifelong heavy drinker who dealt with the boozy life of the poet in such collections as A Pint of Bitter, Alan Bold suffered a heart attack in early 1998 and died in a hospital in Kirkcaldy
Kirkcaldy
Kirkcaldy is a town and former royal burgh in Fife, on the east coast of Scotland. The town lies on a shallow bay on the northern shore of the Firth of Forth; SSE of Glenrothes, ENE of Dunfermline, WSW of Dundee and NNE of Edinburgh...
at the age of 54.
Poetry
- Society Inebrious Mowat Hamilton, Edinburgh 1965
- To Find the New Chatto and Windus, London 1967
- A Perpetual Motion Machine Chatto and Windus, London 1969
- The State of the Nation Chatto and Windus, London 1969
- A Pint of Bitter Chatto and Windus, 1971
- East Is West" a novel, Keith Murray Publishing, 1991
Other
- Letters of Hugh McDiarmid (edited)
- The Penguin Book of Socialist Verse
- Biography of Robert Burns, Pitkin Pictorials Ltd, 1973. SBN 85372 167 x 173/40