cover image The New Penguin Book of Scottish Verse

The New Penguin Book of Scottish Verse

. Allen Lane, $35 (554pp) ISBN 978-0-7139-9238-0

With power having devolved to its parliament, Scotland is more a nation now that it has been since its formal union with the English crown in 1707. Taking readers from sixth century bards St. Columba and Aneirin through King James I, Robbie Burns and Sir Walter Scott to Carol Ann Duffy and Meg Bateman, The New Penguin Book of Scottish Verse covers a 1,500-year, multilingual (Latin, Scots, Gaelic, English) tradition, with poems published in their original languages, along with English verse translations where necessary. St. Andrews University professor of Modern Scottish literature Robert Crawford (Spirit Machines) and Times Literary Supplement poetry editor Mick Imlah (Birthmarks) made the selections. ( June 1)