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Hugh MacDiarmid's particular brand of patriotism was absolute and critical at the same time. As a writer who achieved some celebrity status during his lifetime, he took his own responsibility for the advancement of Scottish culture to heart. "I am Scotland itself today ... Scotland will shine like the sun in my song." MacDiarmid was the first son of James and Elizabeth Grieve. He was born on August 11, 1892, in Langholm, where his father worked as a postman. His given names, Christopher Murray, were for his father's mother, Christina Murray. Christopher's younger brother Andrew was an outdoors lad, in contrast to the bookish Christie.
Poetry had been one of MacDiarmid's passions since boyhood; in addition to his poetry, he books and essays on a variety of topics. He published over 30 books in his lifetime, from poetry to politics to whiskey. Like Robert Burns and Sir Walter Scott before him, MacDiarmid's work was interested in defining his culture. He became "a sort of enfant terrible of the Scots literary and political scene," according to Sheila Douglas of Heartland Radio in Pitlochry. Essays by the poet urged Scots to be more politically conscious, to teach Scots literature and the Gaelic language in schools, and to become more revolutionary than the SNP, a party he had helped form but from which he was later expelled. While an active advocate of Scottish culture, MacDiarmid was also critical of his country's provincialism. Alan Bold comments, "Politically, MacDiarmid was a Nationalist with a poor opinion of the nation he lived in." Hugh MacDiarmid was married twice and had three children, Christine and Walter with his first wife, Peggy, and Michael with his second wife, Valda. MacDiarmid died of cancer on 9 September, 1978, in Chalmers Hospital, Edinburgh. "With a few friends we retired for a private party at the Station Hotel. Much drink was taken, the mood was relaxed, the conversation was inconsequential. Suddenly MacDiarmid said he wanted to say something. He stood up and launched into an eloquent speech about the cultural claims of the Gaelic language. Had he been given the opportunity, he said, he would have written his poetry in Gaelic. The convivial Chris Grieve had become the forceful MacDiarmid, self-conscious of his destiny as the poetic voice of the nation. He was never complacent, he always felt there were urgent challenges. Although he had revitalized the Scots language through his lyrics and achieved artistic immortality with A Drunk Man Looks at the Thistle, he was not about to rest on his laurels." -- Alan Bold, friend of MacDiarmid, MacDiarmid: Christopher Murray Grieve, A Critical Biography. Source: Bold, Alan: MacDiarmid: Christopher Murray Grieve, A Critical Biography, 1988. Books by Hugh MacDiarmid:
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MacDiarmid was a journalist before going to serve in World War I. He later became a town councilor in Montrose, and then a Justice of the Peace. In the mid-twenties, he began publishing a literary magazine, The Scottish Chapbook, and adopted the pen name which would become famous.
