Lmst

"Ennius we should worship as we do groves whose age has made them sacred, and whose huge and ancient trees have come to have more sanctity about them than beauty." #Scots #literature #history #epic #Bruce

Barbour / Pinkerton, Preface, p. xxiv. Ennium sicut sacros vetustate lucos adoremus, in quibus grandia et antiqua robora iam non tantam habent speciem quantam religionem.
Quintilian, The Orator's Education 10.1.88

"Perhaps the editor may be accused of nationality, when he says that, taking the total merits of this work together, he prefers it to the early exertions of even the Italian muse, to the melancholy sublimity of Dante, and the amorous quaintness of Petrarca" #Scots #literature #history #epic

" ... the oldest monument of the Scotish [sic] language. A monument which may well bear company with the best early poetry which any modern country can boast." p. x --- Preface, John Barbour's THE BRUCE #Scots #Scotland #literature #history #epic #archaic

19th century engraving showing what Robert the Bruce (1274-1329) might have looked like.

"The original MS. from it's orthography, appears to have been copied from one co-eval with the author; for the spelling is more barbaric, and uncouth" --- Preface, John Barbour's THE BRUCE, p. ix. #Scots #Scotland #literature #history #epic #archaic

John Barbour's THE BRUCE: "the poem now presented to the reader for the first time, in it's genuine ancient dress, has already gone thro' about twenty editions in Scotland since the year 1616" #Scots #Scotland #literature #history #epic #archaic

TITLE PAGE:
The Bruce
Or, The History of Robert I. King of Scotland · Volumes 1
By John Barbour, John Pinkerton · 1790

2 Feb 1566: Mary Queen of #Scots attends Candlemas Mass after which Lord Darnley, now her husband, is invested with the #French order of St Michel #otd (NTHardwick)

The Wigtown Poetry Prizes offer awards for poetry in all three of Scotland’s languages. The 2026 competitions are open for submission from today (2 Feb) until 6 May

https://www.wigtownpoetryprize.com/poetry-competition

#Scottish #literature #poetry #competition #writing #Gaidhlig #Gaelic #Scots #Scotslanguage

Wigtown Poetry Prizes

Founded in 2005, the Wigtown Poetry Prizes are some of the UK's best established writing competitions, offering awards in all three of Scotland’s languages with a prize pot of over £3000. The 2026 prizes mark 21 years of Wigtown Poetry Prizes and over £50,000 awarded to emerging and established poets.

The competition opens on 2 February and closes on 6 May 2026, with a prize-giving at Wigtown Book Festival in the autumn. We hope to see you there.

Wigtown International Prize: £1500
Runner-up: £200

Wigtown Scots Prize: £500
Runner-up: £200
Supported by Saltire Society

Wigtown Scottish Gaelic Prize: £500
Runner-up: £200
Supported by The Gaelic Books Council

Dumfries & Galloway Fresh Voice Award
Professional support including mentoring by Wigtown Festival Company and a retreat at Moniack Mhor Creative Writing Centre

Alastair Reid Pamphlet Prize
30 copies of a pamphlet of your work set by Gerry Cambridge
Supported by The Dark Horse Magazine

The haill clanjamfrie: What’s so braw aboot Scots
13 March, Royal Society of Edinburgh & online – free, ticketed

Through live readings of poetry & prose, alongside open conversation, this RSE Investigates event explores Scots as a powerful tool for creative expression & social commentary – with writers Len Pennie, Chris McQueer, & Michael Pedersen

https://rse.org.uk/event/the-haill-clanjamfrie-whats-so-braw-aboot-scots/

#Scottish #literature #Scots #Scotslanguage #writing #creativewriting

Today, 2 February, is Candlemas. As well as being a Christian holy day, it is one of the four Scottish Quarter Days, when rents were due.

The Scots poem “At Candlemas” by Marion Angus (1865–1946) is a typically unsentimental look at how swiftly youth turns to old age:

#Scottish #literature #poem #poetry #Candlemas #Scots #Scotslanguage #womenwriters #20thcentury #aging

At Candlemas
Marion Angus

Lang syne at Candlemas
At first cam o’ the mune,
I, a bit lassie,
Hame-gaun fae the toon,
Fell in wi’ a stranger
Frail as ony reed,
Wi’ a green mantle
Hapt aboot her heid.

Haste, I wad haste me,
The whinny road along,
Whinny, crookit road
Faur the grey ghaists gang.
Wi her een fu’ o’ spells,
Her broo runkled sair,
She micht weel be the witch
O’ the Braid Hill o’ Fare.

Here cams Candlemas,
A wan deein’ mune,
Eh! bit I’m weary.
Cauldrife wis the toon!

Yon’s a blythe bairnie
Soople as a reed,
Rinnin’ wi’ a hankey
Tied aboot her heid,
Hastin’, hastin’,
Limber-licht fit,
Doon the crookit road
Faur the grey moths flit.

Quo’ she, ‘Ye’r sma’-bookit,
Yer broo’s runkled sair,
Er’ ye the auld witch
O’ the Braid Hill o’ Fare?’

1 Feb 1587: due to illness Francis Walsingham is absent when Elizabeth I signs Mary Queen of #Scots death warrant at #Greenwich #otd No comment.

#FensterFreitag
Details from last week's Freitag post. Fine fenestration at #OvertounHouse a #Scots Baronial style country house near #Dumbarton #Scotland

Looking up to an ornate corbelled corner turret with a small window lined up with the corner of the walls below. The 'backbone' of a dead ivy frond once reaching for the turret, but disrupted below - all that remains is the inaccessible dead top part. In light grey stone and the sky behind is bleached out (but as I readily recall, it was a cloudy, very rainy day)

Ornate fixed-light window set in weathered light grey stone, bordered by protruding stone 'rope' detail. Four - lobed, the window is pointed at top and bottom, rounded to either side.

… and thank you for not being the person who asks why "Layout" and "Changes" are spelled funny in the image

#scots

Robert Burns in full flyting mode as he destroys a critic? #poetry #Scots #Scotland

RE: https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:vmd2oqboco524fhpqdu7pnbn/post/3mdbfhhd6os2o

26 Jan 1587: James VI makes a feeble appeal to Elizabeth I not to go ahead with the execution of his mother Mary Queen of #Scots #otd (NPG)

Ye Pow'rs, wha mak mankind your care,
And dish them out their bill o' fare,
Auld Scotland wants nae skinking ware
That jaups in luggies;
But, if ye wish her gratefu' prayer,
Gie her a haggis!

#BurnsNight #BurnsNicht #Scots #ScotsLanguage

Listen to Robert Burns, "A Man's A Man For A' That" #poetry #Scots #Scotland #BurnsNight "Lionel McClellend sings a man's a man for a' that- Robert Burns' ode to humanity" youtu.be/Gjr5boTgis4?...

Lionel McClellend sings a man'...

Listen to Robert Burns, "A Man's A Man For A' That" #poetry #Scots #Scotland #BurnsNight youtu.be/hudNoXsUj0o?...

A Man's A Man For A' That (Ope...

Listen to Robert Burns, "A Man's A Man For A' That" #poetry #Scots #Scotland #BurnsNight youtu.be/kSoxa8XpJ84?...

The Corries --- A Man's A Man

Listen to Robert Burns, "A Man's A Man For A' That" #poetry #Scots #Scotland #BurnsNight youtu.be/GPeAjhXWJvI?...

Ryan Joseph Burns - A Man's A ...