Alan Jackson (born 1938) is a Scottish

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral or writte ...

Early life and education

He was born in

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

in 1938, to Scottish parents who returned to

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

in 1940. He attended the Royal High School in Edinburgh (1952–56) and

Edinburgh University The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 1582 ...

(1956–59).

Reading career

He began a reading career on

Edinburgh Festival __NOTOC__ This is a list of arts and cultural festivals regularly taking place in Edinburgh, Scotland. The city has become known for its festivals since the establishment in 1947 of the Edinburgh International Festival and the Edinburgh Fe ...

fringe in 1960, with the London poets Pete Brown, Mike Horovitz and Libby Houston. In 1965 Jackson founded the yearly series of readings during the Edinburgh Festival in the

Traverse Theatre The Traverse Theatre is a theatre in Edinburgh, Scotland. It was founded in 1963 by John Calder, John Malcolm, Jim Haynes and Richard Demarco. The Traverse Theatre company commissions and develops new plays or adaptations from contemporary pla ...

(with Tony Jackson, no relation). These readings became a platform for the Liverpool poets

Brian Patten Brian Patten (born 7 February 1946) is an English poet and author. He came to prominence in the 1960s as one of the Liverpool poets, and writes primarily lyrical poetry about human relationships. His famous works include "Little Johnny's Confessi ...

Adrian Henri Adrian Henri (10 April 1932 – 20 December 2000) was a British poet and painter best remembered as the founder of poetry-rock group the Liverpool Scene and as one of three poets in the best-selling anthology '' The Mersey Sound'', along with ...

and

Roger McGough Roger Joseph McGough (; born 9 November 1937) is an English poet, performance poet, broadcaster, children's author and playwright. He presents the BBC Radio 4 programme '' Poetry Please'', as well as performing his own poetry. McGough was one ...

and for the older Scottish poets Edwin Morgan,

Robert Garioch Robert Garioch Sutherland (9 May 1909 – 26 April 1981) was a Scottish poet and translator. His poetry was written almost exclusively in the Scots language, he was a key member in the literary revival of the language in the mid-20th century ...

and Norman McCaig.

Hamish Henderson Hamish Scott Henderson (11 November 1919 – 9 March 2002) was a Scottish poet, songwriter, communist, intellectual and soldier. He was a catalyst for the folk revival in Scotland. He was also an accomplished folk song collector and disc ...

brought folk singers Pentangle played there, as did

The Scaffold The Scaffold were a comedy, poetry and music trio from Liverpool, England, consisting of musical performer Mike McGear (real name Peter Michael McCartney, the brother of Paul McCartney), poet Roger McGough and comic entertainer John Gorman. ...

. Poets such as

Pete Morgan Colin Peter Morgan (7 July 1939 – 5 July 2010)Miles SalteObituary: Pete Morgan ''The Guardian'', 15 July 2010, retrieved 7 August 2010 was a British poet, lyricist and television documentary author and presenter. Born in Leigh, Lancashire, ...

and Pete Roche (editor of the influential 1967 anthology '' Love Love Love: The New Love Poetry'') first appeared at these Traverse readings. Jackson went on from this time till the early 1970s to give hundreds of readings throughout Britain, often solo, but mostly with Patten, Mitchell, Morgan, Houston and others of the poets mentioned above. In 1973, Jackson announced that he was retiring from the "reading scene". The time had come he said "to obey the poetry", rather than merely purveying it to others. This move of Jackson’s only makes sense when it is considered that his poetry had never been one of nature description or social anecdote, but had themes of self-inquisition and self-undoing. ''Heart of the Sun'' (published in 1986 by Open Township) has a long introduction entitled "Reasons for the Work", describing his poetic evolution through the years since the decision to "retire". Jackson had always had considerable philosophical and historical interests and a main feature of the introduction is his account of how experiences of his own led him to the work of

Rudolf Steiner Rudolf Joseph Lorenz Steiner (27 or 25 February 1861 – 30 March 1925) was an Austrian occultist, social reformer, architect, esotericist, and claimed clairvoyant. Steiner gained initial recognition at the end of the nineteenth century as a ...

, the Austrian Christian initiate. This new phase in Jackson’s life led to the writing of short ''stories'', in italics because they are not so much realist, but have something of the nature of

myth Myth is a folklore genre consisting of Narrative, narratives that play a fundamental role in a society, such as foundational tales or Origin myth, origin myths. Since "myth" is widely used to imply that a story is not Objectivity (philosophy), ...

and

fable Fable is a literary genre: a succinct fictional story, in prose or verse, that features animals, legendary creatures, plants, inanimate objects, or forces of nature that are anthropomorphized, and that illustrates or leads to a particular mo ...

. He was also writing ideas pieces, investigating and expressing "the spirit forces" at work in our time.

Publications

self-published Self-publishing is the publication of media by its author at their own cost, without the involvement of a publisher. The term usually refers to written media, such as books and magazines, either as an ebook or as a physical copy using POD (pri ...

''Underwater Wedding'' in 1961. In 1968, he was published in ''Penguin Modern Poets 12'', and in 1969 by the avant garde

Fulcrum Press Fulcrum Press (1965 – 1974)
quoting Rathna Ramanathan, "English little presses, book desig ...

(publishers of

Ed Dorn Edward Merton Dorn (April 2, 1929 – December 10, 1999, aged 70) was an American poet and teacher often associated with the Black Mountain poets. His most famous work is '' ''Gunslinger'. Overview Dorn was born in Villa Grove, Illinois. ...

and

Gary Snyder Gary Snyder (born May 8, 1930) is an American poet, essayist, lecturer, and environmental activist. His early poetry has been associated with the Beat Generation and the San Francisco Renaissance and he has been described as the "poet laureate of ...

). In June 1971 the whole issue of''

Lines Review ''Lines Review'' was a Scottish poetry journal founded by the publisher Callum Macdonald in 1952. Its original editorial board included the Scottish poets Sydney Goodsir Smith, Hugh MacDiarmid, Norman MacCaig, Sorley MacLean and Denis Peploe. ...

'' 37, the Scottish literary magazine, was devoted to Jackson's essay "The Knitted Claymore", which expressed his conviction that rising nationalist sentiment in Scotland was infiltrating and distorting the realm of literature. As could be expected, the essay was widely welcomed and widely attacked.

Recognition

Jackson's short poem "Young Politician" is to be found carved in the outer wall of the new Scottish Parliament along with quotations from

Robert Burns Robert Burns (25 January 175921 July 1796), also known familiarly as Rabbie Burns, was a Scottish poet and lyricist. He is widely regarded as the national poet of Scotland and is celebrated worldwide. He is the best known of the poets who hav ...

Walter Scott Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832), was a Scottish novelist, poet, playwright and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European and Scottish literature, notably the novels ''Ivanhoe'', ''Rob Roy (n ...

Robert Louis Stevenson Robert Louis Stevenson (born Robert Lewis Balfour Stevenson; 13 November 1850 – 3 December 1894) was a Scottish novelist, essayist, poet and travel writer. He is best known for works such as ''Treasure Island'', ''Strange Case of Dr Jekyll a ...

and

Hugh MacDiarmid Christopher Murray Grieve (11 August 1892 – 9 September 1978), best known by his pen name Hugh MacDiarmid (), was a Scottish poet, journalist, essayist and political figure. He is considered one of the principal forces behind the Scottish Rena ...

Selected bibliography

* ''Underwater Wedding'', 1961 * ''Sixpenny poems'', 1962 * ''Well Ye Ken Noo'', 1963 * ''All Fall Down'', 1963 * ''The Worstest Beast'', 1965 * ''Penguin Modern Poets #12'', 1968 * ''The Grim Wayfarer'' (Fulcrum Press), 1969 * ''The Knitted Claymore'' (Lines Review), 1971 * ''Idiots Are Freelance'', 1973 * ''The Guardians Arrive'', 1978 * ''Star Child'', 1984 * ''To Stand Against The Wind'', 1985 * ''Heart Of The Sun'', 1986 * ''Light Hearts'', 1987 * ''Salutations (Collected Poems)'', Polygon, 1990 * ''Dear Avalanche'', 1996

References

* www.spl.org.uk search online catalogue (Scottish Poetry Library) * ''International Who's Who of Authors and Writers'' 2004 {{DEFAULTSORT:Jackson, Alan 1938 births Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Living people Scottish poets