Sydney Goodsir Smith

Sydney Goodsir Smith (26 October 1915 – 15 January 1975) was a New Zealand-born Scottish poet, artist, dramatist and novelist. He wrote poetry in literary Scots often referred to as Lallans (Lowlands dialect), and was a major figure of the Scottish Renaissance.

Sydney Goodsir Smith
Born26 October 1915
Wellington, New Zealand
Died15 January 1975 (1975-01-16) (aged 59)
Edinburgh, Scotland
NationalityNew Zealand

Life

He was born in Wellington, New Zealand, the son of Catherine Goodsir Gelenick and Sydney Smith, a pioneer in forensic science who later became a Regius Professor in forensic medicine at the University of Edinburgh. [1]

He moved to Edinburgh with his family in 1928.[2] He was educated at Malvern College. He went to the University of Edinburgh to study medicine, but abandoned that, and started to study history at Oriel College, Oxford; whence he was expelled, but managed to complete a degree. He also claimed to have studied art in Italy, wine in France and mountains in Bavaria.[3]

His first poetry collection of many, Skail Wind, was published in 1941. Carotid Cornucopius (1947) was a comic novel about Edinburgh. His A Short Introduction to Scottish Literature, based on four broadcast talks, was published in 1951.[4] His play The Wallace formed part of the 1960 Edinburgh Festival.

Smith was also associated with the editorial board for the Lines Review magazine.[5][6]

Under the Eildon tree (1948), a long poem in 24 parts, is considered by many his finest work;[2] The Grace of God and the Meth-Drinker is a much-anthologised poem. Kynd Kittock's land (1964) was a commission of a poem to be televised by the BBC.

He died in the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh[5] after a heart attack outside a newsagents on Dundas Street in Edinburgh, and was buried in Dean Cemetery in the northern 20th century section, towards the north-west. His wife, Hazel Williamson, lies with him.

Memorials

He is commemorated by a "pavement poem" in the "Makars' Court" a section of James Court off the Lawnmarket on the Royal Mile.

Works
  • Skail Wind - poems, Edinburgh, The Chalmers press, 1941
  • The Wanderer, and other poems, Edinburgh, Oliver and Boyd, 1943
  • The Deevil’s Waltz, Glasgow, W. MacLellan, 1946
  • Selected Poems, Edinburgh, published for The Saltire Society by Oliver and Boyd, 1947
  • A Short Introduction to Scottish Literature, Serif Books, 1951
  • So Late into the Night - fifty lyrics, 1944-1948, with a preface by Edith Sitwell, London, P. Russell, 1952
  • Robert Ferguson, 1750-1774, Edinburgh, Nelson, 1952
  • Orpheus and Eurydice - a dramatic poem, Edinburgh, M. Macdonald, 1955
  • Figs and Thistles, Edinburgh, Oliver and Boyd, 1959
  • The Wallace, a triumph in five acts, Edinburgh, Oliver and Boyd, 1960
  • Carotid Cornucopius, caird of the Cannon Gait and voyeur of the Outlook Touer, Edinburgh, M. Macdonald, 1964
  • Kynd Kittock’s land, Edinburgh, M. Macdonald, 1965
  • Fifteen Poems and a Play, Edinburgh, Southside, 1969
  • Collected Poems, 1941-1975, with an introduction by Hugh McDiarmid, London, John Calder, 1975
  • The Drawings of Sydney Goodsir Smith, poet, collected by Ian Begg, edited by Joy Hendry, Edinburgh, Chapman Press, on behalf of The New Auk Society, 1998
  • A Publisher of the Nineties (Leonard Smithers) in The Holiday Book. 1946 (Ed. by John Singer).

As editor:

  • Robert Fergusson, 1750–1774: essays by various hands (Edinburgh: Nelson, 1952)
  • Gavin Douglas: a selection from his poetry (Edinburgh: Oliver & Boyd, 1959)
  • The Merry Muses of Caledonia, with James Barke and John DeLancey Ferguson (Edinburgh: M. Macdonald, 1959).
  • Hugh MacDiarmid: a Festschrift, with Kulgin Duval (Edinburgh: K.D. Duval, 1962)
  • A Choice of Burns’s Poems and Songs (London: Faber and Faber, 1966)

References
  1. "NZEDGE Legends — Sydney Smith, Forensic Expert — Scientists". NZEDGE. 25 June 2007. Retrieved 8 July 2019.
  2. "About Sydney Goodsir Smith". University of Edinburgh. Retrieved 22 November 2014.
  3. Smith, Sydney Goodsir (1947), Selected Poems, Saltire Modern Poets series, Oliver and Boyd, Edinburgh, back cover
  4. Smith, Sydney Goodsir (1951), A Short Introduction to Scottish Literature, Serif Books, Edinburgh
  5. "Smith, Sydney Goodsir". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/58855. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  6. Royle, Trevor (29 April 1998). "Lines reaches the end". The Scotsman  – via HighBeam Research (subscription required) . Archived from the original on 29 March 2015. Retrieved 22 November 2014.
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