Celebrating W. S. Graham
To mark 100 years since the birth of the poet W. S. Graham, here is a selection of images and quotations to celebrate his life and work.
W. S. Graham in the Gurnard’s Head Hotel, 1958. Copyright © the Estate of Michael Seward Snow, 2018.
WSG Postcard: hand decorated, depicting ‘Malcolm Mooney’s Land’. Copyright © the Estate of W. S. Graham, 2018. All rights reserved.
WSG Makars’ Court: Memorial stone unveiled by Jackie Kay (Scots Makar) in the Makars’ Court, Edinburgh, June 2018. Photograph courtesy of David Lindsay.
WSG Artwork 1: Copyright © the Estate of W. S. Graham, 2018. All rights reserved.
Loch Thom: The draft of ‘Loch Thom’ is an intermediate draft. The completed poem can be found in W.S. Graham, New Selected Poems (Faber, 2018). Image copyright © the Estate of W. S. Graham, 2018. All rights reserved.
W. S. Graham with foxgloves and Zennor Hill in the background, 1958. Copyright © the Estate of Michael Seward Snow, 2018.
Untidy Dreadful Table: The annotated draft of ‘Untidy Dreadful Table’ represents the final draft of the poem which can be found in W. S. Graham, New Collected Poems (Faber, 2004). Image copyright © the Estate of W. S. Graham, 2018. All rights reserved.
WSG writing table: this photo goes with the poem manuscript of ‘Untidy Dreadful Table’ above.
W. S. Graham with Gurnard’s Head in the background, 1958. Copyright © the Estate of Michael Seward Snow, 2018.
WSG Artwork 2, Self Portrait: Copyright © the Estate of W.S. Graham, 2018. All rights reserved.
W. S. Graham in the Gurnard’s Head Hotel, 1958. Copyright © the Estate of Michael Seward Snow, 2018.
W. S. Graham with his father, Alexander Graham, Princes Pier, Greenock, 1933. Photographer unknown. Reproduced by kind permission of Rosalind Mudaliar, the Estate of W. S. Graham.
W. S. Graham in the Gurnard’s Head Hotel, 1958. Copyright © the Estate of Michael Seward Snow, 2018.
All quotes, unless otherwise stated, are taken from W. S. Graham’s New Selected Poems (Faber & Faber, 2018). Cover image: W. S. Graham, with his painting on glass, in the Old Coastguard Cottage, Gurnard’s Head, 1958. Copyright © the Estate of Michael Seward Snow, 2018.
Read the poem ‘To Alexander Graham’, a poem that W. S. Graham wrote addressed to his father, in full here.