The Complete Poems of Edwin Muir

by Edwin Muir

In addition to all of the poetry published by Edwin Muir in his lifetime, this volume includes works published after his death, as well as a number of poems and earlier drafts left out of previous collections. Also featured are notes on when and where the poems were written and Muir's own comments - originally from letters and journals - on his poetry's genesis and meaning.

Genres: Poetry

402 pages, Hardcover

First published November 1, 1991

About the author

Edwin Muir, Orcadian poet, novelist and translator noted, together with his wife Willa Anderson, for making Franz Kafka available in English.

Between 1921 and 1923, Muir lived in Prague, Dresden, Italy, Salzburg and Vienna; he returned to the UK in 1924. Between 1925 and 1956, Muir published seven volumes of poetry which were collected after his death and published in 1991 as The Complete Poems of Edwin Muir. From 1927 to 1932 he published three novels, and in 1935 he came to St Andrews, where he produced his controversial Scott and Scotland (1936).

Reviews

[Lynn Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Poetry of Edwin Muir captured my interest when studying 20th century modern poetry having to study The Horses and The Good Town. ‘The Horses’ moves from a bleak, post-nuclear landscape towards a more positive ending whereby people learn to rebuild their lives in the wake of mass war, not by returning to technology but to simpler ways of living and working. The Good Town charts the cultural decline of an unnamed European town. To remain vigilant to the causes and consequences of a decline in trust within family, work, town and the wider country.
Other poems such as The Combat, The Interrogation, The Confirmation and The Castle to name a few of his most popular poems reflect the fear of a dystopian future brought about by the totalitarianism of the Soviet Iron Curtain.
Muir's themes follow the traditional themes of the great poets - the struggle between good and evil in the individual, in society, in the universe; the loss of innocence and the quest for its recovery; the nature of human destiny; the destructiveness of time; the enduring joy and power of love.

[Courtney Clark · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love love love.