[Right Madness On Skye] [By: Richard, Hugo] [May, 1980]

by Richard Hugo

The acclaimed poet visits the coast of Scotland, extending his vision with interpretations of Scottish history and legends and making them part of our own extended understanding

Genres: Poetry

Paperback

First published May 1, 1980

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

Richard Hugo (December 21, 1923 - October 22, 1982), born Richard Hogan, was an American poet. Primarily a regionalist, Hugo's work reflects the economic depression of the Northwest, particularly Montana. Born in White Center, Washington, he was raised by his mother's parents after his father left the family. In 1942 he legally changed his name to Richard Hugo, taking his stepfather's surname. He served in World War II as a bombardier in the Mediterranean. He left the service in 1945 after flying 35 combat missions and reaching the rank of first lieutenant.

Hugo received his B.A. in 1948 and his M.A. in 1952 in Creative Writing from the University of Washington where he studied under Theodore Roethke.[1] He married Barbara Williams in 1952, the same year he started working as a technical writer for Boeing.

In 1961 his first book of poems, A Run of Jacks, was published. Soon after he took a creative writing teaching job at the University of Montana. He later became the head of the creative writing program there.[2] His wife returned to Seattle in 1964, and they divorced soon after. He published five more books of poetry, a memoir, a highly respected book on writing, and also a mystery novel. His posthumous book of collected poetry, Making Certain It Goes On, evinces that his poems are marked by crisp, gorgeous images of nature that often stand in contrast to his own depression, loneliness, and alcoholism. Although almost always written in free verse, his poems have a strong sense of rhythm that often echoes iambic meters. He also wrote of large number of informal epistolary poems at a time when that form was unfashionable.

Hugo was a friend of poet James Wright.

Hugo’s The Real West Marginal Way is a collection of essays, generally autobiographical in nature, that detail his childhood, his military service, his poetics, and his teaching.

Hugo remarried in 1974 to Ripley Schemm Hansen. In 1977 he was named the editor of the Yale Younger Poets Series.

Hugo died of leukemia on October 22, 1982.

Reviews

[Ryan Werner · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hugo seems like he had a pretty good time on Skye, an island off the coast of Scotland. The book would come out three years after his trip. He'd be dead within another two. I'm biased to his poems dealing with the Pacific Northwest (they're secretly Midwestern), and, much like I feel about Seamus Heaney's poetry and its relation to Ireland, this collection seems like it's going to appeal to Scots and Celts and those who liked the writer to begin with. While I did enjoy the collection, I didn't connect with a lot of the poems found within, though there are definitely some fantastic pieces in here: the playfully strong title poem, the overwhelming Hugo-ness (duh) of opener "The Semi-Lunatics of Kilmuir," and the optimistic trifecta of "Trumpan," "Langaig," and "Ayr." It's a fun collection, and while I wouldn't start with it, it's nice for the initiated just to see Hugo beating alcoholism and depression, if for only five months near the end of his life.

[Ally · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had intended to read 31 Letters 13 Dreams as my introduction to Hugo but wound up with Right Madness first. That said, this is a very good collection of poems with a strong narrative voice - the sort that really holds on to the reader. I suppose the only issue I had was some trouble connecting with many of the poems as they were so specific to a time/place. In a way the grant that he earned to go to Skye started to feel like an assignment, one that was being done begrudgingly. All the same, I very much look forward to reading more of Hugo's work.

[Scott Ballard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Poems that stood out: the title poem, The Clouds of Uig, Graves of Uig, and Hawk In Uig. From the title poem, “I want one last look at Seattle and the way light / subtracts and adds miles to the journey.”

[Terri Hale · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful book of poetry about one of my favorite places in the world.

[Casey · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5/5

[Justin Covey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Visited Skye briefly a year ago, this almost felt like being there again.

[Lorne Daniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some powerful poems in this collection, especially if you have a Gaelic connection.

[Mills College Library]

811.54 H895m 1980