A Man in My Position

by Norman MacCaig

Genres: Poetry

64 pages, Hardcover

First published September 24, 1970

About the author

MacCaig was born in Edinburgh and divided his time, for the rest of his life, between his native city and Assynt in the Scottish Highlands. He registered as a conscientious objector during World War II. In 1967 he was appointed Fellow in Creative Writing at Edinburgh. He became a reader in poetry in 1970, at the University of Stirling.

Reviews

[John Burns · Rating 3 out of 5]

MacCaig was my favourite poet when I was a teenager. In fact I've never really encountered another poet who I definitely prefer, although I recently discovered Holderlin. I like his stuff.

I like MacCaigs aloof quality. I like the fact that he isn't overly romantic or overwrought. If he writes about love he will do so in some subtle, tender, reserved sort of way. I like his reserve. I like the way his mind hovers delicately over an idea - takes it in without sucking out all the oxygen. I especially like the focus, the economy and the clarity of his later stuff, but we don't really get that here. This is more like mid-period-MacCaig. His poems tend to be a bit more rambling at this point.

Something I'd forgotten that he does. He does it all the time. He likes to throw a dark twist in there. He sings the praises of a dog but then relates the moment when the dog is old and worn out and has to be shot in the back of the head by his owner. He talks about a boy throwing stones into a lake as a way of practicing for the future, practicing the art of throwing away, of not become too attached to things - only to reveal a moment later that the boy cannot open his hands, cannot bring himself to let the stones go. He talks about his memories as being shelves with strange artifacts and somehow the gloomy mask, the frightening face always seems to make its way to the front. He tells a story about a guy who is wealthy and has everything and then reveals that he has just unwittingly leapt into shark-infested waters. It's a technique which works at times although at times it feels contrived and he definitely overuses it. I think it's part of what impressed me about him as a teenager. I think it still appeals to me today. The sudden disturbing twist. It seems to capture some profound truth about life. About the fear that we hold that at any moment everything that comforts us may fall apart.

This volume reminds me of why I like Maccaig, but I definitely don't think it's his best work. It feels a bit more contrived and a bit less focussed than his later work.

[Boy Blue · Rating 3 out of 5]

Maccaig is starting to become the elder statesman. Interestingly, this seems to have come with more of an interest in love. Or maybe he now feels in his late 50's experienced enough to talk of it. While he's touched on love before, this collection has the most love poems I've yet seen from him. Some of them are ok but none of them are on the level of someone like Neruda. As I've been saying through each of his collections, he's easily strongest in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland, and this collection is no different. It also has his first few attempts at a more epic form of poetry with A Man in Assynt seemingly his epic apologia for the Scottish Highlands.

I enjoyed most: Limits, Old Myth, New Model, Basking Shark (which I think is well known due to its use in the GCSE), Descent from the Green Corrie, and The Unlikely

MacCaig still has his humour and I definitely find myself gravitating to his lighter hearted philosophical poems, they're delightful morsels.

He also does a brilliant tribute poem and his Uncle Roderick sits comfortably with Aunt Julia from his previous collection.