Utopias, miniature worlds and global networks in modern Scottish island poetry

Abstract

This article considers the extent to which modern Scottish island poetry constructs a utopian landscape. The relative isolation of islands makes them suited to utopian narratives: poetry about the remote St Kilda can both highlight and subvert its utopian potential as a model of a pre-modern ecological society. I discuss how these themes emerge in St Kilda poems by Douglas Dunn and Robin Robertson. I then situate the contemporary Shetland of Jen Hadfield’s poetry in relation to the notion that Scottish islands retain elements of a pastoral ‘Golden Age’, as is suggested by the tourism industry. Finally, I discuss how debates within ecocriticism about the significance of place and the interconnections facilitated by globalisation can be informed by Robert Alan Jamieson’s non-insular Shetlandic poetry, which is written in local dialect but retains an unapologetically global perspective.

Keywords:

• Scottish poetry
• islands
• Douglas Dunn
• Robin Robertson
• Jen Hadfield
• Robert Alan Jamieson

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Garry MacKenzie

Garry MacKenzie is a PhD candidate at the University of St Andrews. His thesis examines the role of landscape in modern and contemporary poetry.