Bbc national 5 english norman maccaig biography

Scottish poet (1910–1996)

Norman Alexander MacCaig (14 November 1910 – 23 January 1996) was a Scottish poet and teacher.

His poetry, in modern English, is known for its humour, simplicity of language and great popularity.^[1]

Life

Norman Alexander MacCaig was born at 15 East London Street, Edinburgh, to Robert McCaig (1880–1950?), a chemist from Dumfriesshire, and Joan née MacLeod (1879–1959), from Scalpay in the Outer Hebrides.

He was their fourth child and only son.

Assisi poem

He attended the Royal High School and in 1928 went to the University of Edinburgh, graduating in 1932 with a degree in classics.^[2] He divided his time, for the rest of his life, between his native city and Assynt in the Scottish Highlands.

During the Second World War MacCaig registered as a conscientious objector, a move that many at the time criticised. Douglas Dunn has suggested that MacCaig's career later suffered as a result of his outspoken pacifism, although th