Glasgow University to host funeral of Edwin Morgan, Scotland's first Makar

HUNDREDS of mourners are expected to attend the funeral of Scotland's first national poet, Edwin Morgan, which will take place tomorrow at Glasgow University.

• Edwin Morgan was the last of the great Scottish Rennaisance poets Picture: Robert Perry

The service will mark the end of an era for Scottish literature, as Morgan was the last surviving member of a group that came to prominence in what came to be known as the Scottish Renaissance and also included Hugh MacDiarmid, Robert Garioch, Norman MacCaig, Iain Crichton Smith, George Mackay Brown and Sorley MacLean.

Morgan, 90, who passed away last Thursday after suffering pneumonia, studied at the university from 1937 and was also a former Professor of English there in the 1970s.

The funeral, open to everyone, will take place at 1:30pm at the university's Bute Hall, while the coffin will lie in wait in the University Chapel from 9am.

Dr George Reid, former Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament, will deliver the eulogy, while Liz Lochead, the Scottish poet and writer, will be among a number of figures to read from Morgan's work.

The university service will be followed by a private cremation for Morgan's family and close friends.

Morgan was widely recognised as one of the foremost Scottish poets of the modern era.

Professor Anton Muscatelli, principal and vice-chancellor of Glasgow University, described him as "one of the finest poets Scotland has ever produced".

Prof Muscatelli added: "His contribution to poetry and the arts in Scotland and beyond is huge, and he will be fondly remembered by a great many people."

Morgan was born in Glasgow in 1920 and was educated at Rutherglen Academy, followed by Glasgow High School.

He began his studies at Glasgow University in 1937 but at the outbreak of the Second World War he joined the Royal Army Medical Corps before returning to the University in 1946.

Morgan published his first book in 1952, The Vision of Cathkin Braes, and would eventually write more than 60 poetry books.

He was professor of English at Glasgow from 1975 until he retired in 1980.

He was appointed the inaugural Poet Laureate for Glasgow in 1999 and Scotland's first Makar — or national poet — by the Scottish Parliament in 2004.

He was made an OBE in 1982 and was won the Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry in 2000.

Paying tribute last week, First Minister Alex Salmond described Morgan as "a truly a great man, an exceptional poet, and an inspiration".Carol Ann Duffy, the Poet Laureate, said: "A great, generous, gentle genius has gone. He was poetry's true son and blessed by her. He is quite simply irreplaceable."

Billy Connolly also paid tribute to Morgan.

The comedian, 67, said: "I met him in Edinburgh many years ago and I wasn't a fan until I read The Loch Ness Monster, and I was staggered and bought some more stuff.

"The more modern and esoteric and strange he got the more I liked it."