“Christopher Smart and Clare could write poetry from a mad-house — but…” — William Soutar

“Christopher Smart and Clare could write poetry from a mad-house — but who can write at all when suffering from influenza, say, or severe toothache?”

Uses literary history and humour to make a practical point about bodily suffering · Diary, 1932

William Soutar

About William Soutar

28 April 1898–15 October 1943

In a modest house on Wilson Street in Perth, Scotland, a small attic room served as both prison and sanctuary for one of Scotland's most remarkable twentieth-century poets. From this confined space, William Soutar would pen some of the most enduring children's verse in Scots literature while simultaneously crafting…

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