- ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
‘DEATH’S
PROLETARIAT’:
SCOTTISH POETS
OF THE SECOND
WORLD WAR
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••roderick watson
The conflict of 1939–45 came to be known as ‘the people’s war’. The ambiguity of
this phrase, with its hints of a democracy that so many found only in death, has a
special resonance for the Scottish poets in this account.
Reviewing G. S. Fraser’s collectionHome Town Elegyfor the third of his annual
Poetry Scotlandanthologies in July 1946, Maurice Lindsay considered Fraser’s
‘somewhat defeatist philosophy’, which he saw as reflecting
the terrible malaise which settled upon his generation (and mine, although I came in at the
tail end of it) during the years before the war. It was a loss of belief in the worth of humanity,
bred from the certain knowledge that we were growing up for war, that war was an evil
and ultimately a useless thing, and that its arrival on top of us was as certain as tomorrow’s
dawn. Seen in retrospect, that feeling does not now seem so false as it might have done if
victory in conflict had been achieved without the advent of the atomic bomb!^1
(^1) Maurice Lindsay, untitled review of G. S. Fraser and Nicholas Moore, in Maurice Lindsay (ed.),
Poetry Scotland: Third Collection(Glasgow: William McLellan, 1946), 63.