Robert Garioch facts for kids

Robert Garioch Sutherland (born May 9, 1909 – died April 26, 1981) was a Scottish poet and translator. He mostly wrote his poems in the Scots language. He was a very important person in the movement to bring back and celebrate Scottish literature and language in the mid-1900s. Two big influences on his work were the 18th-century poet Robert Fergusson and the Italian poet Giuseppe Gioachino Belli, who wrote sonnets in the Romanesco dialect.

Early Life and War Experience

Garioch was born in Edinburgh, Scotland. His father was a decorator, and his mother was a music teacher. He went to the Royal High School and then studied at the University of Edinburgh.

In 1941, Garioch was called to serve in the army. He joined the Royal Corps of Signals. He got married early the next year. While serving in North Africa during Operation Torch, a big military operation, Garioch was captured by German soldiers in November 1942. He spent the next three years as a Prisoner of War.

After the War

After Garioch returned to the United Kingdom in 1945, he became a teacher. He taught for many years until he retired early in 1964.

After retiring, he worked for several Scottish literary magazines. One of the most famous was Scottish International. In the 1970s, he also spent some years as a writer-in-residence at the University of Edinburgh. This meant he was a writer who worked at the university, helping students and sharing his knowledge.

His Writings

Being a prisoner of war had a big effect on Garioch's life and work. He wrote about his time in captivity in his book Two Men and a Blanket (1975). While he was held in Italy, he learned the Italian language very well. This helped him read works by authors who wrote in different Italian dialects.

Unlike many other poets of his time, Garioch did not write much poetry about his war experiences. Instead, he focused on everyday life and the problems faced by ordinary people, often called the 'wee man'. This is one reason why his poems remained popular. People especially enjoyed his readings.

Critics noticed his amazing skill with language. He was very careful and knowledgeable when using the Scots language in his poems. Many believe he was even better at it than his famous predecessor, Hugh MacDiarmid. Garioch also wrote some deeper poems, like 'The Wire' and 'The Big Music'. These poems show a more serious side to his writing.

Besides his own poems, Garioch also translated many works by other poets into Scots. He translated many poems from the Roman dialect by Giuseppe Gioachino Belli, who greatly influenced him. He also translated two plays by George Buchanan, which were originally written in Latin. He even translated ancient Greek poets like Pindar and Hesiod into Scots.

Robert Garioch is honored in Makars' Court in Edinburgh. This special place is outside The Writers' Museum in the Lawnmarket.

Books by Robert Garioch

• Garioch, Robert and MacLean, Sorley (1940), Seventeen Poems for Sixpence, The Chalmers Press.
• Garioch, Robert (1949), Chuckies on the Cairn, The Chalmers Press.
• Garioch, Robert (1966), Selected Poems, Macdonald Publishers, Loanhead.
• Garioch, Robert (1973), Doktor Faust in Rose Street, Macdonald Publishers, Loanhead, ISBN: 9780950210674
• Garioch, Robert (1975), Two Men and a Blanket: Memoirs of Captivity, Southside, London, ISBN: 0-900025-19-0.
• Garioch, Robert (1975), review of Bennygoak and Other Poems by Flora Garry, in Calgacus 2, Summer 1975, p. 54, ISSN 0307-2029
• Garioch, Robert (1983), Complete Poetical Works, Macdonald Publishers, Loanhead, ISBN: 0-904265-93-5.