The Love Songs of John Knox - Softcover

This is a major collection, one that has been waiting to be written... I don't think any Scottish poet has produced, or is likely to produce, a batch of poems as witty and sharp as this, in and for a long time. - DENNIS O'DONNELL, Poetry Critic of Cencrastus and Saltire Poetry Award Winner

Witty, piercingly intelligent and darkly humorous, Findlay's take on the man who terrified Mary Queen of Scots gives an original perspective on contemporary issues, from the war in Iraq to Celtic FC. This collection consists of poems and musings on contemporary Scottish culture, literature and identity, thematically linked by the iconic figure of John Knox. Knox's voice has echoed down the centuries, lampooned by Burns, mimicked by Carlyle, given homage by MacDiarmid, secularised in the radical polemics of Jon Maclean and Willie Gallacher, and continues today with Alistair Findlay. In funny reveries and letters to historical figures, Knox takes on a new role and highlights not only the clash of past ideas with those of the present, but also the similarities between them.