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{{Short description|Literary movement of the early to mid-20th century}}
{{for|the movement in the late 15th century to early 17th century|Renaissance in Scotland}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}

The '''Scottish Renaissance''' ({{langx|gd|Ath-bheòthachadh na h-Alba}}; {{langx|sco|Scots Renaissance}}) was a mainly [[literary movement]] of the early to mid-20th century that can be seen as the [[Scotland|Scottish]] version of [[modernism]]. It is sometimes referred to as the '''Scottish literary renaissance''', although its influence went beyond literature into music, visual arts, and politics (among other fields). key figures, like Hugh MacDiarmid, Sorley MacLean and other writers and artists of the Scottish Renaissance displayed a profound interest in both modern philosophy and technology, as well as incorporating [[Scottish folklore|folk influences]], and a strong concern for the fate of Scotland's [[endangered language|declining languages]].

It has been seen as a parallel to other movements elsewhere, including the [[Irish Literary Revival]], the [[Harlem Renaissance]] (in the United States), the [[Bengal Renaissance]] (in [[Kolkata]], [[India]]) and the [[Jindyworobak Movement]] (in [[Australia]]), which emphasised indigenous folk traditions.

==Beginnings==
The term "Scottish Renaissance" was brought into critical prominence by the [[France|French]] [[Languedoc]] poet and scholar [[Denis Saurat]] in his article "{{lang|fr|Le Groupe de la Renaissance Écossaise}}", which was published in the ''{{lang|fr|Revue Anglo-Américaine}}'' in April 1924.<ref>I. Ousby ed., ''The Cambridge Guide to Literature in English'' (1995) p. 839.</ref> The term had appeared much earlier, however, in the work of the [[polymath]]ic [[Patrick Geddes]]<ref>P. Geddes, ''The Scots Renascence'', in ''The Evergreen: A Northern Seasonal'', Spring 1895, Patrick Geddes and Colleagues, Lawnmarket, Edinburgh</ref> and in a 1922 book review by [[Hugh MacDiarmid|Christopher Murray Grieve]] ("Hugh MacDiarmid") for the ''Scottish Chapbook'' that predicted a "Scottish Renascence as swift and irresistible as was the Belgian Revival between 1880 and 1910",<ref>Quoted in Margery Palmer McCulloch, ed., ''Modernism and Nationalism: Literature and Society in Scotland 1918-1939''. Glasgow: Association for Scottish Literary Studies, 2004. 52-53.</ref> involving such figures as [[Lewis Spence]] and [[Marion Angus]].<ref>I. Ousby ed., ''The Cambridge Guide to Literature in English'' (1995), p. 839.</ref>

These earlier references make clear the connections between the Scottish Renaissance and the [[Irish Literary Revival|Celtic Twilight]] and [[Celtic Revival]] movements of the late 19th century, which helped reawaken a spirit of cultural [[nationalism]] among Scots of the modernist generations. Where these earlier movements had been steeped in a sentimental and nostalgic [[Celtic revival|Celticism]], however, the modernist-influenced Renaissance would seek a rebirth of Scottish national culture that would both look back to the medieval "[[makar]]" poets, [[William Dunbar]] and [[Robert Henryson]], as well as look towards such contemporary influences as [[T. S. Eliot]], [[Ezra Pound]], and [[D. H. Lawrence]], or (more locally) [[R. B. Cunninghame Graham]].<ref>D. Daiches ed., ''The Penguin Companion to Literature 1'' (1971) p. 333.</ref>

The turn of the 20th century saw the first stirrings of a new era in Scottish arts and letters. As writers such as [[George Douglas Brown]] railed against the "[[Kailyard school]]" that had come to dominate Scottish letters, producing satiric, realist accounts of Scottish rural life in novels like ''[[The House with the Green Shutters]]'' (1901), [[Scots language]] poets such as [[Violet Jacob]] and [[Marion Angus]] undertook a quiet revival of regionally inflected poetry in the Lowland vernacular. Patrick Geddes would continue his foundational work in civic renewal and town and regional planning, developing the triad "Place - Work - Folk" as a matrix for new thinking about the relationships between people and their local environments. In the realm of visual arts, [[John Duncan (painter)|John Duncan]] would refine his [[Celtic myth]] inspired [[Symbolism (movement)|Symbolist]] painting to include an increasing emphasis on [[collage]] and the flatness of the image. In architecture and the decorative arts, the towering figures of [[Charles Rennie Mackintosh]] and the [[Glasgow Four]] would give Scotland its very own "school" of modern design and help create the "[[Glasgow School|Glasgow style]]". Scotland in the early 20th century was experiencing an efflorescence of creative activity, but there was not yet a sense of a particular shared movement or an overt national inflection to all of this artistic effort.{{citation needed|date=September 2020}}

==Literary renaissance==
{{See also|Literature in modern Scotland|Scots-language literature}}
[[File:Lamb-Hugh MacDiarmid (flipped).jpg|thumb|upright|A bust of [[Hugh MacDiarmid]] sculpted in 1927 by [[William Lamb (sculptor)|William Lamb]]]]
It was not until the literary efforts of [[Hugh MacDiarmid]] that the Scottish Renaissance can properly be said to have begun. Starting in 1920, C. M. Grieve (having not yet adopted his nom de plume of Hugh MacDiarmid) began publishing a series of three short anthologies entitled ''Northern Numbers: Being Representative Selections from Certain Living Scottish Poets'' (including works by [[John Buchan]], [[Violet Jacob]], [[Neil Munro (Hugh Foulis)|Neil Munro]], and Grieve himself). These anthologies, which appeared one each year from 1920–22, along with his founding and editing of the ''Scottish Chapbook'' review (in the [[annus mirabilis]] of [[Modernism]], 1922), established Grieve/MacDiarmid as the father and central figure of the burgeoning Scottish Renaissance movement that he had prophesied.<ref>D. Daiches ed., ''The Penguin Companion to Literature 1'' (London: Penguin, 1971), p. 333.</ref> By about 1925, MacDiarmid had largely abandoned his [[English language]] poetry and began to write in a kind of "synthetic Scots" known as [[Lallans]], that was a hybrid of regional [[Scots language|Scots]] [[dialect]]s and [[lexicography|lexicographical]] artifacts exhumed from ''Jamieson's Dictionary of the Scottish Language'', often grafted onto a [[Standard English]] grammatical structure. His poetic works included "[[A Drunk Man Looks at the Thistle]]" (1926). This had an electrifying effect on the [[literature|literary]] landscape of the time.<ref>D. Daiches ed., ''The Penguin Companion to Literature 1'' (London: Penguin, 1971) p. 333.</ref>

Other writers soon followed in MacDiarmid's footsteps and also wrote in Lallans, including the poets [[Edwin Muir]] (1887–1959) and [[William Soutar]] (1898–1943), who pursued an exploration of identity, rejecting nostalgia and parochialism and engaging with social and political issues.<ref name=VisitingArtsScotland>{{Citation|title=The Scottish 'Renaissance' and beyond|journal=Visiting Arts: Scotland: Cultural Profile|url=http://www.culturalprofiles.net/scotland/Directories/Scotland_Cultural_Profile/-5403.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110930034437/http://www.culturalprofiles.net/scotland/Directories/Scotland_Cultural_Profile/-5403.html|archive-date=30 September 2011|url-status=dead}}</ref> Some writers that emerged after the Second World War followed MacDiarmid by writing in Scots, including [[Robert Garioch]] (1909–1981) and [[Sydney Goodsir Smith]] (1915–1975). The Glaswegian poet [[Edwin Morgan (poet)|Edwin Morgan]] (1920–2010) became known for translations of works from a wide range of European languages. He was also the first [[Scots Makar]] (the official [[national poet]]), appointed by the inaugural Scottish government in 2004.<ref>{{Citation| title =The Scots Makar| publisher =The Scottish Government| date =16 February 2004| url =http://www.scotland.gov.uk/News/Releases/2004/02/5075| access-date =2007-10-28| archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20120204042020/http://www.scotland.gov.uk/News/Releases/2004/02/5075| archive-date =4 February 2012| url-status =dead}}</ref> [[Alexander Gray (poet)|Alexander Gray]] was an academic and poet, but is chiefly remembered for his translations into Scots from the German and Danish ballad traditions into Scots, including ''Arrows. A Book of German Ballads and Folksongs Attempted in Scots'' (1932) and ''Four-and-Forty. A Selection of Danish Ballads Presented in Scots'' (1954).<ref>J. Corbett, ''Written in the Language of the Scottish Nation: A History of Literary Translation Into Scots'' (Multilingual Matters, 1999), {{ISBN|1853594318}}, pp. 161-4.</ref>

The Scottish Renaissance increasingly concentrated on the novel, particularly after the 1930s when Hugh MacDiarmid was in isolation in Shetland and its leadership moved to novelist [[Neil Gunn]] (1891–1973). Gunn's novels, beginning with ''The Grey Coast'' (1926), and including ''Highland River'' (1937) and ''[[The Green Isle of the Great Deep]]'' (1943), were largely written in English and not the Scots preferred by MacDiarmid, focused on the Highlands of his birth and were notable for their narrative experimentation.<ref name=Craig2001bpp157-9/> Other major figures associated with the movement include [[George Blake (novelist)|George Blake]] (1893–1961), [[A. J. Cronin]] (1896–1981), [[Eric Linklater]] (1899–1974) and [[Lewis Grassic Gibbon]] (1901–35). There were also a large number of female authors associated with the movement, who demonstrated a growing feminine consciousness. They included [[Catherine Carswell]] (1879–1946), [[Willa Muir]] (1890–1970),<ref name=Craig2001bpp157-9/> [[Nan Shepherd]] (1893–1981)<ref name=VisitingArtsScotland/> and most prolifically [[Naomi Mitchison]] (1897–1999).<ref name=Craig2001bpp157-9/> All were born within a fifteen-year period and, although they cannot be described as members of a single school, they all pursued an exploration of identity, rejecting nostalgia and parochialism and engaging with social and political issues.<ref name="VisitingArtsScotland"/> Physician A. J. Cronin is now often seen as sentimental, but his early work, particularly his first novel ''[[Hatter's Castle]]'' (1931) and his most successful ''[[The Citadel (novel)|The Citadel]]'' (1937) were a deliberate reaction against the Kailyard tradition, exposing the hardships and vicissitudes of the lives of ordinary people,<ref name=Crawford2009p587>R. Crawford, ''Scotland's Books: a History of Scottish Literature'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009), {{ISBN|0-19-538623-X}}, p. 587.</ref> He was the most translated Scottish author in the twentieth century.<ref>P. Barnaby and T. Hubbard, "The international reception and impact of Scottish literature of the period since 1918", in I. Brown, ed., ''The Edinburgh History of Scottish Literature: Modern transformations: new identities (from 1918)'' (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2007), {{ISBN|0748624821}}, p. 32.</ref> George Blake pioneered the exploration of the experiences of the working class in his major works such as ''The Shipbuilders'' (1935). Eric Linklater produced comedies of the absurd including ''Juan in America'' (1931) dealing with [[prohibition]] America, and a critique of modern war in ''[[Private Angelo]]'' (1946). Lewis Grassic Gibbon, the pseudonym of James Leslie Mitchell, produced one of the most important realisations of the ideas of the Scottish Renaissance in his trilogy ''[[A Scots Quair]]'' (''[[Sunset Song]]'', 1932, ''Cloud Howe'', 1933 and ''Grey Granite'', 1934), which mixed different Scots dialects with the narrative voice.<ref name=Craig2001bpp157-9>C. Craig, "Culture: modern times (1914-): the novel", in M. Lynch, ed., ''The Oxford Companion to Scottish History'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001), {{ISBN|0-19-211696-7}}, pp.&nbsp;157-9.</ref> Other works that investigated the working class included James Barke's (1905–58), ''Major Operation'' (1936) and ''The Land of the Leal'' (1939) and [[J. F. Hendry]]'s (1912–86) ''Fernie Brae'' (1947).<ref name=Craig2001bpp157-9/>

The parallel revitalisation of Gaelic poetry, known as the [[Scottish Gaelic Renaissance]], was largely due to the work of [[Sorley Maclean]] (Somhairle MacGill-Eain, 1911–96). A native of Skye and a native Gaelic speaker, he abandoned the stylistic conventions of the tradition and opened up new possibilities for composition with his poem {{lang|gd|Dàin do Eimhir}} (''Poems to Eimhir'', 1943). His work inspired a new generation to take up {{lang|gd|nua bhàrdachd}} (the new poetry). These included [[George Campbell Hay]] ({{lang|gd|Deòrsa Mac Iain Dheòrsa|italic=no}}, 1915–1984), Lewis-born poets [[Derick Thomson]] ({{lang|gd|Ruaraidh MacThòmais|italic=no}}, 1921–2012) and [[Iain Crichton Smith]] ({{lang|gd|Iain Mac a' Ghobhainn|italic=no}}, 1928–98). They all focused on the issues of exile, the fate of the Gaelic language and [[bi-culturalism]].<ref name=MacDonald2001pp255-7>J. MacDonald, "Gaelic literature" in M. Lynch, ed., ''The Oxford Companion to Scottish History'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001), {{ISBN|0-19-211696-7}}, pp.&nbsp;255-7.</ref>

In the 1950s, the review magazine ''Jabberwock'', produced by students at the [[University of Edinburgh]], became a significant vehicle of the Scottish Literary Renaissance.<ref>[https://library.ed.ac.uk/heritage-collections/collections-and-search/research-resources/scottish-literature/the-jabberwock-archive/about-the-jabberwock About ''The Jabberwock''], The University of Edinburgh Information Services, :Library</ref>

==Art==
{{See also|Art in modern Scotland}}
[[File:Cursiter, The Regatta.jpg|thumb|right|[[Stanley Cursiter]], ''Regatta'', (1913)]]
The ideas of a distinctive modern Scottish art were expressed in the inter-war period by figures including [[Stanley Cursiter]] (1887–1976), [[William McCance]] (1894–1970), [[William Johnstone (artist)|William Johnstone]] (1897–1981) and [[J. D. Fergusson]] (1874–1961).<ref>D. Macmillan, ''Scottish Art 1460-1990'' (Edinburgh: Mainstream, 1990), {{ISBN|0500203334}}, p. 348.</ref> Stanley Cursiter was influenced by the Celtic revival, post-impressionism and [[futurism (art)|Futurism]], as can be seen in his ''Rain on Princes Street'' (1913) and ''Regatta'' (1913). He went on to be a major painter of the coastline of his native Orkney, director of the National Gallery of Scotland and proposed the creation of a National Gallery of Modern Art in 1930.<ref name=Gardiner2005p173/><ref>M. MacDonald, ''Scottish Art'' (London: Thames and Hudson, 2000), {{ISBN|0500203334}}, pp. 163-4.</ref> Fergusson was one of the few British artists who could claim to have played a part in the creation of modernism and probably played a major part in the formulation of MacDiarmid's thought. His interest in machine imagery can be seen in paintings like ''Damaged Destroyer'' (1918). He co-operated with MacDiarmid on the journal ''Scottish Art and Letters'' and MacDiarmid quoted extensively from his work.<ref>D. Macmillan, ''Scottish Art 1460-1990'' (Edinburgh: Mainstream, 1990), {{ISBN|0500203334}}, p. 350.</ref>

William McCance's early work was in a bold post-impressionist style. After World War I he moved to London with his wife, fellow student [[Agnes Miller Parker]] (1895-1980), where he joined the same circles as Fergusson, vorticist [[Wyndham Lewis]] (1882-1957) and nationalist composer [[Francis George Scott]]. Under these influences his work became increasingly abstract and influenced by vorticism, as can be seen in ''Women on an Elevator'' (1925) and ''The Engineer and his Wife'' (1925).<ref>D. Macmillan, ''Scottish Art 1460-1990'' (Edinburgh: Mainstream, 1990), {{ISBN|0500203334}}, pp. 348-50.</ref> William Johnstone (1897–1981) was a cousin of F. G. Scott and met MacDiarmid while a student at Edinburgh. He studied cubism, surrealism and was introduced to new American art by his wife the sculptor Flora Macdonald. He moved towards [[Abstract art|abstraction]], attempting to utilise aspects of landscape, poetry and Celtic art. His most significant work, ''A Point in Time'' (1929–38), has been described by art historian [[Duncan Macmillan (art historian)|Duncan Macmillan]] as "one of the most important Scottish pictures of the century and one of the most remarkable pictures by any British painter in the period".<ref>D. Macmillan, ''Scottish Art 1460-1990'' (Edinburgh: Mainstream, 1990), {{ISBN|0500203334}}, pp. 351-2.</ref><ref name=Gardiner2005p173>M. Gardiner, ''Modern Scottish Culture'' (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2005), {{ISBN|0-7486-2027-3}}, p. 173.</ref><ref>D. Macmillan, [http://www.scotsman.com/the-scotsman/scotland/review-painters-in-parallel-william-johnstone-william-gillies-1-2063707 "Review: Painters in Parallel: William Johnstone & William Gillies"], ''Scotsman.com'', 19 January 2012, retrieved 8 May 2012.</ref>

Other artists strongly influenced by modernism included [[James McIntosh Patrick]] (1907–98) and [[Edward Baird (artist)|Edward Baird]] (1904–49).<ref name=Gardiner2005p173/> Both trained in Glasgow, but spent most of their careers in and around their respective native cities of Dundee and Montrose. Both were influenced by surrealism and the work of [[Pieter Bruegel the Elder|Bruegel]] and focused on landscape, as can be seen in McIntosh Patrick's ''Traquair House'' (1938) and more overtly Baird's ''The Birth of Venus'' (1934). Before his success in painting, McIntosh Patrick gained a reputation as an etcher. Leading figures in the field in the inter-war period included [[William Wilson (artist)|William Wilson]] (1905–72) and Ian Fleming (1906-94).<ref>M. MacDonald, ''Scottish Art'' (London: Thames and Hudson, 2000), {{ISBN|0500203334}}, pp. 175-6.</ref>

==Drama==
Playwrights associated with the Scottish Renaissance include [[Robert McLellan]], [[Robert Kemp (playwright)|Robert Kemp]] and [[Alexander Reid (playwright)|Alexander Reid]]. Much of McLellan's early work was first produced by the [[Curtain Theatre (Glasgow)|Curtain Theatre]] in Glasgow.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Scullion |first1=Adrienne |title=BBC Radio in Scotland, 1923-1939: devolution, regionalism and centralisation |journal=Northern Scotland |date=2015 |volume=15 |issue=1 |page=77 |doi=10.3366/nor.1995.0006 |url=https://www.euppublishing.com/doi/pdfplus/10.3366/nor.1995.0006 |access-date=22 February 2021|via=Edinburgh University Press|url-access=subscription}}</ref> His first success came in 1936 with Curtain's production of his comedy, ''Toom Byres'', set at the time of the [[Border reivers]]. This was followed in 1937 by ''[[Jamie the Saxt]]'', featuring [[James VI and I|James VI]] in his prime. This latter production, with [[Duncan Macrae (actor)|Duncan Macrae]] in the title role, is generally regarded as the one which confirmed McLellan's reputation as a comic dramatist of substance in Scots.<ref name = Smith2011">Smith, Donald, "The Mid-Century Dramatists"', in Brown, Ian (ed.) (2011), ''The Edinburgh Companion to Scottish Drama'', [[Edinburgh University Press]], pp. 118 - 129, {{isbn|9780748641086}}</ref> The production of another historical Scots comedy, ''The Bogle'', was delayed by the Second World War, eventually being staged as ''Torwatletie'' by [[Glasgow Unity Theatre]] in 1946.  A radio production of his verse play ''The Carlin Moth'' was broadcast in the same year.  McLellan had written ''The Flouers o' Edinburgh'' (1947) in the expectation that it would be produced by the [[Citizens Theatre]] in Glasgow but the play was rejected by [[James Bridie]], who was concerned about its overtly nationalist reading of Scottish history.<ref>Carruthers, Gerard, "James Bridie", in Brown, Ian (ed.) ''The Edinburgh Companion to Scotttish Drama'', Edinburgh University Press, pp. 130 - 139, {{isbn|9780748641086}}</ref> It was given its first production by the Unity Players and a radio production was broadcast in 1951.  It was produced by the [[Gateway Theatre (Edinburgh)|Gateway Theatre Company]] in its 1954-55 season, and again in August 1957 as its [[Edinburgh International Festival]] production.<ref name = "Gateway65">Edinburgh Gateway Company (1965), The Twelve Seasons of the Edinburgh Gateway Company, 1953 - 1965, St. Giles Press, Edinburgh, pp. 43 - 56</ref>

Robert Kemp pioneered the translation of existing dramatic works into Scots.<ref>Stevenson, Randall, "Introduction", in Stevenson Randall & Wallace, Gavin (eds.) (1996), ''Scottish Theatre since the Seventies'', Edinburgh University Press, p. 8, {{isbn|9780748607815}}</ref>  His ''Let Wives Tak Tent'', a rendering into Scots of [[Molière]]'s ''[[L'Ecole des Femmes|L'Ecole des femmes]]'', was first produced at the Gateway Theatre in 1948, with Duncan Macrae in the lead role.<ref>Corbett, John, "Translated Drama in Scotland", in Brrown, Ian (ed.), ''The Edinburgh Companion to Scottish Drama'', Edinburgh University Press, p. 98, {{isbn|9780748641086}}</ref> In the same year, his adaptation of [[David Lyndsay]]'s ''[[Ane Pleasant Satyre of the Thrie Estaitis]]'' was staged at the [[Church of Scotland Assembly Halls|Church of Scotland's Assembly Hall]] as part of the Edinburgh International Festival. Together with [[Lennox Milne]] and [[Tom Fleming (actor)|Tom Fleming]], Kemp founded the Gateway Theatre Company in 1953, taking on the roles of Chairman and resident playwright.<ref name = Smith2011"/>  ''The Laird o' Grippy'', his adaptation of [[John Galt (novelist)|John Galt]]'s novel ''The Entail'' was staged at the Gateway in 1955, with [[John Laurie]] in the title role.<ref name = "Gateway65">Edinburgh Gateway Company (1965), The Twelve Seasons of the Edinburgh Gateway Company, 1953 - 1965, St. Giles Press, Edinburgh, pp. 43 - 56</ref>

While McLellan's most successful plays were set in the distant historic past, Alexander Reid preferred a half-mythic milieu.<ref>Stevenson, Randall, "Drama, Language and Late Twentieth-Century Literary Revival", in Brown, Ian (ed.) (2011), ''The Edinburgh Companion to Scottish Drama'', Edinburgh University Press, p. 75, {{isbn|9780748641086}}</ref>  His two best-known plays are ''The Lass wi' the Muckle Mou'' (1950), which drew on the legend of [[Thomas the Rhymer]], and ''The Warld's Wonder'' (1953), about the mathematician and reputed magician [[Michael Scot]].<ref>Reid, Alexander (1958), ''Two Scots Plays'', Collins</ref> The Lass wi' the Muckle Mou was first staged at the Glasgow Citizens Theatre in November 1950. It was adapted as a television drama, first broadcast by the BBC on Tuesday 6 October 1953.<ref>''[https://wiki.scotlandonair.com/wiki/The_Lass_wi%27_the_Muckle_Mou%27 The Lass wi' the Muckle Mou]'', Scotland On-Air</ref> ''The Warld's Wonder'' was produced at the Gateway in the autumn of 1958.<ref name = "Gateway65"/>

[[Victor Carin]], who became director of productions at the Gateway in 1963, contributed to the expansion of Scottish theatre's repertoire of works in translation.  ''The Hypochonriack'', his translation into Scots of Molière's ''[[The Imaginary Invalid]]'', was performed by the Gateway Company during his first season in that role.<ref name = "Gateway65"/>
His second translation, ''The Servant o' Twa Maisters'', translated from [[Carlo Goldoni]]'s ''[[The Servant of Two Masters]]'' was the [[Royal Lyceum Theatre Company]]'s debut production in 1965.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.thestage.co.uk/reviews/2009/the-servant-o-twa-maisters-review-at-pitlochry-festival-theatre/ |title= The Servant o' Twa Maisters |last=Cargill |first=Peter |date=20 July 2009 |website= The Stage |publisher=The Stage Media Company |accessdate=8 October 2019}}{{dead link|date=July 2025|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref>

Sydney Goodsir Smith's most successful contribution to the drama of the Scottish Renaissance was ''The Wallace''. Initially broadcast on radio in a BBC production by [[Finlay J. MacDonald]] on 30 November 1959, it was first staged at the [[Church of Scotland|Kirk]]'s [[General Assembly Hall of the Church of Scotland|Assembly Hall]] in a production by Peter Potter as part of the 1960 Edinburgh International Festival.<ref>McLellan, Robert, Review of ''The Wallace'', in [[David Cleghorn Thomson|Thomson, David Cleghorn]] (ed.) ''Saltire Review'', Vol. 6, No. 22, Autumn 1960, [[The Saltire Society]], pp. 75 - 77</ref> The play was revived by the [[Scottish Theatre Company]] in 1985.<ref>Smith, Donald, "The Mid-Century Dramatists", in Brown, Ian (ed.) (2011), ''The Edinburgh Companion to Scottish Drama'', [[Edinburgh University Press]], p. 128, {{isbn|9780748641086}}</ref>

==Music and dance==
{{See also|Classical music in Scotland}}
The ideas of the Scottish Renaissance were brought to classical music by Francis George Scott (1880–1958), MacDiarmid's former teacher, who set to music several of the poet's works.<ref>M. P. McCulloch, ''Scottish Modernism and Its Contexts 1918-1959: Literature, National Identity and Cultural Exchange'' (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2009), {{ISBN|0748634746}}, p. 37.</ref> [[Lancashire]]-born [[Ronald Stevenson]] (b. 1938) collaborated with Scott and both wrote in [[twelve-tone technique]]. Stevenson developed a musical idiom derived from Scottish music, creating settings of folk songs including concertos for his instrument, the piano (1966 and 1972). He also adapted work by Scottish Renaissance poets such as MacDiarmid, [[Sorley Maclean]] and [[William Soutar]]. The influence of [[Dmitri Shostakovich]] (1906–1975) was evident in the initials used in his large-scale piano work ''[[Passacaglia on DSCH]]'' (1963).<ref name=Gardiner2005p193>M. Gardiner, ''Modern Scottish Culture'' (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2005), {{ISBN|0748620273}}, pp. 193-8.</ref>

[[Robin Orr]] (1909–2006) and [[Cedric Thorpe Davie]] (1913–1983) were influenced by [[Modernism (music)|modernism]] and Scottish musical cadences.<ref name=Gardiner2005p193/> The influence of modernism can also be heard in the work of [[Erik Chisholm]] (1904–1965) in his ''Pibroch Piano Concerto'' (1930) and the ''Straloch suite for Orchestra'' (1933) and the sonata ''An Riobhan Dearg'' (1939). In 1928 he founded the Scottish Ballet Society (later the Celtic Ballet) with choreographer [[Margaret Morris (dancer)|Margaret Morris]], the long term partner of J. D. Fergusson. Together they created several ballets, including ''The Forsaken Mermaid'' (1940). He was also instrumental in the foundation of the Active Society for the Propagation of Contemporary Music, for which he brought leading composers to Glasgow to perform their work.<ref name=Gardiner2005p193/>

==Decline and influence==
{{Unreferenced section|date=August 2020}}
[[File:Scotpoetlibrary.jpg|thumb|left|[[Scottish Poetry Library]], Crichton's Close, Edinburgh. The Scottish Renaissance revived interest in Scottish poetry.]]

Although many of the participants were to live until the 1970s and later, the truly revolutionary aspect of the Scottish Renaissance can be said to have been over by the 1960s, when it became eclipsed by various other movements, often international in nature.

The most famous clash was at the 1962 Edinburgh Writers Festival, where [[Hugh MacDiarmid]] denounced [[Alexander Trocchi]], a younger Scottish writer, as "cosmopolitan scum", and Trocchi claimed "sodomy" as a basis for his own writing. This is often seen as a clash of the generations, although it is rarely reported that the two writers corresponded with each other later, and became friends. Both were controversialists of sorts.

The Scottish Renaissance also had a profound effect on the Scottish independence movement, and the roots of the [[Scottish National Party]] may be said to be firmly in it.

The revival in both of Scotland's indigenous languages is partly drawn from the renaissance.
{{clear}}

==Major figures==

Other people connected with the Scottish renaissance, not mentioned previously, are listed below.

Note: These figures were not all contemporaries of the first generation of Scottish Renaissance writers and artists who emerged in the 1920s and 1930s. However, most did become involved with the movement in some form through interactions with figures such as Gunn or MacDiarmid, even if at a slightly later date.
{{Columns-list|colwidth=30em|
* [[George Bain (artist)|George Bain]], who led a revival of [[Celtic Art]]
* [[Alan Bold]] (MacDiarmid's biographer and critic)
* [[James Bridie]] (playwright)
* [[George Mackay Brown]] (poet, author and dramatist)
* [[George Bruce (poet)|George Bruce]] (poet)
* [[Catherine Carswell]] (novelist, biographer of Robert Burns and D.H. Lawrence)
* [[A.J. Cronin]] (doctor, novelist)
* [[Helen Cruickshank]] (poet, who provided a focal point for the social scene)
* [[Alastair Dunnett]] (journalist and editor)
* [[Robert Garioch]] (poet)
* [[Isabel Frances Grant]] (ethnographer)
* [[George Campbell Hay]] [{{lang|gd|Deòrsa Mac Iain Deòrsa|italic=no}}] (poet, translator)
* [[John MacDougall Hay]] (novelist, journalist, father of George Campbell Hay)
* [[Robert Hurd]] (architect)
* [[Moultrie Kelsall]] (television producer and actor)
* [[Jessie Kesson]] (novelist, playwright)
* [[Archie Lamont]] (poet, nationalist pamphleteer)
* [[William Lamb (artist)|William Lamb]] (sculptor)
* [[Maurice Lindsay (broadcaster)|Maurice Lindsay]] (poet, critic)
* [[Eric Linklater]] (novelist and politician)
* [[Norman MacCaig]] (poet)
* [[William McCance]] (painter)
* [[Fionn MacColla]] [Thomas "Tom" Douglas MacDonald] (novelist, historian)
* [[Compton MacKenzie]] (novelist, journalist)
* [[Agnes Mure Mackenzie]] (writer and historian)
* [[Moray McLaren|Moray MacLaren]]
* [[F. Marian McNeill]] (folklorist)
* [[Frank Mears]] (architect and planner)
* [[Naomi Mitchison]] (novelist, memoirist, activist)
* [[Edwin Morgan (poet)|Edwin Morgan]] (poet, not to be confused with [[Edwin Muir]])
* [[Willa Muir]] (novelist, translator)
* [[R. Crombie Saunders]] (poet, editor, journalist and teacher)
* [[Nan Shepherd]] (novelist, poet)
* [[Tom Scott (poet)|Tom Scott]] (poet, translator, critic)
* [[Ann Scott-Moncrieff]] (writer and journalist)
* [[George Scott-Moncrieff]] (novelist, playwright, poet, journalist)
* [[Mary Symon]] (poet)
* [[David Cleghorn Thomson]], (journalist and broadcaster)
* [[Derick Thomson]] [{{lang|gd|Ruaraidh MacThòmais|italic=no}}] (poet)
* [[Wendy Wood (artist)|Wendy Wood]] (political campaigner, artist and writer)
* [[Douglas Young (classicist)|Douglas Young]] (poet, translator, essayist)
}}

People generally considered to be post-renaissance but strongly influenced by it:
{{Columns-list|colwidth=30em|
* [[John Cairney]] (actor)
* [[Duncan Glen]]
* [[John Herdman (author)|John Herdman]]
* [[Brian Holton (translator)|Brian Holton]] (translator)
* [[Tom Hubbard]]
* [[John MacInnes (Gaelic scholar)|John MacInnes]] (Gaelic scholar)
* [[William Neill (poet)]]
* [[David Purves]] (playwright and poet)
* [[James Robertson (novelist and poet)]]
}}

==See also==
{{Columns-list|colwidth=22em|
*[[Cairns Craig]]
*[[Alasdair Gray]]
*[[Ian Hamilton Finlay]]
*[[Fulton Mackay]]
*[[Charles Nowosielski]] (theatre director)
*[[Muriel Spark]]
*[[Chapman (magazine)|Chapman Magazine]]
*[[Celtic Revival]]
*[[Highland Revival]]
*[[Scottish Gaelic Renaissance]]
*[[Scottish national identity]]
*[[Theatre Alba]]
}}

==References==
<references/>

==Further reading==
* [[Marilyn Bowering|Bowering, Marilyn]] (1981), review of ''Seven Poets'', in Murray, Glen (ed.), ''[[Cencrastus]]'' No. 7, Winter 1981-82, p.&nbsp;47, {{issn|0264-0856}}
* [[George Bruce (poet)|Bruce, George]] (1980), ''F.G. Scott 1880 - 1958'', in ''[[Cencrastus]]'' No. 4, Winter 1980-81, pp.&nbsp;27 & 28, {{ISSN|0264-0856}}
* Fraser, Linda J. & Benvie, Rachel H.F. (2017), ''Ideas o' Their Ain: [[Montrose, Scotland|Montrose]] & The Scottish Renaissance'', Angus Council Museums and Galleries
* Gifford, Douglas (1982), ''In Search of the Scottish Renaissance: The Reprinting of Scottish Fiction'', in ''[[Cencrastus]]'' No. 9, Summer 1982, pp.&nbsp;26 – 30, {{issn|0264-0856}}
* [[Ian Hamilton Finlay|Finlay, Ian Hamilton]] (1962), review of ''The Scots Literary Tradition'' by John Speirs, in [[Giles Gordon|Gordon, Giles]] (ed.), ''New Saltire'' 4: Summer 1962, [[The Saltire Society]], Edinburgh, pp.&nbsp;79 – 81
* [[Duncan Glen|Glen, Duncan]] (1964), ''Hugh MacDiarmid and the Scottish Renaissance'', W. & R. Chambers, {{asin|B0000CME6P}}
* [[Maurice Lindsay (broadcaster)|Lindsay, Maurice]] (1980), ''Francis George Scott and the Scottish Renaissance'', Paul Harris, {{isbn|9780904505436}}
* McCaffery, Ritchie (ed.) (2020), ''Sydney Goodsir Smith, Poet: Essays on His Life and Work'', Brill Rodopi, {{isbn|978-90-04-42510-1}}
* McCulloch, Marjory Palmer (2004), ''Modernism and Nationalism: Literature and Society in Scotland 1918 - 1939'', The Association of Scottish Literary Studies, Glasgow, {{isbn|0-948877-59-6}}
* McLellan, Robert, "The Case for a Real Scots Theatre", in ''Saltire Review'', Vol. 5, No. 16, Autumn 1958, pp. 26 - 31
* [[Third Eye Centre]] (1981), ''Seven Poets: Hugh MacDiarmid, Norman MacCaig, Iain Crichton Smith, George Mackay Brown, Robert Garioch, Sorley MacLean, Edwin Morgan'', {{isbn|9780906474143}}
* Thomson, David Cleghorn (ed.) (1932), ''Scotland in Quest of Her Youth'' [[Oliver and Boyd]], Edinburgh and London
* Wright, Gordon (1969), ''Helen B. Cruickshank's Fifty Years of Verse Writing'', in [[William Neill (poet)|Neill, William]] (ed.), ''Calgacus'', Volume 2, Number 3, Summer 1969, pp.&nbsp;34 & 35

==External links==
* [http://www.culturalprofiles.net/scotland/Directories/Scotland_Cultural_Profile/-5403.html Cultural Profile of Scotland]

{{Scottish literature}}
{{Scottish art}}
{{Schools of poetry}}
{{Twentieth-century Scotland}}

[[Category:Scottish Renaissance| ]]
[[Category:Scottish literary movements]]
[[Category:Literary modernism]]
[[Category:Modern history of Scotland]]
[[Category:20th century in Scotland]]
[[Category:20th-century British literature]]
[[Category:Theatre in Scotland]]