Ian Hamilton Finlay, CBE (28 October 1925 – 27 March 2006) was a Scottish poet, writer, artist and gardener. Read full biography of Ian Hamilton Finlay →
People have always found me challenging - I don't know why, when I am only being myself. I don't understand why they find me so annoying but... →
I am always a beginner. I only try to include different parts of life; the pastoral, the tragic, et cetera.
But I can only write what the muse allows me to write. I cannot choose, I can only do what I am given, and I feel pleased when I feel close to... →
I have often said that just as the French revolution, for instance, understood itself through antiquity, I think our time can be understood through... →
The same sort of thing happened in my dispute with the National Trust book: Follies: A National Trust Guide, which implied that the only pleasure you... →
What you compose with is neither here nor there, you compose with words, or you compose with stone plants and trees, or you compose with events; the... →
But at the beginning it was clear to me that concrete poetry was peculiarly suited for using in public settings. This was my idea, but of course I... →
For me concrete poetry was a particular way of using language which came out of a particular feeling, and I don't have control over whether this... →
My position is that since the non-secular status of my garden is not recognised by the law; by the world of the public, then the garden can only be... →
As a friendly one. I would still like to write concrete poems, but I can only do it sometimes.
But you have to understand that I consider myself a very modest artist, or whatever, and not of importance really at all - it is quite embarrassing... →
No, I don't make my work in order to challenge or confuse other people's expectations - I only do what I find natural.
Little Sparta is a garden in the traditional sense. It is perhaps not like other modern gardens, but I think that other times would have had no... →
Ian Hamilton Finlay, CBE (28 October 1925 – 27 March 2006) was a Scottish poet, writer, artist and gardener.