'Edwin Morgan was poetry's true son and blessed by her'

The poet and playwright Liz Lochhead, who read Morgan's poem celebrating the opening of the Scottish Parliament in 2004, one of many milestones of his career, joined tributes yesterday that ranged from First Minister Alex Salmond to Britain's Poet Laureate, Carol Ann Duffy.

"He made it clear that poetry could be about anything, from outer space to the cancer cell, of everything from ordinary scenes of people on buses, to intensely personal gay love poems," Ms Lochhead said.

"What his poetry said to me was life, and life abundantly."

Morgan, who was born in Glasgow in 1920, was recognised internationally as one of the great poets of the 20th century and his fame grew largest late in life. Winner of the Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry, in 2004 he was appointed "Scots Makar", in effect Scotland's poet laureate, with his poetry widely taught in Scotland's schools.

He passed away at his care home in Glasgow, after a bout of pneumonia, but he had been battling prostate cancer since 1999. When he was diagnosed, his doctor told him he could live six months, or six years. Famously, he replied: "I will take the six years, thank you".

Morgan lived another decade, and went on to write Gorgon and Beau, a poem about the disease and the battle between healthy and cancerous cells.

Duffy, performing in Edinburgh at the Fringe, said: "A great, generous, gentle genius has gone. He was poetry's true son and blessed by her. He was quite simply irreplaceable."

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Mr Salmond said: "Edwin Morgan was truly a great man, an exceptional poet, an inspiration and a most fitting choice as Scotland's first National Poet.

"I vividly recall the poem he wrote, 'For the Opening of the Scottish Parliament', when he wrote, 'Don't let your work and hope be other than great'."

Ms Lochhead recalled being terrified at reading out the poem. "It was a great rhythmic thing of tongue-twisters to do, but it made perfect sense to everybody listening to it.

"There was nothing anodyne about Eddie Morgan, ever."

Morgan kept working right until the end of his life, even as he struggled physically and with his hearing, and celebrated with a 90th birthday party at the end of April, when his own volume, Dreams and Other Nightmares, was published, along with tributes from leading Scottish writers. His archive is held at the Scottish Poetry Library in Edinburgh, where director Robyn Marsack called him "the most influential Scottish poet of the last 50 years".

He served with the Royal Army Medical Corps in the Middle East in the Second World War, and went on to work at the University of Glasgow, where he studied and later taught English.

He retired in 1980 to write full-time. His 1984 Sonnets from Scotland', described yesterday as a collection of "pure virtuoso poetry", are considered one of the most important works of post-war literature.

Keeping his sexuality secret even in his poetry for decades, he came out publicly as a gay man in 1990, at the age of 70.

Morgan's work includes poetry, drama and literary criticism, and he translated poetry from languages including Russian, Spanish and French.

An enormous output ranged from a translation of Beowulf from old English, to A Trilogy of Plays on the Life of Jesus Christ. Writing in both English and Scots, he even learned Hungarian to translate the work of a favourite Hungarian poet. In 1997, he was awarded the Order of Merit of the Republic of Hungary for his services to Hungarian literature.

His death was announced the day after the third Edwin Morgan International Poetry Prize was awarded at the Edinburgh International Book Festival, to AB Jackson.

Nick Barley, the book festival director, said: "As well as being one of the greatest British poets of the last 50 years, Morgan was also the last link to a great generation of Scottish writers than included Sorley MacLean, Norman MacCaig and Hugh MacDiarmid.

"His work transcended genres, was constantly challenging and inspiring and encapsulated all that is great about Scottish poetry and writing.

"His influence will continue to be felt for years to come."

Dr Gavin Wallace, portfolio manager at Creative Scotland with a long involvement in Scottish literature, called him "Scotland's best-loved writer since Robert Burns".

Ian Campbell, professor emeritus of Scottish and Victorian Literature at Edinburgh University, visited Morgan ten days before his death. "It was cruel. He could hardly move, he could hardly eat, and he was going increasingly deaf. He said to me he would like a new pair of ears and a new pair of hands. That was said without self-pity, it was said with a smile."