A Song of Glasgow Town: The Collected Poems of Marion Bernstein(42 ASLS Annual Volumes)

Although her reputation now rests on her poems on women's rights, the Glasgow poet Marion Bernstein (1846 - 1906) recognised little distinction between gender equality and social equality. She had no patience for those who claimed privilege over others. She valued her fellow poets, many of whom were from the working classes, and she populated her poems with an array of ordinary citizens: postmen, riveters, fishermen, street musicians, even a victim of intemperance. In her enlightened poem 'Human Rights' she advocated universal equality and gave her vision of a world run by women: 'We'd give fair play, let come what might, / To he or she folk, black or white, / And haste the reign of Human Right.' A Song of Glasgow Town contains all of Bernstein's 198 published poems, along with a detailed introduction to her life and work, and extensive notes explaining the background to each poem. These verses provide a fascinating insight into Glasgow in the late Victorian age, at a time of unprecedented social and economic change.

Table of Contents:
Acknowledgements. A Note on the Text. Introduction The Collected Poems of Marion Bernstein. Poems published 28 February 1874 to 8 April 1876 and collected in Mirren's Musings 1. On Hearing 'Auld Lang Syne' 2. Wanted in Glasgow. 3. 'The Wetched Sex' 4. Cremation. 5. The Sulky Man 6. To the Editor of the 'Weekly Mail' 7. Fashions and Follies 8. Squaring the Circle 9. Love and Death and the 'Weekly Mail' 10. A Romance of the Morgue 11. To an Atheist 12. The Donkeys' Duel 13. Reply to J. B. M. ['Oh! J. B.M., you must be stupid'] 14. To D'Odeurs 15. The River of Time 16. Manly Sports 17. A Rule to Work Both Ways 18. Quite Bewildered 19. Changes 20. Reply to J. B.M. ['Dear J. B. M., I was but joking'] 21. The Thunderstorm 22. A Song for the Working Man 23. A Song of Glasgow Town 24. Oh, Scenes of Beauty! 25. The Danger of Delay 26. Sigh Not for Yesterday 27. Wanted A Husband 28. On the Closing Year 29. On New Year's Day 30. The Hero of the Clyde 31. To Amatory Poets 32. The Best Kind of Wife 33. An Able Advocate 34. The Well of Truth 35. 'Ending in Smoke!' 36. Thoughts. 37. Courtship on Valentine's Morning. 38. Come Again, Come Again, Beautiful Spring 39. A Question 40. Woman's Rights and Wrongs 41. Rules for House-Hunting 42. 'Move On!' 43. Reflections 44. Look Forward and Look Upward. 45. A Doubtful Story 46. Come Back to Me, Ye Happy Dreams 47. Married and 'Settled' 48. The Heather and the Broom 49. On Receiving the First Flowers of the Garden from a Friend in London 50. I Really Don't Know What to Say 51. A Slight Inconsistency 52. In These Steam-Engine Days 53. A Dream 54. The Music of the Streets 55. Song ['Oh, bring me a bunch of flowers to-day'] 56. Gas on the Stair 57. The Giant-Killer 58. Advice to Anxiety 59. Sonnet ['Fade not! oh, autumn flowers!'] 60. Musical Reflections 61. Oh, Caledonia! Thou Art Fair 62. Oh, I Wish I Were a Swallow! 63. Blame Not the Broken-Hearted 64. Servants of God, Awake! 65. An Appeal 66. Sonnet, On Receiving a Bouquet 67. A Reply to 'Twenty-Eight' 68. Hope 69. Too Soon Forgotten 70. Far Out at Sea 71. Soaring Upwards to the Light 72. Musings 73. Fame 74. The Fugitive Slave 75. Sonnet ['Life's sunny summer time'] Poems published 25 April 1874 to 6 May 1876 but not collected in Mirren's Musings 76. 'Oh! I Wish That All Women Had Power to Vote' 77. 'I Am Very Glad that I Can Say' 78. What the Pope Said 79. What Somebody Said 80. My Book 81. An Awful Mistake 82. My Own Dear Native Home 83. 'He Promised that Either By Hook or By Crook' 84. Come Back, Sweet Muse Poems collected in Mirren's Musings, June 1876, but not previously published 85. Robin Donn's Lament 86. A Woman's Logic 87. The Great Passover 88. Epigram ['Love's a first-rate theme for rhyming'] 89. To the Editor 90. A Meditation ['Again I see the radiant skies'] 91. Cremating a Mother-in-Law 92. Epigram ['If a man has more malice than wit'] 93. Oh Stay, Sweet Summer, Stay 94. First Paraphrase 95. Teach Me How to Keep Thy Way 96. Friday Evening Hymn 97. At Sabbath Sunset 98. To Annie on Her Birthday 99. The Three Guides 100. On Toothache 101. Mother, Weep Not For Thy Child 102. Sabbath Eve 103. Sonnet, To the Stars 104. A Sleepless Night 105. The Seventh Day 106. The Sabbath of the Lord 107. A Song of Summer 108. Human Rights 109. Reply to the Foregoing 110. The Swallow Poems published 8 July 1876 to 6 January 1906, subsequent to the printing of Mirren's Musings 111. Just Heaven, Defend Us 112. A Leap-Year Romance 113. The Sun Shines on For Ever 114. Onward Yet! Upward Yet! 115. Nature's Aristocracy. 116. Our Cat Can Say 'Im-ph-m' 117. On the Death of 'Rhyming Willie' 118. Capricious May. 119. Justice, Mercy, and Truth 120. Welcome to May 121. Birthday Musings 122. The Govan Riveters' Strike 123. Marion's Reply to M. M'M 124. Light the Furnace Again 125. Heartsease 126. Rest 127. Sonnet: On the Prediction of Extraordinary Darkness &c. 128. A Rainy Day Flitting 129. The Victim of Intemperance 130. Home Music 131. New Year's Musings 132. Mirren's Autobiography. 133. Leap Year Valentines 134. The Resurrection of the Flowers. 135. An Evening Song 136. Toiling Upwards 137. Happy Dreaming 138. To the Great Inventor 139. Song ['In the morning sunlight'] 140. The Scottish Emigrant 141. The East Coast Fishermen 142. The Flower Sermon 143. Beatitudes 144. The Pointsman 145. The Light-Glint on Loch Lomond. 146. A Woman's Plea 147. Robert Burns ['While others will tell of thy triumphs'] 148. Shipwrecked 149. Far Away in the West 150. The Star of Bethlehem 151. The Highland Laird's Song 152. Nearer to Thee 153. The Christmas Party 154. New-Year Thoughts 155. The Death of Douglas 156. A Dream of Rest 157. On the Franchise Demonstration of the 6th Inst. 158. A Birthday Meditation 159. Answer to M. A. Smith 160. Sonnet To Mary Cross 161. Coffining the Pauper 162. A Shower of Falling Stars 163. Patience 164. The Scottish Marseillaise 165. Wanted 166. Acrostic Sonnet - Elizabeth Mouat. 167. On the Death of a Favourite Pet that Had Every Virtue and No Fault 168. Nothing New. 169. Robert Burns ['Oft it moves my indignation'] 170. A Summer Day 171. The Name of the Lord. 172. Forward March! 173. Vanity Fair 174. The Beautiful Spring 175. A Wish 176. Apotheosis 177. To a Captive Bird 178. Treasures Gratis 179. Poor Pussy's Song 180. A Vision of the Cross 181. Have Patience 182. Ye Happy Birds 183. Peace at the Last 184. The Passing Years 185. Lines on the Death of Dr W. T. M'Auslane 186. 'In the Old Likeness' 187. The Horrors ofWar 188. Blue 189. The Dark Before the Dawn 190. A Fable 191. Half-Way Down the Shadowy Valley 192. Willie Brewed a Peck o' Maut 193. To King Edward on His Coronation 194. St Vincent Loch 195. 'Je Pense a Toi' 196. Song of a 'Shut In' 197. Sonnet: The Rainbow 198. A Meditation ['Year after year is passing by'] Notes on Individual Poems Selected Bibliography

About the Author :
Marion Bernstein (1846 - 1906) began contributing poetry to the Saturday penny newspapers shortly after she arrived in Glasgow in 1874. Her poetry often derived from current events, and dealt with social and political topics such as women's rights, temperance, anti-slavery, domestic violence, and the living and working conditions of the poor. She is notable for her fearless attitude as a woman poet in the nineteenth century. Edward H. Cohen is the William R. Kenan, Jr., Professor of English at Rollins College. Anne R. Fertig was a Colling-Clint scholar at Rollins College and is currently a Fulbright scholar at the University of Glasgow. Linda Fleming received her PhD in Modern History from the University of Glasgow and is a research fellow at the University of Edinburgh.

Review :
"Marion Bernstein has a good claim to being the greatest Scottish feminist we've never heard of ... Her voice - neglected for so long - is just the kind we need to hear as we consider the writers who invented Scotland, and the hopes we have for our country in the future." - Scottish Review of Books 9/4, November 2013