Scottish poet, scholar, and literary critic known for Love or Nothing, St. Kilda's Parliament, The Donkey's Ear, and other works. He was awarded both the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize and the Hawthornden Prize.
He studied at the Scottish School of Librarianship and at the University of Hull. He published his first poetry collection, Terry Street, in 1969.
He began teaching English at the University of St. Andrews in 1991.
He was born in Renfrewshire, Scotland.
He and poet Alan Bold are literary contemporaries and fellow Scots.
