Voice and Register

Section 2, Activity 3

The Scots language poems in Quines appear in several registers – e.g. the classical Scots of the 11th century Countess of Buchan (Isabella MacDuff) in The Dwaum, as well as that of Mary Fleming in Queen of the Bean, and Mary Queen of Scots in The Abdication of Mary Queen of Scots. The Scots in those poems contrasts with the urban vernacular in the more contemporary voice of an anonymous Edinburgh person in The Ballad of Craigmillar (celebrating Helen Crummy), and that of a Glaswegian child in At Miss Eardley’s (Joan Eardley).

Two elements triggered the poem At Miss Eardley’s (Joan Eardley): firstly, seeing a photograph of Joan Eardley’s studio (Sibley, 2014, How to pastel - please scroll down this webpage to see examples of Eardley's pastels of children as well as the photograph Stevenson mentions), with local children visiting it, and noticing the clutter of fascinating objects there – the artists’ environment; and secondly, reading that she chose to use chalk on sandpaper to depict these children. The immediacy, vigour and abrasiveness of this medium seems to me to expresses the subject very effectively. I also read that Eardley welcomed the visits from local children and enjoyed their chat while she was painting them. These facts gave me the idea of using a child’s voice for this poem.

  1. Listen to me reading the poem and see the textile artwork by Jennifer Hamshere produced for the Quines Poems and textiles in tribute to women of Scotland exhibition by the Edge textile artists Scotland group.



  1. Take a note in your Learning Log (opens in new tab) answering these questions:

  • What is the impact of using a child’s voice on you as a reader/listener of this poem?

  • Are there any specific Scots words that indicate the child’s voice to you?

  • Is there a way in which you could use the poem, the recording, the artwork, or my comments in your teaching?



At Miss Eardley’s

Joan Kathleen Harding Eardley, born Warnham, 1921, died Killearn, 1963; artist; her extraordinary output was created in just fifteen years before she died of cancer; celebrated for her portraits of street children in Glasgow, and for her landscapes and seascapes of the North-East coast of Scotland.

‘Away oot and play!’ says Mum, and we dae –

nae fun dodging aboot unner her bunions.

Best place when it’s chuckin it doon,

or if oor brothers are gien us jip,

is ben the big room at Miss Eardley’s;

through the close, up the stair,

chap on her door, and she lets us in –

turpentine kickin its stink up yer nose

gies yer snotters a rare tang!

See the gear she has in there –

a mug, like Dad sups in the pub,

but this yin’s frothin wi brushes – no beer –

and a cheese box fae New Zealand, wi a lamp

stickin oot like a crane doon the Clyde –

no packed wi cheddar, like it says on the side –

wish it wis – I could fair go a creamy slice;

paint splats like dolly mixtures aa ower the flair –

wish they were – and drippin fae tins; piles ae boards,

and canvas stacked at the waas; the day, though,

she’s drawin us wi sticks o chalk on sandpaper,

rough as a cat’s tongue; I’ll no mind the time it takes –

she likes a blether, and so dae I, chance tae tell her the news:

the break-in doon the bakers, how they wur flingin pies

at the polis; and meantime, ma bum, numb

wi the cauld, will thaw oot by her stove.


Return to Unit 6 ebook