William J. Tait
WILLIAM JOHN TAIT was born on the Shetland isle of Yell in 1918. A stellar school performance in Lerwick led to his enrolment at Edinburgh University to study English. After graduation he pursued a lifelong career in teaching, with spells back in Shetland, in and around London, the Midlands and Dundee. His poetry first appeared in the Spectator in 1945, and thereafter regularly featured in anthologies and journals, garnering increasing acclaim. His collected poems were published in 1980. He died on Yell, having returned to live in the family home, in 1992 at the age of 73.
Walmer titles by this author
Introduced by Christie Williamson
Born on the island of Yell in Shetland just at the end of the First World War, William Tait’s life spanned the twentieth century.
His passion for the life of words led him to enter the teaching profession in Lerwick after student life away in Edinburgh. This passion never abated, and found its main expression in poetry.
Progressing to England and Scotland as his teaching career blossomed, his poetry began to attract attention. His first works were published in the Spectator in 1945, and over the next 35 years a steady stream of extraordinarily varied and powerful pieces graced the pages of noted journals and anthologies.
Finally, in 1980, this book, collecting together all the work which had gained him a reputation for versatility and brilliance, was published.
A Day Between Weathers sorts Tait’s collected poems written between 1938 and 1978 into three thematic groupings; the first a miscellany, the second amatory, and the third poems of war. But it also exhibits another key triad of Tait’s expertise — he is equally eloquent in English, Scots and Shetlandic. This fluency accords A Day Between Weathers a permanent place in the literature of Shetland, and in the wider world which it embraces.
NORTHUS SHETLAND CLASSICS Poyims / Poetry stream, volume 2
PUBLICATION: September 25, 2025
ISBN: 978-1-7635656-9-2 paperback