Rather than emphasising the Christian, transcendental elements in Edwin Muir's writing, this critical study focuses on the 'single, disunited world' - a search for meaning and values in the unstable, mundane world. Taking the reader chronologically through all his major works, it analyses the significance of Muir's Orcadian background, the influence of German Romanticism on his early poetry, and his European interests in general. The stylistic maturity of his later poetry is given particular attention, as is the relevance of Scotland to his whole work.

Although Muir has traditionally been seen as standing apart from MacDiarmid's 'Renaissance', this challenging new study shows how he did in his own way fulfil its aim by taking Scottish Literature and criticism back into the mainstream of European culture.