Dennis Scott
Dennis Courtney Scott was a prominent Jamaican poet, playwright, and educator, born on December 16, 1939, in Kingston, Jamaica. He grew up in a middle-class family that nurtured his love for reading and academics, eventually becoming head boy at Jamaica College. Scott pursued higher education at the University of the West Indies, where he earned a first-class honors degree in English and edited the Caribbean Quarterly journal. His career in education included teaching roles in Trinidad and Jamaica, as well as serving as the director of the Jamaica School of Drama.
Scott's artistic contributions spanned dance, poetry, and theater, with a focus on Jamaica's racial and class struggles, cultural traditions, and political themes. His works often featured a unique blend of English and Jamaican-Creole idioms, exemplified in his first poetry collection, *Uncle Time*, which personified time through a relatable Creole voice. His notable play, *An Echo in the Bone*, interwove Jamaican traditions with powerful historical narratives. Throughout his career, Scott received numerous accolades for his contributions to literature and the arts, including the Commonwealth Poetry Prize and the Gold Medal in Playwriting. He passed away on February 21, 1991, leaving behind a legacy celebrated for its cultural depth and innovative use of language.
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Subject Terms
Dennis Scott
Writer
- Born: December 16, 1939
- Birthplace: Kingston, Jamaica
- Died: February 21, 1991
Biography
Dennis Courtney Scott was born on December 16, 1939, in Kingston, Jamaica. Scott grew up in a middle-class family and was encouraged to read at an early age. He became head boy at Jamaica College boarding school, even though he deemed the school cold and unfriendly. Upon graduation, he studied at the University of the West Indies at Mona, where he edited the university journal, Caribbean Quarterly, from 1968 until 1970. He completed his B.A. in English in 1970 with first class honors. He continued his graduate studies in the United States and England. In 1973, he received a diploma in drama from the University of Newcastle- upon-Tyne.
From 1961 through 1963, Scott taught English and Spanish at Presentation College in Trinidad. Scott returned to Jamaica and taught at Kingston College and Jamaica College from 1971 until 1976, and served as the director of the Jamaica School of Drama at the Cultural Training Centre in Kingston from 1977 through 1983. Scott also worked as a dancer and choreographer with the National Dance Theater Company of Jamaica. He married Joy Thompson in 1969, and the couple had a son, John-David, and a daughter, Danielle Justine.
Scott believed the artist’s role was to create the work, while the reader’s role was to interpret the artist’s work. Writing in both English and Jamaican-Creole idioms, Scott explored Jamaica’s racial and class struggles, political uprisings, and cultural traditions. The title poem in Uncle Time (1973), his first collection of poetry, explores the universal concept of time through a Creole voice. Time is personified through a familiar uncle figure who is elusive and at times deceptive; he takes part in the joys and sorrows of village life and also acts as an agent of death. Scott’s Creole voice gives the poem personality and lightheartedness, while handling the immense concept of time with thoroughness and sensitivity.
Scott’s alliance with university students and Jamaica’s poetic avant-garde is evident in his playwriting. His first major play, An Echo in the Bone, mixes Jamaican traditions, superstitions, and history. The protagonist, Crew, a Jamaican peasant farmer, kills a white estate owner and then disappears, presumably to take his own life. Crew’s family holds a “Nine Night” ritual to appease his spirit. While doing so, the spirit possesses one of Crew’s sons and, through flashbacks, Crew explains he had to kill the white land owner to make him atone for his and his family’s sins as slave owners.
Scott received the Gold Medal in Playwriting in the Jamaican Festival literary competition in 1966; the Shubert Playwriting Award, 1970; a Commonwealth fellowship, 1972; the Jamaica Festival Best Director Award, 1972; an International Poetry Forum Award, 1973, for Uncle Time; the Commonwealth Poetry Prize, 1974; the Silver Musgrave Medal for Achievement in Poetry, 1976; the Prime Minister’s Award, 1983; and the Jamaican Festival Commission’s bronze and silver medals for poetry. He died on February 21, 1991, after a prolonged illness. Scott’s greatest achievement was his ability to use Creole colloquialism, experimentation, and avant-garde poetic techniques to highlight Jamaica’s heritage and traditions.