Morgan was born, educated and worked in Glasgow. His native city was a major source of inspiration for his poetry. Joyce Gunn Cairns drew Morgan on numerous occasions. She writes of this drawing: ‘From an archive of hundreds of drawings of writers and poets I have made over a period of thirty years, few according to my yardstick of success are truly successful... I drew Edwin Morgan when he was close to death and I believe that the success, for me, of this drawing was dependent on his spiritual generosity, on an openness which gave rise to such an ease on my part that I can only describe the experience of making this drawing as one in which Edwin drew himself’.