Knowra Sorley MacLean Sorley MacLean Sorley MacLean (Somhairle MacGill-Eain, 1911–1996) was a Scottish Gaelic poet whose modern verse, especially Dàin do Eimhir, transformed twentieth-century Gaelic literature.
Scottish Gaelic : Scottish Gaelic is a Celtic language traditionally spoken in Scotland, especially the Highlands and Islands. MacLean wrote chiefly in this language and renewed its possibilities for modern poetry.
An Cuilithionn : An Cuilithionn is Sorley MacLean’s long Gaelic poem, composed chiefly in the 1930s and published posthumously in 1989. It extends his lyric voice into a sustained meditation on history, politics, and the Cuillin mountains.
Sorley MacLean's life : Sorley MacLean’s life encompassed Gaelic-speaking childhood on Raasay, teaching, political commitment, and military service. His biography links the island landscapes and historical concerns that recur throughout his poetry.
Raasay : Raasay is an island in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland, east of the Isle of Skye. MacLean was born there, and its landscape and emptied settlements shaped his poetic imagination.
Modern Scottish literature : Modern Scottish literature is writing produced in Scotland and its literary traditions from the late nineteenth century onward. MacLean’s work placed Gaelic poetry within the central story of modern Scottish writing.
Gaelic poetry : Gaelic poetry is poetry composed in the Gaelic languages, including Irish Gaelic and Scottish Gaelic. MacLean transformed a living tradition whose forms and themes long predated his modern verse.
Reel : “Reel” is a Sorley MacLean poem that uses the dance form as an image of violent historical change. Its rhythmic energy shows how MacLean could turn inherited music into a modern political poem.
Iain Crichton Smith : Iain Crichton Smith was a Scottish poet and novelist who wrote in both Gaelic and English. Like MacLean, he helped establish modern Gaelic poetry while engaging a wider Scottish literary world.
Scottish Gaelic oral tradition : Scottish Gaelic oral tradition comprises songs, stories, poetry, and historical knowledge transmitted by speech and performance. Its musical and historical inheritance underlies MacLean’s modern use of Gaelic poetic language.
Gaelic literary modernism : Gaelic literary modernism is the use of modernist techniques and concerns in literature written in a Gaelic language. MacLean joined contemporary poetic forms and political thought to Gaelic language and tradition.
Show all 25