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Hugh Macdiarmid and Sorley Maclean: Modern Makars, Men of Letters

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Hugh Macdiarmid and Sorley Maclean: Modern Makars, Men of Letters Hugh MacDiarmid and Sorley MacLean: Modern Makars, Men of Letters by Susan Ruth Wilson B.A., University of Toronto, 1986 M.A., University of Victoria, 1994 A Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in the Department of English © Susan Ruth Wilson, 2007 University of Victoria All rights reserved. This dissertation may not be reproduced in whole or in part, by photo-copying or other means, without the permission of the author. ii Supervisory Committee Dr. Iain Higgins_(English)__________________________________________ _ Supervisor Dr. Tom Cleary_(English)____________________________________________ Departmental Member Dr. Eric Miller__(English)__________________________________________ __ Departmental Member Dr. Paul Wood_ (History)________________________________________ ____ Outside Member Dr. Ann Dooley_ (Celtic Studies) __________________________________ External Examiner ABSTRACT This dissertation, Hugh MacDiarmid and Sorley MacLean: Modern Makars, Men of Letters, transcribes and annotates 76 letters (65 hitherto unpublished), between MacDiarmid and MacLean. Four additional letters written by MacDiarmid’s second wife, Valda Grieve, to Sorley MacLean have also been included as they shed further light on the relationship which evolved between the two poets over the course of almost fifty years of friendship. These letters from Valda were archived with the unpublished correspondence from MacDiarmid which the Gaelic poet preserved. The critical introduction to the letters examines the significance of these poets’ literary collaboration in relation to the Scottish Renaissance and the Gaelic Literary Revival in Scotland, both movements following Ezra Pound’s Modernist maxim, “Make it new.” The first chapter, “Forging a Friendship”, situates the development of the men’s relationship in iii terms of each writer’s literary career, MacDiarmid already having achieved fame through his early lyrics and with the 1926 publication of A Drunk Man Looks at the Thistle when they first met. MacLean, on the other hand, was a recent university graduate, young teacher, and fledgling poet when he began to provide translations of eighteenth-, nineteenth-, and twentieth-century Gaelic poetry for MacDiarmid to versify in English with the odd Scots or Gaelic word. This assistance was essential to MacDiarmid’s compilation of The Golden Treasury of Scottish Poetry, which he wished to be representative of Scotland’s literary traditions in Scots, Gaelic, English, and Latin. The work resulting from MacDiarmid and MacLean’s literary collaboration further reinforced MacDiarmid’s credibility as a nationalist poet well versed in each of these traditions. Chapter two, “Cultural Nationalism – Politics and Poetry” discusses the significance of each writer’s stance on language in relation to Scottish literature and explores their success in avoiding the ideological antagonisms which plagued the literary and language revivals in early twentieth-century Ireland. “Modern Makars” scrutinizes MacDiarmid and MacLean’s renderings of several Gaelic poems in The Golden Treasury, particularly in relation to the implications of the term “translations”. The final chapter, “Epistolary Discourse and the Legacy of the Letters” sums up the significance of MacDiarmid and MacLean’s collaboration and long-standing friendship, as revealed through their letters, and addresses these writers’ subsequent influence on both writing and cultural life in Scotland. The letters are followed by two appendices. Appendix A includes a transcription of Michael Davitt’s interview with Sorley MacLean for the Irish journal Innti in iv 1986 wherein MacLean discusses such issues as his political views, the influences on his poetry, and his relationship with MacDiarmid. The interview is provided in its original Irish text and accompanied by a translation into English. Appendix B is a transcription of the Times Literary Supplement’s 4 January 1936 review of MacDiarmid’s translation of The Birlinn of Clanranald as it was originally published in The Modern Scot. Sorley MacLean served as the ghost writer of MacDiarmid’s response to this critique of his work. This research, conducted both here in Victoria and in Edinburgh, Scotland, provides the first book-length study of the literary collaboration of these influential Scottish poets and the first critical discussion of their collected letters. v Table of Contents Title ............................................................................................................. i Abstract.......................................................................................................ii Table of Contents....................................................................................... v Illustrations.................................................................................................vi Acknowledgements...................................................................................vii Dedication..................................................................................................xi Chapter 1: “Forging a Friendship”............................................................. 1 Chapter 2: “Cultural Nationalism – Politics and Poetry” .......................... 22 Chapter 3: “Modern Makars”................................................................... 56 Chapter 4: “Epistolary Discourse and the Legacy of the Letters”............ 89 A Note on the Sources........................................................................... 120 Source Abbreviations............................................................................. 125 A Note on the Text................................................................................. 126 The Letters............................................................................................. 128 References ............................................................................................ 294 Appendix A: - “‘Scots steel tempered wi’ Irish fire’ comhrá le Somhairle MacGill-Eainn” by Michael Davitt ..................................................... 319 - “’Scots steel tempered wi’ Irish fire’” an Interview with Sorley MacLean Trans. from Irish by Susan Wilson and Louis De Paor..................... 340 Appendix B: Review of MacDiarmid’s translation of The Birlinn of Clanranald, as published in the Times Literary Supplement of 4 Jan. 1936.............. 361 Copyright Permissions ........................................................................... 364 vi List of Illustrations 1. Poets’ Pub. By Alexander (Sandy) Moffat. National Galleries of Scotland Online Collection. 25 Jan. 2007. ................................. 5 2. “Praise of Ben Dorain” – “Translated from the Gaelic by Hugh MacDiarmid.”................................................................................. 61 3. Versification of the “Birlinn Chlann-Raghnaill” by Hugh MacDiarmid..................................................................... 65 4. MacLean’s Prose translation of “The Path of Old Spells”, by Donald Sinclair, as published by MacDiarmid in The Golden Treasury .................................................................... 69 5. “Last Leave of the Hills” by Duncan Bàn MacIntyre, “Translated from the Gaelic.”......................................................... 70 6. Letter from Christopher Murray Grieve (Hugh MacDiarmid) to Sorley MacLean, dated 31 August 1934. ................................ 128 7. Letter from Sorley MacLean to Christopher Murray Grieve, written 28 April 1938 but incorrectly dated 28 April 1933. ........... 129 vii Acknowledgements So many people have provided invaluable assistance in bringing this dissertation to fruition. First, and foremost, I wish to thank Deirdre Grieve, Dorian Grieve, and their family for permission to use the materials from the MacDiarmid MSS collections in the National Library of Scotland and in the Edinburgh University Library. I also wish to express my profound gratitude to Renée MacLean, Ishbel MacLean, and the MacLean family for allowing me to include the material from Sorley MacLean’s papers, also held in the National Library of Scotland and in the Special Collections of Edinburgh University Library. Rebecca MacKay (another MacLean relative), of the Raasay Heritage Trust, kindly facilitated my contact with the MacLean family, with Carcanet Press and, over the course of many months, graciously provided numerous details in response to my questions regarding the contents of MacLean’s letters. Michael Schmidt of Carcanet Press generously allowed the use of materials from the literary estates of both writers. Special thanks, as well, go to Scottish artist Sandy Moffat, for letting me reproduce his wonderful painting, Poets’ Pub. Without these permissions so kindly granted to a complete stranger thousands of miles away, there would have been no dissertation. None of my work would have been possible without the vital help of the staff at the National Library of Scotland and at Edinburgh University Library. I am immensely grateful to the Department of Manuscripts, National Library of Scotland, and to the Special Collections Department of Edinburgh University Library for allowing me to reproduce the material from their MSS archives. I am viii particularly indebted to Robin Smith and Rachel Craig of the NLS, and to Sheila Noble, Tricia Boyd, and Sally Pagan of EUL for their patience and forbearance in responding to my numerous requests, especially for their efforts
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