UHI Thesis - pdf download summary Today's No Ground to Stand Upon A Study of the Life and Poetry of George Campbell Hay Artymiuk, Anne DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY (AWARDED BY OU/ABERDEEN) Award date: 2019 Awarding institution: The University of Edinburgh Link URL to thesis in UHI Research Database General rights and useage policy Copyright,IP and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the UHI Research Database are retained by the author, users must recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights. This copy has been supplied on the understanding that it is copyright material and that no quotation from the thesis may be published without proper acknowledgement, or without prior permission from the author. 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Sep. 2021 ‘Today’s No Ground to Stand Upon’: a Study of the Life and Poetry of George Campbell Hay Anne Artymiuk M.A. University of Leeds M.A. University of the Highlands and Islands A thesis presented in 2019 for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the University of Aberdeen. Dedication To the memory of Margaret McGregor 1935 – 2018 A much beloved aunt deeply mourned:daily missed Sìth da h-anam Abstract This work is a study of the life and poetry of the Scottish poet George Campbell Hay, with particular reference to those places where biography, psychology and poetry intersect. It examines and questions some of the biographical ‘facts’ of Hay’s life as he gave them: his acquisition of Gaelic and the cause of his initial mental breakdown in Greece in 1946. It discusses the reasons that may have lain behind his eventual agreement to be conscripted into the British Army after a long period of refusal, and considers how this affected him as a man and as a poet. Post-war, Hay was diagnosed with schizophrenia and as a result spent many years in a mental asylum; this study challenges the diagnosis of schizophrenia and suggests that what Hay actually suffered from was bipolar II disorder. It examines the ways in which the disease may have affected both his methods of working and the form and content of his poetry. On a slightly wider scale it also explores the ways in which Hay’s poetry reflected his lived experience, as well as the ways in which he used his work to create and present a personal vision of Scotland. Contents Acknowledgements Author’s Declaration A Note on the Text Thesis Text Introduction 1 Literature Review 10 Chapter One. Of Madness and Poets 28 Chapter Two. ‘I Have Loved Your Sea and Moorland’ 1915 -41 42 Chapter Three. ‘Between Duntocher and the Moon’ 1941-47 Part One: A Poet at War. 91 Part Two: The Poetry of Wartime. 114 Chapter Four. ‘An Ember of Courage in Strange Countries’ 1947 -83 162 Chapter Five. ‘The True Meaning of my Music’: Assessment 221 and Conclusions Appendices Appendix A1 Analysis of Poetry by Time 232 Appendix A2 Example of Seasonal Clustering of Poems 236 Appendix B Analysis of Poetry by Subject 237 Appendix C Analysis of Poetry by Language 241 Appendix D Mood Graph from August 1943 to July 1944 242 List of References 243 Bibliography 246 Acknowledgments I should first of all thank my supervisory team: Donna Heddle from the University of the Highlands and Islands, Alan Riach from the University of Glasgow and Timothy Baker from the University of Aberdeen. I tried to be the least troublesome supervisee ever, but only they can say whether I succeeded. I suspect few people have a perfectly easy route to a completed thesis; mine has been rockier than some, and Professor Heddle has been throughout a constant source of encouragement, and a morale booster par excellence. She is also an eagle-eyed proof-reader. Professor Riach guided my initial reading with an enthusiasm rooted in his own wide knowledge of Scottish Literature. It was, bar perhaps Scott’s The Talisman, an enjoyable journey. Also, I suspect he will never appreciate how often his throw-away comment ‘To go forward you have sometimes to go back’ became a talisman of my own. Dr Baker has been invaluable in his gentle but consistent challenges to my thinking and, especially in the latter stages of writing, made several excellent suggestions which greatly improved the finished product. It would have been difficult to undertake the current work if it were not for the publication in 2000 of Collected Poems and Songs of George Campbell Hay, masterfully edited by Dr Michel Byrne. Again I have tried not to importune Dr Byrne, but I am grateful to him for his prompt and courteous responses to the few enquiries I allowed myself to make. I am even more grateful to him for sending me scans of documents which I could enlarge when problems with my vision meant I could no longer read the originals. He also voluntarily translated for me those sections of Campbell Hay’s diaries which were written in Gaelic, which was hugely helpful. The world of Gaelic poetry is a weird and wonderful place. I can only guess at how bewildering it might be to enter without an experienced guide. My own early studies of this subject , almost a decade ago, were overseen by Meg Bateman of Sabhal Mòr Ostaig. Professor Bateman’s combined qualities of rigorous scholarship, poetic sensibility, and enthusiasm make her an outstanding teacher in this field, and I count myself fortunate indeed to have been one of her students. Four people gave generously of their time to share personal memories with me. Archie Smith, who was born and brought up in Tarbert and whose mother was a friend of Catherine Hay’s, gave me valuable insights into people’s attitudes, as well as an understanding of the geography of the town and its hinterland. Angus Martin and Gordon Wright both knew Hay in the latter part of his life, as friends and, in the case of Wright, as his publisher. Although both have written about Hay I was grateful that they were still willing to recount their reminiscences in person. Neville Singh knew Hay only in his last months, as he was working as a psychiatric nurse on the ward where Hay stayed during his final illness. Mr Singh went on to become a practicing psychoanalyst and, as well as sharing his memories of Hay in hospital, has proved a willing and stimulating sounding board for ideas around Hay’s mental health. Hay’s copyright is owned by the Lorimer Trust and I am grateful for the Trust’s permission to quote from his work. In the course of my research I have made numerous trips to a number of libraries and I would like to place on record my thanks for their assistance, both by e-mail and in person, to the staff of the National Library of Scotland, the University libraries of Edinburgh, Aberdeen, and the Highlands and Islands (Orkney College). Special mention should be made of the staff at the Orkney County Library and Archive, who I caused to go scurrying into odd corners of their stack on a regular basis, and who did so every time with a smile rather than a rolling of the eyes. Two more special mentions are due to staff at the National Archive at Kew: firstly to the aptly named Mr George Hay who did his best to locate for me a Unit Diary for George Campbell Hay’s time in Kavalla, and secondly to the young man who took my reader’s photograph there and made me look both much younger and much thinner than I really am. A fortune, I am sure, awaits should he decide to go into the business of passport photography. My thanks too to Janis Mackay and Val Cooper of the UHI Graduate School, for their patience, guidance, reminders, suggestions, and one or two laughs as well. I am exceedingly lucky in having had numerous friends cheering me on from the sidelines and although it is invidious to pick out some individuals for special thanks when everyone’s support has meant so much to me I shall do it anyway. Thanks then to all the following: Margaret Waterson and Milner Tomlinson with whom I started my career as a mature student on an M.A. in Victorian Studies in Leeds back in 1999. Anne Morrison, a fellow student a decade later on the M.Litt in Highlands and Islands Literature at UHI, where I first encountered the work of George Campbell Hay. Caroline Nairn, psychologist, fellow doctoral student and friend extraordinaire. Heather Cawte, who has a gift for inspiration and encouragement. All the inhabitants of the group known as The Beach Clinic who for several years have followed the ups and downs of my progress with more interest and involvement than I had any right to expect.