Sorley MacLean 1911 - 1996 Contents: Biography.......................................................................................................................................................Pages 1 - 2 Hallaig..............................................................................................................................................................Pages 2 - 5 The Highlands, the Clearances and the making of Scottish Myth ................................Pages 5 - 7 Further Reading / Contacts.............................................................................................................Pages 8 - 11 Biography: Sorley MacLean (his Gaelic name is Somhairle MacGill-Eain) was born on the island of Raasay, near Skye, in 1911. He was brought up speaking Gaelic and only began to learn English when he started school at the age of six. His family was well-versed in Gaelic song and music: his father and his uncle were pipers and his grandmother and an aunt were Gaelic singers. MacLean went on to study at the University of Edinburgh, graduating with a fi rst in English, then took up teaching as a career. He worked in Skye, Mull and Edinburgh and eventually became head teacher at Plockton High School, retiring in 1972. He served with Signals in the Second World War, returning seriously wounded from El Alamein. While at university he began writing poetry, at fi rst in English, but when he translated one of his poems into Gaelic he immediately felt his poetic voice to be stronger and truer in his fi rst language. He would continue to write in Gaelic for the rest of his life, translating much of his work himself into English. His poetry is distinguished for its inventiveness and its scope and breadth. MacLean represents a break with Gaelic tradition, bringing in many modern elements. He showed that the Gaelic language, although one of the oldest in Europe and inextricably associated with an ancient way of life which was steadily passing into oblivion, was as fl exible and as subtle as any modern language and its poetry was as capable of dealing with complex and contemporary issues. His work refl ects a profound passion for his culture and his people, his language and his literary heritage. His themes range from a raging sense of injustice at human greed and cruelty, to soaring expressions of love; from the devastation of the Clearances, to the horrors of modern warfare. He was never a prolifi c poet – his teaching duties hobbled his creative output – and he was never a professional ‘career’ poet. He wrote as it suited him, as the rhythms came to him, not for glory or fame or material reward. Even though he was widely published – in fact his fi rst poems were published in conjunction with Robert Garioch – his audience was mainly confi ned to the Gaelic speaking community. MacLean also benefi tted from the sturdy advocacy of Douglas Young, who sought a broader audience for the work of his friend by translating his poems into Scots. Widespread recognition was slow in coming but by the 1970s he was fi rmly established as one of Scotland’s leading poets, due partly to an 1 appearance at the Cambridge Poetry Festival where his distinctive and sonorous reading Copyright 2003 © Scottish Literary Tour Trust. All Rights Reserved. Sorley MacLean 1911 - 1996 voice alerted an infl uential new audience to his verse. Sorley MacLean has earned a place as one of Scotland’s most important poets – he is responsible for bringing Gaelic literature into the twentieth century and breathing new life into a language that had long been on the verge of extinction, and was considered more or less irrelevant in the history of Scotland’s literature. MacLean encouraged the Scottish literary establishment to reappraise this erroneous view. Consequently, the positive infl uence MacLean has had on the resurgence of Gaelic in recent years can justly be described as incalculable. Written By Colin Clark Hallaig: ‘Tha tìm, am fi adh, an coille Hallaig’ ‘Time, the deer, is in the wood of Hallaig’ Tha bùird is tàirnean air an uinneig The window is nailed and boarded troimh ‘m faca an Aird an Iar through which I saw the West ‘s tha mo ghaol aig Allt Hallaig and my love is at the Burn of Hallaig, ‘na craoibh bheithe. ‘s bha i riamh a birch tree, and she has always been eadar an t-Inbhir ‘s Poll a’ Bhainne, between Inver and Milk Hollow, thall ‘s bhos mu Bhaile-Chùirn: here and there about Baile-chuirn: tha i ‘na beithe, ‘na calltuinn, she is a birch, a hazel, ‘na caorunn dhìreach sheang ùir. a straight, slender young rowan. Ann an Screapadal mo chinnidh, In Screapadal of my people, far robh Tarmad ‘s Eachunn Mór, where Norman and Big Hector were, tha ‘n nigheanan ‘s am mic ‘nan coille their daughters and their sons are a wood ag gabhail suas ri taobh an lóin. going up beside the stream. Uaibhrach a nochd na coilich ghiuthais Proud tonight the pine cocks ad gairm air mullach Cnoc an Rà, crowing on the top of Cnoc an Ra, dìreach an druim ris a’ ghealaich – straight their backs in the moonlight — chan iadsan coille mo ghràidh. they are not the wood I love. Fuirichidh mi ris a’ bheithe I will wait for the birch wood gus an tig i mach an Càrn, until it comes up by the cairn, gus am bi am bearradh uile until the whole ridge from Beinn na Lice o Bheinn na Lice f’ s sgàil. will be under its shade. Mura tig ‘s ann theàrnas mi a Hallaig If it does not, I will go down to Hallaig, a dh’ ionnsaigh sàbaid nam marbh, to the Sabbath of the dead, far a bheil an sluagh a’ tathaich, where the people are frequenting, gach aon ghinealach a dh’ fhalbh. every single generation gone. 2 Tha iad fhathast ann a Hallaig, They are still in Hallaig, Copyright 2003 © Scottish Literary Tour Trust. All Rights Reserved. Sorley MacLean 1911 - 1996 Clann Gill-Eain ‘s Clann MhicLeòid, MacLeans and MacLeods, na bh’ ann ri linn Mhic Ghille-Chaluim: all who were there in the time of Mac Gille Chaluim: Chunnacas na mairbh beo. the dead have been seen alive. Na fi r ‘nan laighe air an lianaig The men lying on the green aig ceann gach taighe a bh’ ann, at the end of every house that was, na h-igheanan ‘nan coille bheithe, the girls a wood of birches, dìreach an druim, crom an ceann. straight their backs, bent their heads. Eadar an Leac is na Feàrnaibh Between the Leac and Fearns tha ‘n rathad mór fo chóinnich chiùin, the road is under wild moss ‘s na h-igheanan ‘nam badan sàmhach and the girls in silent bands a’ dol a Chlachan mar o thùs. go to Clachan as in the beginning, Agus a’ tilleadh ás a’ Chlachan, and return from Clachan, á Suidhisnis ‘s á tìr nam beò; from Suisnish and the land of the living; a chuile té òg uallach each one young and light-stepping, gun bhristeadh cridhe an sgeòil. without the heartbreak of the tale. O Allt na Feàrnaibh gus an fhaoilinn From the Burn of Fearns to the raised beach tha soilleir an dìomhaireachd nam beann that is clear in the mystery of the hills, chan eil ach coimhthional nan nighean there is only the congregation of the girls ag cumhail na coiseachd gun cheann. keeping up the endless walk, A ‘ tilleadh a Hallaig anns an fheasgar, coming back to Hallaig in the evening, anns a’ chamhanaich bhalbh bheò, in the dumb living twilight, a’ lìonadh nan leathadan casa, fi lling the steep slopes, an gàireachdaich ‘nam chluais ‘na ceò, their laughter in my ears a mist, ‘s am bòidhche ‘na sgleò air mo chridhe and their beauty a fi lm on my heart mun tig an ciaradh air na caoil, before the dimness comes on the kyles, ‘s nuair thearnas grian air cùl Dhùn Cana and when the sun goes down behind Dun Cana thig peileir dian á gunna Ghaoil; a vehement bullet will come from the gun of Love; ‘s buailear am fi adh a tha ‘na thuaineal and will strike the deer that goes dizzily, a’ snòtach nan làraichean feòir; sniffi ng at the grass-grown ruined homes; thig reothadh air a shùil ‘sa’ choille: his eye will freeze in the wood, chan fgighear lorg air fhuil ri m’ bheò. his blood will not be traced while I live. The poem begins with a line in quotation marks, an epigraph: “Time, the deer, is in the wood of Hallaig”. Epigraphs are a common device in literature; they are literally inscriptions, often borrowed from other writers, and their function is subtly to guide the reader towards a particular way of understanding or interpreting what follows. They can also help to add resonance to a poem or section of a novel, or locate a piece of writing within an established tradition. 3 So, what about this epigraph? How does it help us to read Hallaig. The fi rst and most Copyright 2003 © Scottish Literary Tour Trust. All Rights Reserved. Sorley MacLean 1911 - 1996 important observation we make is that the epigraph is strongly metaphorical. Time is the deer. MacLean is telling us we are not to read this poem in a straightforward, literal way. Things are not as they seem. A level of symbolism is operating within the poem, and we must be alert to that. MacLean draws a comparison between two things: an abstract concept (time) and a very concrete object, a living animal (a deer). What possible grounds are there for comparison? We might think of the shy elusive qualities of the deer. Can time be like that? The deer is often hunted – by man as well as other animals. In what way can time be said to be hunted? Time can also be expressed as memory,memory, or history.history.