Although the number of Gaelic speakers has declined during the twentieth century, the last forty years have seen an astonishing flowering of Scottish Gaelic poetry, much of it in the modern idiom. This bilingual anthology provides a selection of the best work of poets who have contributed most to that revival--Sorely Maclean, George Campbell Hay, Derick Thomson, Iain Crichton Smith, and Donald MacAulay.
Introduced by Donald MacAulay. This indispensable anthology contains selections of the best work by Scotland’s most acclaimed modern Gaelic poets: Sorley Maclean, George Campbell Hay, Iain Crichton Smith, Derick Thomson and Donald MacAulay. Designed as much for English readers of Gaelic, the poems are presented with line-for-line translations. These translations have been made by the poets themselves, thereby maximising the retention of the sprit and form of the originals. Donald MacAulay is Professor of Celtic at the University of Glasgow. ‘This is the ideal collection for those who wish to enjoy Gaelic poetry without learning the language.’ Birmingham Post ‘This book deserves to be read not only to gain an insight into modern Gaelic poetry, but because it contains poetry of merit that is now available in English.’ Press and Journal ‘Nua-Bhardachd Ghaidhlig breathes the very soul of Gaelic Scotland. It is an anthology of the first importance.’ Books Ireland
The comparative study of the literatures of Ireland and Scotland has emerged as a distinct and buoyant field in recent years. This collection of new essays offers the first sustained comparison of modern Irish and Scottish poetry, featuring close readings of texts within broad historical and political contextualisation. Playing on influences, crossovers, connections, disconnections and differences, the 'affinities' and 'opposites' traced in this book cross both Irish and Scottish poetry in many directions. Contributors include major scholars of the new 'archipelagic' approach, as well as leading Irish and Scottish poets providing important insights into current creative practice. Poets discussed include W. B. Yeats, Hugh MacDiarmid, Sorley MacLean, Louis MacNeice, Edwin Morgan, Douglas Dunn, Seamus Heaney, Ian Hamilton Finlay, Michael Longley, Medbh McGuckian, Nuala ni Dhomhnaill, Don Paterson and Kathleen Jamie. This book is a major contribution to our understanding of poetry from these islands in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.
Scottish and “Celtic fringe” postcolonialism has caused much controversy and unease in literary studies. Can the non-English territories and peoples of the British Isles, faced with centuries of English hegemony, be meaningfully compared to former overseas colonies? This book is the first comprehensive study of this topic which offers an in-depth study of Gaelic literature. It investigates the complex interplay between Celticity, Gaeldom, Scottish and British national identity, and international colonial and postcolonial discourse. It situates post/colonial elements in Gaelic poetry within a wider context, showing how they intersect with socio-historical and political issues, anglophone literature and the media. Highlighting the centrality of Celticity as an archetypal construct in colonial discourses ancient and modern, this volume traces post/colonial themes and strategies in Gaelic poetry from the Middle Ages to the present. Central themes include the uneasy position of Gaels as subjects of the Scottish or British state, and as both intra-British colonised and overseas colonisers. Aiming to promote interdisciplinary dialogue, it is of interest for scholars and students of Scottish Studies, Gaelic and English literature, and international Postcolonial Studies.
A survey of medieval and early modern Scottish Gaelic poetry which studies the fixed set of literary conventions by which the court poets gave sanction to their patrons' leadership, an essential task which served to preserve the cohesion of society. This book is the first systematic collection and classification of this rhetoric of leadership.
