Scottish Gaelic literature

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Scottish Gaelic literature refers to literature composed in the Scottish Gaelic language, a member of the Goidelic branch of Celtic languages, along with Irish and Manx.

Before 1200

Gaidhlig was spoken in Scotland at least as early as the sixth century, when settlers from Ireland moved to the west of Scotland. There has been some debate on when the Gaidhlig language spoken in Scotland had become sufficiently distinct from that spoken in Ireland to justify calling it Scottish Gaelic. For much of the Middle Ages, the learned Gaelic elites of both Scotland and Ireland maintained close contacts and shared a literary form of Gaelic, which diverged from the spoken form.

The bulk of early Gaelic verse to which Scottish origins can be ascribed was produced by the monastic community (familia) of St Columba at Iona.^[1] Dallán Forgaill (fl. late 6th century) was responsible for a eulogy of Columba, Amra Choluim Chille, which takes pride of place as one of the earliest literary works produced in Irish,^[2] and Beccán mac Luigdech (fl. 7th century) composed at least two poems in praise of the patron saint. Of the many vernacular poems written about Columba or attributed to him, only few can be claimed to be of Scottish origin. The Betha Adamnáin ("Life of Adomnán") incorporates anecdotal material which has been shown to come from Iona.^[1]

A Scottish background has been suggested for the story related in the 9/10th-century prose text Scéla Cano meic Gartnáin, about the wanderings of the exiled Scottish king Cano mac Gartnáin. The Lebor Bretnach, an 11th-century Gaelic translation of the Historia Brittonum, has been regarded as the product of a flourishing Gaelic literary establishment at the monastery of Abernethy.

It is possible that more Middle Gaelic literature was written in medieval Scotland than is often thought, but has not survived because the Gaelic literary establishment of eastern Scotland died out before the 14th century.^{[citation needed]} Some Gaelic texts written in Scotland have survived in Irish sources.

There survives a small body of medieval Scottish poetry. There seems to have been some patronage of Gaelic poetry by the later Pictish kings. In the thirteenth century, Muireadhach Albanach, Irish poet of the O'Dálaigh clan of poets wrote eulogies for the Mormaers of Lennox. He founded the MacMhuirich bardic family, a Scottish dynasty of poets. Muireadhach may have played a large role introducing the new "reformed" style of poetry which had been developing in Ireland in the twelfth century. Muireadhach's friend, Gille Brighde Albanach, was perhaps the most prolifically extant native Scottish poet. About 1218, Gille Brighde wrote a poem - Heading for Damietta - on his experiences of the Fifth Crusade.

High Middle Ages

Gaelic has a rich oral (beul-aithris) and written tradition, having been the language of the bardic culture of the Highland clans. However, according to Peter Berresford Ellis, the only extant manuscripts preceding the Book of the Dean of Lismore from 16th century are some notes in the Book of Deer, one 11th century poem and the Islay Charter of 1408, presumably due to the rest having been "destroyed by the anti-Gaelic administrators of the country".^[3]

It is clear from John Barbour (d. 1395), and a plethora of other evidence, that the Fenian Cycle flourished in Scotland. There are allusions to Gaelic legendary characters in later Anglo-Scottish literature (oral and written).

Reign of James IV

Walter Kennedy (d. 1518?), one of the makars associated with the court of James IV, may have written works in the language, although only examples of his poetry in Scots survive.

The Book of Common Order was translated into Scottish Gaelic by Séon Carsuel (John Carswell), Bishop of the Isles, and printed in 1567. This is considered the first printed book in Scottish Gaelic though the language resembles classical Irish.^[4]

Seventeenth century

Mairi nighean Alasdair Ruaidh was a notable poetess during the 17th-century.

Iain Lom (c. 1624–c. 1710) was a Royalist Scottish Gaelic poet appointed poet laureate in Scotland by Charles II at the Restoration. He delivered a eulogy for the coronation, and remained loyal to the Stuarts after 1688, opposing the Williamites and later, in his vituperative Oran an Aghaidh an Aonaidh, the 1707 Union of the Parliaments.^[5]

Eighteenth century

The Gaelic inscription plaque on the memorial to the poet Duncan Ban MacIntyre, born in 1724 at Druim Liaghart and who died in 1812.

The use of Scottish Gaelic suffered when Highlanders were persecuted after the Battle of Culloden in 1746, and during the Highland Clearances.

The Scottish Gaelic Enlightenment figure Alasdair mac Mhaighstir Alasdair compiled the first secular book in Scottish Gaelic to be printed: Leabhar a Theagasc Ainminnin (1741), a Gaelic-English glossary. The second secular book in Scottish Gaelic to be published was his poetry collection Ais-Eiridh na Sean Chánoin Albannaich (The Resurrection of the Ancient Scottish Language). His lexicography and poetry was informed by his study of old Gaelic manuscripts, an antiquarian interest which also influenced the orthography he employed. As an observer of the natural world of Scotland and a Jacobite rebel, Alasdair mac Mhaighstir Alasdair was the most overtly nationalist poet in Gaelic of the 18th century. His Ais-Eiridh na Sean Chánoin Albannaich was reported to have been burned in public by the hangman in Edinburgh.^[6] He was influenced by James Thomson's The Seasons as well as by Gaelic "village poets" such as Iain Mac Fhearchair (John MacCodrum). As part of the oral literature of the Highlands, few of the works of such village poets were published at the time, although some have been collected since.^[6]

Scottish Gaelic poets produced laments on the Jacobite defeats of 1715 and 1745. Mairghread nighean Lachlainn and Catriona Nic Fhearghais are among woman poets who reflected on the crushing effects on traditional Gaelic culture of the aftermath of the Jacobite uprisings. A consequent sense of desolation pervaded the works of Scottish Gaelic writers such as Dughall Bochanan which mirrored many of the themes of the graveyard poets writing in England.^[6] A legacy of Jacobite verse was later compiled (and adapted) by James Hogg in his Jacobite Reliques (1819).

Donnchadh Bàn Mac an t-Saoir (usually Duncan Ban MacIntyre in English; 20 March 1724 – 14 May 1812)^[7] is one of the most renowned of Scottish Gaelic poets and formed an integral part of one of the golden ages of Gaelic poetry in Scotland during the 18th century. He is best known for his poem about Beinn Dorain; "Moladh Beinn Dòbhrain" (English: "Praise of Ben Doran"). Most of his poetry is descriptive and the influence of Alasdair MacMhaighstir Alasdair is notable in much of it. Despite the Jacobite upheavals during his lifetime, it was his experience as a gamekeeper in Argyll and Perthshire in the employ of the Duke of Argyll which had greatest impact upon his poetry. Moladh Beinn Dòbhrain, stems from this period. The significance of Duncan Bàn's nature themed poetry is such that it has, along with that of MacMhaighstir Alasdair, been described as "the zenith of Gaelic nature poetry".^[8]

The Ossian of James Macpherson

Main article: Ossian

Bible translation

An Irish Gaelic translation of the Bible dating from the Elizabethan period, but revised in the 1680s, was in use until the Bible was translated into Scottish Gaelic.^[9] Author David Ross notes in his 2002 history of Scotland that a Scottish Gaelic version of the Bible was published in London in 1690 by the Rev. Robert Kirk, minister of Aberfoyle; however it was not widely circulated.^[10] The first well-known translation of the Bible into modern Scottish Gaelic was begun in 1767 when Dr James Stuart of Killin and Dugald Buchanan of Rannoch produced a translation of the New Testament. Very few European languages have made the transition to a modern literary language without an early modern translation of the Bible. The lack of a well-known translation until the late 18th century may have contributed to the decline of Scottish Gaelic.^[9]

19th century

Ewen MacLachlan translated the first eight books of Homer's Iliad into Scottish Gaelic. He also composed and published his own Gaelic Attempts in Verse (1807) and Metrical Effusions (1816), and contributed greatly to the 1828 Gaelic–English Dictionary.

The poetry of Allan MacDonald (1859–1905) is mainly religious in nature. He composed hymns and verse in honour of the Blessed Virgin, the Christ Child, and the Eucharist. However, several secular poems and songs were also composed by him. In some of these, MacDonald praises the beauty of Eriskay and its people. In his verse drama, Parlamaid nan Cailleach (The Old Wives' Parliament), he lampoons the gossiping of his female parishioners and local marriage customs.

20th century

Since about 1900, plays have been written and performed in Scottish Gaelic.

The first novel in Scottish Gaelic was John MacCormick's Dùn-Àluinn, no an t-Oighre 'na Dhìobarach, which was serialised in the People's Journal in 1910, before publication in book form in 1912. The publication of a second Scottish Gaelic novel, An t-Ogha Mòr by Angus Robertson, followed within a year.^[11]

Dòmhnall Ruadh Chorùna was a Scottish Gaelic poet who served in the First World War, and as a war poet described the use of poison gas in his poem Òran a' Phuinnsuin ("Song of the Poison"). His poetry is part of oral literature, as he himself never learnt to read and write in his native language.

As part of the Scottish Gaelic Renaissance, Sorley MacLean's work in Scottish Gaelic in the 1930s gave new value to modern literature in that language. Iain Crichton Smith was more prolific in English but also produced much Gaelic poetry and prose, and also translated some of the work of Sorley Maclean from Gaelic to English, as well as some of his own poems originally composed in Gaelic. Much of his English language work was related to, or translated from, Gaelic equivalents.

Modern Gaelic poetry has been most influenced by Symbolism, transmitted via poetry in English, and by Scots poetry. Traditional Gaelic poetry utilised an elaborate system of metres, which modern poets have adapted to their own ends. George Campbell Hay looks back beyond the popular metres of the 19th and 20th centuries to forms of early Gaelic poetry. Donald MacAuley's poetry is concerned with place and community.^[12] The following generation of Gaelic poets writing at the end of the 20th century lived in a bilingual world to a greater extent than any other generation, with their work most often accompanied in publication by a facing text in English. Such confrontation has inspired semantic experimentation, seeking new contexts for words, and going as far as the explosive and neologistic verse of Fearghas MacFhionnlaigh (1948- ).^[13] Scottish Gaelic poetry has been the subject of translation not only into English, but also into other Celtic languages: Maoilios Caimbeul and Màiri NicGumaraid have been translated into Irish, and John Stoddart has produced anthologies of Gaelic poetry translated into Welsh.^[14]

Today

Scottish Gaelic literature is currently experiencing a revival.

With regard to Gaelic poetry this includes the Great Book of Gaelic An Leabhar Mòr, a Scottish Gaelic, English and Irish language collaboration featuring the work of 150 poets, visual artists and calligraphers.^[15] Established contemporary poets in Scottish Gaelic include Meg Bateman, Maoilios Caimbeul, Rody Gorman, Aonghas MacNeacail and Angus Peter Campbell.

Gaelic prose has expanded also, particularly with the development since 2003 of the Ùr-sgeul series published by CLÀR, which encourages new works of Gaelic fiction from both established and new writers. Angus Peter Campbell, besides three Scottish Gaelic poetry collections, has produced five Gaelic novels: An Oidhche Mus Do Sheol Sinn (2003), Là a' Deanamh Sgeil Do Là (2004), An Taigh-Samhraidh (2006) and Tilleadh Dhachaigh (2009) and Fuaran Ceann an t-Saoghail (2011). Other established fiction writers include Alasdair Caimbeul and his brother Tormod Caimbeul, Catriona Lexy Campbell, Alison Lang, Dr Finlay MacLeod, Iain F. MacLeod, Norma MacLeod, Mary Anne MacDonald and Duncan Gillies. New fiction writers include Mairi E. MacLeod and the writers of the An Claigeann Damien Hirst (Ùr-sgeul, 2009) and Saorsa (Ùr-sgeul, 2011) anthologies. In 2013, the first ever Scottish Gaelic hard science fiction novel, Air Cuan Dubh Drilseach by Tim Armstrong, was published by CLÀR.

Within Gaelic drama, two Gaelic theatre companies were recently professionally active: Fir Chlis and Tosg, which was managed by the late Simon MacKenzie.^[16]

Most recently, the Gaelic drama group Tog-I, established by Arthur Donald, has attempted to revive the sector.

Notes

↑ 1.0 1.1 Clancy, "Scottish Gaelic literature (to c. 1200)", p. 1276.
↑ See Thomas Owen Clancy and G. Márkus, ed. (1995). Amra Choluimb Chille, Iona: the earliest poetry of a Celtic monastery. Edinburgh. pp. 96–128.
↑ Peter Berresford Ellis: MacBeth, High King of Scotland, 1040-57, 1980
↑ Felicity Heal Reformation in Britain and Ireland - Page 282 2005 "In Irish the catechism long preceded the printing of the New Testament, while in Scottish Gaelic the Form of Common Order was printed in 1567, the full Bible not until 1801. Manx Gaelic had no Bible until the eighteenth century:"
↑ Watson, Roderick (2007). The Literature of Scotland. Houndmills: Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 9780333666647.
↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Crawford, Robert (2007). Scotland's Books. London: Penguin. ISBN 9780140299403.
↑ Calder, George (editor and translator). The Gaelic Songs of Duncan MacIntyre. Edinburgh: John Grant, 1912.
↑ Gaelic Song - An Introduction
↑ 9.0 9.1 Mackenzie, Donald W. (1990-92). "The Worthy Translator: How the Scottish Gaels got the Scriptures in their own Tongue". Transactions of the Gaelic Society of Inverness 57: 168–202. Check date values in: |date= (help)
↑ Ross, David. Scotland: History of a Nation. Geddes & Grosset, 2002.
↑ THE FORGOTTEN FIRST: JOHN MACCORMICK’S DÙN-ÀLUINN
↑ MacAuley, Donald (1976). Nua-bhàrdachd Ghàidhlig - Modern Scottish Gaelic Poems. Southside.
↑ Whyte, Christopher (1991). An Aghaidh na Sìorraidheachd - In the Face of Eternity. Edinburgh: Polygon. ISBN 0748660917.
↑ Poetry in the British Isles: Non-Metropolitan Perspectives. University of Wales Press. 1995. ISBN 0708312667.
↑ Leabhar Mor website summary of book
↑ Simon MacKenzie Scotsman obituary

References

Clancy, Thomas Owen (2006). "Scottish Gaelic literature (to c. 1200)". In John T. Koch. Celtic Culture. A Historical Encyclopedia. 5 volumes 4. Santa Barbara, Denver and Oxford: ABC Clio. pp. 1276–7.

External links

Digitised version of Leabhar a Theagasc Ainminnin, 1741 at National Library of Scotland
Digitised version of Ais-Eiridh na Sean Chánoin Albannaich / The resurrection of the ancient Scottish language, 1751 at National Library of Scotland
Scottish Gaelic Texts Society
Scottish literature, Celtic Literature Collective.
The Spread of Scottish Printing, digitised items between 1508 and 1900
Bibliography of Gaelic Arthurian literature
Aithbhreac - An Claigeann aig Damien Hirst launch

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