Sorley MacLean (Scottish Gaelic: Somhairle MacGill-Eain;[i][ii] 26 October 1911 – 24 November 1996) was a Scottish Gaelic poet, described by the Scottish Poetry Library as "one of the major Scottish poets of the modern era" because of his "mastery of his chosen medium and his engagement with the European poetic tradition and European politics".[2] Nobel Prize Laureate Seamus Heaney credited MacLean with saving Scottish Gaelic poetry.[3]
He was raised in a strict Presbyterian family on the island of Raasay, immersed in Gaelic culture and literature from birth, but abandoned religion for socialism. In the late 1930s, he befriended many Scottish Renaissance figures, such as Hugh MacDiarmid and Douglas Young. He was wounded three times while serving in the Royal Corps of Signals during the North African Campaign. MacLean published little after the war, due to his perfectionism. In 1956, he became head teacher at Plockton High School, where he advocated for the use of the Gaelic language in formal education.
In his poetry, MacLean juxtaposed traditional Gaelic elements with mainstream European elements, frequently comparing the Highland Clearances with contemporary events, especially the Spanish Civil War. His work was a unique fusion of traditional and modern elements that has been credited with restoring Gaelic tradition to its proper place and reinvigorating and modernizing the Gaelic language. Although his most influential works, Dàin do Eimhir and An Cuilthionn, were published in 1943, MacLean did not become well known until the 1970s, when his works were published in English translation. His later poem Hallaig, published 1954, achieved "cult status"[4]: 134 outside Gaelic-speaking circles for its supernatural representation of a village depopulated in the Highland Clearances and came to represent all Scottish Gaelic poetry in the English-speaking imagination.
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^"Sorley MacLean". Scottish Poetry Library. Archived from the original on 17 August 2018. Retrieved 17 August 2018.
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SorleyMacLean (Scottish Gaelic: Somhairle MacGill-Eain; 26 October 1911 – 24 November 1996) was a Scottish Gaelic poet, described by the Scottish Poetry...
poet SorleyMacLean, an important figure in the Scottish Renaissance. Traditionally the home of Clan MacSween, the island was ruled by the MacLeods from...
the Isles, John of Islay, married the leader of the MacLeans, Lachlan Lubanach; subsequent MacLean leaders thus descended from John of Islay. Lachlan's...
MacLean, also spelt Maclean and McLean, is a Scottish Gaelic surname (Mac Gille Eathain, or, Mac Giolla Eóin in Irish Gaelic), Eóin being a Gaelic form...
she was first cousin to Alasdair mac Mhaighstir Alasdair. Along with SorleyMacLean, the latter is considered one of the two most important figures in Scottish...
is the most recognized poem of SorleyMacLean, an important Scottish poet of the 20th century. After writing it, MacLean rose to fame in the English-speaking...
including Duncan Ban MacIntyre's Praise of Ben Dorain, which were well received by native speakers, including SorleyMacLean. He had a daughter, Christine...
later work. Hugh Leonard, Denis Johnston, Tom Murphy, Roddy Doyle and SorleyMacLean are among writers would later invoke the Rising. Now extensively dramatised...
from Shepherd Moons is based on a traditional waulking song. The poet SorleyMacLean was born on Raasay, the setting for his best known poem, Hallaig. George...
ISBN 978-1-84195-454-7. Mac an Tàilleir, Iain (2003) Ainmean-àite/Placenames. (pdf) Pàrlamaid na h-Alba. Retrieved 26 August 2012. Maclean, Charles (1977) Island...
Maclean, struck a deal with the Spanish commander to re-provision and refit the ship in return for military intervention on the side of the MacLeans in...
the British folk revival. SorleyMacLean and Hamish Henderson also arranged for American musicologist Alan Lomax to meet MacNeil and record her singing...
Martin and recordings of the works of Gaelic poet Somhairle MacGill-Eain (SorleyMacLean). This was David Bryant's last major environmental creative work...
American literature. In an interview prior to his death, SorleyMacLean, who is, alongside Alasdair Mac Mhaighstir Alasdair, considered to be among the two...
the first Scots Makar by the inaugural Scottish government in 2004. SorleyMacLean was described by the Scottish Poetry Library as "one of the major Scottish...
Arisaig in 1770. He remains, along with 20th century Symbolist Bard SorleyMacLean, one of the two most important poets and writers in the history of Scottish...
years of 1956 and 1972 Plockton was home to the Gaelic scholar SorleyMacLean, (Somhairle MacGill-Eain) whilst headmaster at the high-school, who introduced...
The John MacLean March is a Scottish song written by Hamish Henderson in 1948. It eulogises the socialist organiser John Maclean, describing his funeral...
background. An interview with SorleyMaclean' (1982) Sellar; Maclean 1999: pp. 19–21. Sellar; Maclean 1999: pp. 23–23. "The Clan MacNicol". www.clanmacnicol...
(1967) Anns an Àirde, as an Doimhne for a cappella chorus, poems by SorleyMacLean (1968) 4 Peace Motets, Biblical texts (1976) Domino Roberto Carwor:...
Gretton Hamish Henderson Duncan Livingstone SorleyMacLean Dòmhnall Ruadh Chorùna Aonghas Caimbeul Calum MacNeacail Dylan Thomas Alun Lewis Richard Wilbur...
and the Green: Celtic Communism in Maclean, MacDiarmid, and MacLean Again From Sorley Boy MacDonnell to SorleyMacLean". Lloyd, David (July 2003). "Rethinking...
ISBN 978-1-78631-043-9. "Gaelic film up for Scots BAFTAs". BBC. 31 October 2007. "SorleyMacLean". Scottish Poetry Library. Retrieved 22 February 2018. "Runrig: Recovery"...
mackerel and an excerpt from the Scottish Gaelic poem ‘The Choice’ by SorleyMacLean. The obverse of the £10 note shows scientist Mary Somerville, with a...
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