Donnchadh Bàn Mac an t-Saoir (usually anglicised as Duncan Ban MacIntyre) is remembered today as one of the great Gaelic poets of the eighteenth century.
Rooted in oral traditions, his poetry is known for combining complex rhymes and rhythms with vivid images of highland landscapes. Hugely respected during his lifetime, he was nicknamed ‘Donnchadh Bàn nan Òran’ by his contemporaries, which translates as ‘Fair-haired Duncan of the Songs’.
Donnchadh Bàn was born in 1724 in Druim Liaghart, to the north of Glen Orchy in Argyll. Over the course of his life, he worked a number of different jobs: gamekeeper, soldier, forester, and constable in the Edinburgh City Guard.
Donnchadh Bàn was often inspired by specific sites: ‘Moladh Beinn Dòbhrain’ (‘The Praise of Beinn Dòbhrain’) tells of a hind and calf ascending a hill pass, while ‘Òran Coire a’ Cheathaich’ (‘The Song of the Misty Corrie’) describes the flora of a mountain hollow.
With no schools nearby when he was young, Donnchadh Bàn never learned to read or write. At first, his poetry was memorised and disseminated orally but later it was recorded in writing by Donald MacNicol, the minister of Lismore in the Inner Hebrides. The first edition of his poetry was published in 1768 and two further editions were published in 1790 and 1804.
In the twentieth century, his verses were translated into English by such influential poets as Hugh MacDiarmid, Derick Thomson and Iain Crichton Smith. A memorial to Donnchadh Bàn stands in Greyfriars kirkyard, Edinburgh where he was buried in 1812.
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