Sorley MacLean is widely considered to be the greatest Gaelic poet of the twentieth century. He breathed new life into a rich literary tradition and remains widely read, translated and anthologised to this day.
MacLean was born in 1911 on the island of Raasay, off Skye, and was immediately immersed in Gaelic music and song by his parents and wider family. He studied English at the University of Edinburgh, trained as a teacher, and took up positions in Portree, then Tobermory and Edinburgh.
He fought in World War Two, was seriously wounded in 1942 and discharged in 1943, the same year that ‘Dàin do Eimhir’ (‘Poems to Eimhir’) appeared in print. This, and the earlier ‘An Cuillithionn’ (‘The Cuillin’, 1939) were among the major works that cemented MacLean’s reputation. Both are long, complex poems that combine a myriad of references: from Gaelic music and song to European art, history and contemporary politics.
MacLean has been described as a love poet in the European tradition. His finest poetry displays dexterity with Gaelic rhyme and rhythm as well as an ability to combine influences, references and styles that has helped ensure his enduring significance.
Although immediately the subject of critical debate among Gaelic-speaking communities, not all of whom felt his writing was Gaelic enough, it was not until the 1970s that his works started to be translated into English. MacLean himself was involved in the process and often made radical changes to his earlier words in order to retain only what he felt to be “tolerable”.
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