From the Woods of Raasay to Glasgow Streets: Poetry of Place in the Works of Sorley MacLean and Derick Thomson

• Thesis title in Czech: Z lesů Raasay do ulic Glasgow: poezie místa v pracích Sorley MacLeana a Dericka Thomsona
• Thesis title in English: From the Woods of Raasay to Glasgow Streets: Poetry of Place in the Works of Sorley MacLean and Derick Thomson
• Key words: Sorley MacLean, Derick Thomson, moderní skotská gaelská poezie, místa, poezie místa, Raasay, Skye, Lewis, Glasgow
• English key words: Sorley MacLean, Derick Thomson, modern Scottish Gaelic poetry, places, poetry of place, Raasay, Skye, Lewis, Glasgow
• Academic year of topic announcement: 2011/2012
• Thesis type: diploma thesis
• Thesis language: angličtina
• Department: Department of Anglophone Literatures and Cultures (21-UALK)
• Supervisor: prof. PhDr. Martin Procházka, CSc.
• Author: hidden - assigned and confirmed by the Study Dept.
• Date of registration: 12.09.2012
• Date of assignment: 12.09.2012
• Administrator's approval: not processed yet
• Confirmed by Study dept. on: 09.10.2012
• Date and time of defence: 10.09.2014 08:30
• Date of electronic submission: 11.08.2014
• Date of proceeded defence: 10.09.2014
• Submitted/finalized: committed by student and finalized
• Opponents: Mgr. Radvan Markus, Ph.D.

Guidelines

Scottish Gaelic poetry has been particularly concerned with places. The unique natural, cultural and linguistic environment of the Highlands and Islands, the massive population movements including extensive migration and emigration that have been going on since the early eighteenth century, the traumatic experience of the Clearances – for these and other reasons, poetry of place has been one of the prominent constituents of Gaelic literature. In the twentieth century, Scottish Gaelic poets seemed to be still very interested in places, and yet, as Derick Thomson points out, “perhaps nowhere is the change of direction in the poetic tradition so starkly shown as here, with the new poetry leaning no longer on simple nostalgia or on melodic sweetness, but bringing to bear a complex set of emotions, analyses and rationalizations to describe the poet’s relationship to his theme”. Modern Scottish Gaelic poetry of place is an intriguing mixture of ancient tradition and daring innovation, bringing together old patterns and themes with modern psychology and politics. Sorley MacLean (Somhairle MacGill-Eain) and Derick Thomson (Ruaraidh MacThòmais) were arguably the two most important figures in Scottish Gaelic literature in the twentieth century and both exhibited a keen interest in poetry of place, although it was by no means their only subject matter and their other concerns, such as international politics, erotic passion or national awareness, permeate the poetry of place. Each one approaches the poetry of place from a different angle: MacLean’s poetry, “radiating from the Highlands and taking in the entire world” (Black), is proudly local and audaciously universal at the same time, moving from the Cuillin of Skye to Spain and Russia in the space of one stanza, while Thomson is more interested in the ways in which the island environment, in terms of nature, language and religion, shapes the individual psyche, memory and creative abilities, and he is also a poet of the city. The introductory part of the thesis briefly discusses some important features of the Scottish Gaelic poetry of place of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, as both poets were exceptionally well-read both in the works of their predecessors and in the folk tradition, and they use, alter, contradict or ignore some traditional patterns and motifs. Another section of the introductory part is devoted to the linguistic, social and cultural conditions of Gaelic Scotland in the nineteenth century and in the early twentieth. A separate chapter is devoted to the contributions of each author to the poetry of place, including the biographical details necessary for the discussion. In the final chapter, some general conclusions concerning the inclinations and specific features of twentieth-century Scottish Gaelic poetry of place are attempted. In the case of themes addressed by both authors, such as Highland Clearances and eroticization of the place, comparisons of attitudes are made. As Scottish Gaelic poetry may be in some readings “figured or dismissed as nostalgic, spiritual, traditional, and tied to a culture inextricable from the landscape” (Mackay), the conclusion also tries to answer whether the accusations of parochialism are just, or whether MacLean and Thomson transcend such categorization and produce poetry of universal importance and interest. Apart from scholarly works commenting on the writers in question and on modern Scottish poetry in general, the thesis also employs critical theory concerning the problems of identity, places, location and dislocation, such as Michel Foucault’s essay “Of Other Spaces” and Christopher Tilley’s A Phenomenology of Landscape.

References

Black, Ronald (ed). An Tuil: Anthology of 20^th Century Scottish Gaelic Verse. Edinburgh: Polygon, 1999.
Blackburn, John. The Poetry of Iain Crichton Smith. Glasgow: Association for Scottish Literary Studies, 2000.
Dymock, Emma. The Poetry of Sorley MacLean. Glasgow: Association for Scottish Literary Studies, 2011.
Foucault, Michel. Foucault, Michel. “Of Other Spaces”. Translated by Jay Miskowiec. Diacritics, Vol. 16, No. 1. (Spring, 1986), pp. 22-27. Available at http://www.jstor.org
MacAulay, Donald. Nua-bhàrdachd Ghàidhlig / Modern Scottish Gaelic Poems. Edinburgh: Canongate Books, 1995.
Mackay, Peter. Sorley MacLean. Aberdeen : AHRC Centre for Irish and Scottish Studies, 2010.
MacLean, Sorley. An Cuilithionn 1939. Edited by Christopher Whyte. Glasgow: The Association for Scottish Literary Studies, 2011.
MacLean, Sorley. Ris A´Bhruthaich: The Criticism and Prose Writings of Sorley MacLean. Stornoway: Acair, 1997.
Meek, Donald E. Caran An-t-Saoghail / The Wiles of the World: An Anthology of 19^th Century Gaelic Verse. Edinburgh: Birlinn, 2003.
Richards, Eric. The Highland Clearances. Edinburgh: Birlinn, 2008.
Ross, Raymond J. Sorley MacLean: Critical Essays. Edinburgh: Scottish Academic Press, 1986.
Thomson, Derick. An Introduction to Gaelic Poetry. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1989.
Thomson, Derick, Iain Crichton Smith and Andrew Mitchell. Taking You Home: Poems and Conversations. Argyll: Argyll Publishing, 2006.
Whyte, Christopher, and Emma Dymock (eds). Sorley MacLean / Somhairle MacGill-Eain: Collected Poems. Edinburgh: Polygon, 2011.