Sorley MacLean
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life

This chronology lists the principal events in the life of Sorley MacLean. It also takes note of world events during his lifetime that are of particular relevance to his poetry, are explicitly referred to in his poetry, and which took place during his lifetime. Please note that events which are referred to in the poetry but which occurred outside the poet’s lifetime are not included.


Born 26 October 1911 in Osgaig on the island of Raasay.  
 
James Connolly shot by a firing squad following his involvement in the Easter Rising of 1916 in Ireland (Connolly mentioned in ‘Ùrnaigh’ / ‘Prayer’, ‘An Cuilithionn’ / ‘The Cuillin’, ‘Am Botal Briste’ / ‘The Broken Bottle’, ‘Àrd-Mhusaeum na h-Èireann’ / ‘The National Museum of Ireland’, ‘Aig Uaigh Yeats’ / ‘At Yeats’s Grave’). Patrick Pearse, another leader of the Easter Rising who was executed, is mentioned in ‘An Cuilithionn’ / ‘The Cuillin’.
Started primary school on Raasay in 1918, and was there from 1918-1924.
 
 
Karl Leibknecht, German socialist and one of the founders of the German Communist Party (KPD), was shot in 1919 by German right wing militia members (mentioned in ‘An Cuilithionn / ‘The Cuillin’, ‘Sgatham...’ / ‘Let me Lop…’).
 
Vladimir Lenin helped form the Comintern or Communist International in 1919 (Lenin mentioned in ‘Am Buaireadh’ / ‘The Turmoil’, ‘An Cuilithionn’ / ‘The Cuillin’, ‘Eadh is Fèin is Sàr-fhèin’ / ‘Id, Ego and Super-Ego’).
 
Alexander Blok, the gifted Russian lyrical poet, died in 1921 (mentioned in ‘An Cuilithionn’ / ‘The Cuillin’).
 
Benito Mussolini, founder of the Fascist Party, became Prime Minister of Italy in 1922 after the ‘March on Rome’.
 
Joseph Stalin made General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks) in 1922.
 
Twenty-six counties of Ireland secede from the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland to form the Republic of Ireland in 1922.
Sorley MacLean later stated that he had ‘relinquished Calvinism for Socialism’ around 1923, while still at school in Raasay.
Glaswegian John MacLean, the champion of the labouring classes and Marxist advocate in Scotland, died in 1923 (MacLean mentioned in ‘Clann Ghill-Eain’ / ‘The Clan MacLean’, ‘An Cuilithionn’ / ‘The Cuillin’, ‘Am Botal Briste’/‘The Broken Bottle’).
Left Raasay for Portree Secondary School in 1924.
Giacomo Matteotti, the Italian Socialist politician, was murdered in 1924 (mentioned in ‘An Cuilithionn’ / ‘The Cuillin’).
Successfully sat the Bursary Competition of the University of Edinburgh in 1929.
Jawaharlal Nehru, serving as President of the Indian National Congress, raised the flag of independent India on 31 December 1929 (mentioned in ‘An Cuilithionn’ / ‘The Cuillin’).
Left Raasay and Skye in the autumn of 1929 for the University of Edinburgh to study English.
The Great Depression – from 1929 and through most of the 1930s.
 
Mahatma Gandhi led the famous Dandi Salt March in 1930 in disobedience of the salt tax (Gandhi mentioned in ‘An Cuilithionn’ / ‘The Cuillin’).
   


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