Writings about Sorley MacLean and his Poetry


[Anonymous]  ‘A Study Guide to British Poetry, 1950-c1980’ in Literature in the Modern World: Block 5: End of Empire. Milton Keynes: The Open University, 1991.

Berton, Jean.  ‘“Poèmes à Eimhir”: Cherchez la femme!’, Études Écossaises 5 (1998), 177-93.

Black, Ronald.  Section on Sorley MacLean in the ‘Introduction’ (pp.xxi-lxx) to An Tuil: Duanaire Gàidhlig an 20mh Ceud, ed. Ronald Black. Edinburgh: Polygon, 1999.

Bold, Alan.  Section (pp93-94) on Sorley MacLean in Modern Scottish Literature. Harlow: Longman, 1983, 93-94.

Burnett, Ray. ‘Sorley MacLean’s Hallaig’, Lines Review 92 (March 1985), 13-22.

Byrne, Michel.  ‘Tails o the Comet? MacLean, Hay, Young and MacDiarmid’s Renaissance’, ScotLit 26 (2002), 1-3.

Caird, James B.  ‘Sorley MacLean: A Personal View’, in Sorley MacLean: Critical Essays, ed. Raymond J. Ross and Joy Hendry. Edinburgh: Scottish Academic Press, 1986.

Caird, James B.  ‘Sorley MacLean: Poet of Scotland and Europe’, Books in Scotland 25 (1986), 4-5.

Caird, James B.  ‘Sorley MacLean; Fionn MacColla’, Edinburgh Review 74 (August 1986), 57-62.

Caird, James B. ‘Sorley MacLean’ in Nothing is Altogether Trivial, ed. Murdo Macdonald. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1995, 196-202.

Calder, Robert.  ‘Celebration of a Tension’, in Sorley MacLean: Critical Essays, ed. Raymond J. Ross and Joy Hendry. Edinburgh: Scottish Academic Press, 1986, 155-63.

Calder, Robert. ‘Battlefield’, Scotia Review 22 (1997), 82-3.

Campbell, Angus Peter, ed. Somhairle: Dàin is Deilbh: a Celebration on the 80th Birthday of Sorley MacLean.  Stornoway: Acair, 1991.

Campbell, Angus Peter.  ‘The history man’. The Scotsman, 24 October 1996.

Clancy, Thomas Owen.  ‘Rebellion in Death’s Kingdom’ [reference made to Sorley MacLean in overview of modern Scottish Gaelic Poetry], Planet 99 (June/July 1993), 86.

Crawford, Robert.  ‘Recent Scottish Poetry and the Scottish Tradition’, Verse 4 No. 2 (1987), 36-46.

Crawford, Robert.  ‘Somhairle MacGill-Eain / Sorley Maclean’, in Identifying Poets: Self and Territory in Twentieth-Century Poetry. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1993.

De Bhaldraithe, Tomás.  ‘File nua Albanach’, Comhar 3 (1944), vii.

De Paor, Louis.  ‘“Spiorad nam bàrd cianail”: Nótaí imill ar Reothairt is Contraigh: Taghadh de Dhàin 1932-1972’, Comhar 56, no. 3 (1997), 4-6.

Devlin, Brendan P.  ‘On Sorley Maclean’, Lines Review 61 (June 1977), 5-19.

Devlin, Brendan P.  ‘In Spite of Sea and Centuries: An Irish Gael Looks at the Poetry of Sorley MacLean’, in Sorley MacLean: Critical Essays, ed. Raymond J. Ross and Joy Hendry. Edinburgh: Scottish Academic Press, 1986, 81-9.

Fulton, Robin.  Section on Sorley MacLean in Contemporary Scottish Poetry: Individuals and Contexts. Loanhead: Macdonald Publishers, 1974, 158-61.

Gibault, Henri.  ‘Sorley MacLean (1911-1996)’, Études écossaises 4 (1997), 11-17.

Gifford, Terry.  ‘A culture of kinship and place: the poetry of Sorley MacLean’, in Green Places.  Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1995, 72-93.

Gilchrist, Jim.  ‘Filming the Unsayable’ [review of the film ‘Hallaig’] in The Scotsman Magazine, September 1984, 10.

Gillies, William.  ‘Introduction’ to Somhairle MacGill-Eain / Sorley MacLean: exhibition catalogue. Edinburgh: National Library of Scotland, 1981, 5-6.

Glen, Duncan.  ‘A Journey into Scotland’, from Book VII: Celtic Journey [referring to the poet reading his work in Cambridge, 1975] in Lines Review 108 (March 1989), 30-5.

Hayes, David.  ‘We Have Our Own History Still’, PN Review 24, no. 5 (1998), 5-7.

Heaney, Seamus.  ‘Introduction’ to Sorley MacLean: Critical Essays, ed. Raymond J. Ross and Joy Hendry. Edinburgh: Scottish Academic Press, 1986, 1-7.

Heaney, Seamus. ‘The voice of a bard’, Antaeus 60 (Spring 1988), 297-306.

Hendry, Joy, ed. ‘The Scottish Long Poem’, Chapman 30 (Summer 1981).

Hendry, Joy.  ‘Sorley MacLean: The Man and his Work’, in Sorley MacLean: Critical Essays, ed. Raymond J. Ross and Joy Hendry. Edinburgh: Scottish Academic Press, 1986, 9-38.

Hendry, Joy.  ‘An Interview with Sorley MacLean’, Chapman 66 (Autumn 1991), 1-8.

Herdman, John.  ‘The Poetry of Sorley Maclean: a Non-Gael’s View’, Lines Review 61 (1977), 25-36.

Herdman, John.  ‘Sorley MacLean’s “Calbharaigh”’ in ‘Criticism of Twenty Famous Twentieth-Century Scottish Poems by Twenty Critics in Akros Vol. 17 No. 51 (1983), 26-8.

Herdman, John.  ‘The Ghost Seen by the Soul: Sorley MacLean and the Absolute’, in Sorley MacLean: Critical Essays, ed. Raymond J. Ross and Joy Hendry. Edinburgh: Scottish Academic Press, 1986, 165-175.

Hugo, Richard.  ‘World Without Peculiarity’, American Poetry Review 8, no. 6 (1979), 4-8.

MacAulay, Donald.  ‘Maclean, Sorley/Somhairle MacGill-Eain’ in The New Companion to Scottish Culture, ed. David Daiches. Edinburgh: Polygon, 1993, 206-07.

MacAulay, Donald.  Section on Sorley in the ‘Introduction (pp.46-68) to Nua-Bhàrdachd Ghàidhlig, ed. Donald MacAulay. Edinburgh: Canongate Books Ltd, 1995, 46-68.

McCaughey, Terence.  ‘Sorley MacLean: Continuity and Transformation of Symbols’ in Sorley MacLean: Critical Essays, ed. Raymond J. Ross and Joy Hendry. Edinburgh: Scottish Academic Press, 1986, 127-35.

McCaughey, Terence.  ‘Somhairle MacGill-Eain’ in The History of Scottish Literature Vol. 4: the Twentieth Century, ed. Cairns Craig.  Aberdeen: Aberdeen University Press, 1987, 147-63.

McClure, J. Derrick.  ‘Douglas Young and Sorley MacLean’ in Gaelic and Scots in Harmony, ed. Derick Thomson.  Glasgow: Glasgow University, 1988, 136-48.

MacDonald, Donald.  ‘Profile of Sorley MacLean’, Life and Work (September 1989), 20.

MacDonald, J. A.  ‘The Work of Sorley MacLean’, Jabberwock 3, no. 2 (1950), 14-16.

MacGill-Fhinnein, Gordan.  ‘Litríocht na hAlban 1 – Somhairle MacGill-Eathain - file mór na Nua-Ghàidhlig’, Comhar 19, no. 9 (1960).

MacGill-Fhinnein, Gordan.  ‘Litríocht na hAlban 2 – Somhairle MacGill-Eathain’, Comhar 19, no. 11 (1960).

MacGill-Fhinnein, Gordan.  ‘Litríocht na hAlban 3 – Somhairle MacGill-Eathain’, Comhar 20, no. 1 (1960).

MacGill-Fhinnein, Gordan.  ‘Litríocht na hAlban 4 – Somhairle MacGill-Eathain’, Comhar 20, no. 3 (1960).

MacInnes, John.  ‘Sorley MacLean’s “Hallaig”: a Note’, Calgacus 1, No.2 (1975), 29-32.

MacInnes, John.  ‘A Radically Traditional Voice: Sorley MacLean and the Evangelical Background’, Cencrastus 7 (Winter 1981-82), 14-17.

MacInnes, John.  ‘Language, Metre and Diction in the Poetry of Sorley MacLean’, in Sorley MacLean: Critical Essays, ed. Raymond J. Ross and Joy Hendry. Edinburgh: Scottish Academic Press, 1986, 137-53.

MacDiarmid, Hugh, et al. Seven Poets: Hugh MacDiarmid, Norman MacCaig, Iain Crichton Smith, George Mackay Brown, Robert Garioch, Sorley MacLean, Edwin Morgan: 1981 illustrations Alexander Moffat, Jessie Ann Matthew [an exhibition of portrait paintings by Alexander Moffat , which included video interviews with six of the poets]. Glasgow: Third Eye Centre, 1981.

Macrae, Alasdair.  ‘Aibhéis an Chiúnais’ [translated into Gaeilge by Liam Prút], Comhar 56, no. 3 (1997), 13-15.

Macrae, Alasdair.  ‘Sorley MacLean in a context beyond Gaeldom’, Études écossaises 4 (1997), 19-30.

Mac Síomóin, Tomás.  ‘Poet of Conscience: The Old and the New in the Poetry of Sorley MacLean’, in Sorley MacLean: Critical Essays, ed. Raymond J. Ross and Joy Hendry. Edinburgh: Scottish Academic Press, 1986, 109-25.

Matheson, Ann, ed. Somhairle MacGill-Eain / Sorley MacLean: exhibition catalogue. Introduction by William Gillies. Edinburgh: National Library of Scotland, 1981.

Meek, Donald E.  ‘Foreword – The Poet and the Translator: An Appreciation’ in Eimhir [translated by Iain Crichton Smith], 7-10.

Montague, John.  ‘A Northern Vision’, in The Pleasures of Gaelic Poetry, ed. Seán Mac Réamoinn.  London: Allen Lane, 1982, 161-74.

Morrison, David and Cunningham, Maggie, ed. ‘Northern Lights: Contemporary Writing in the Highlands and Islands’, in Scotia Review 15 (December 1976).

Morrison, David, ed.  ‘Tribute to Sorley MacLean 1911-1996’, Scotia Review 22 (Spring 1997).

Neill, William.  ‘Sorley MacLean – A True Voice of Scotland’, Scotia Review 22 (1997), 91-3.

Ní Annracháin, Máire.  ‘Scéal Scéalaí: Gnéithe den Insint i bhFilíocht Scéaltach na Gaeilge’, in Ár Scéalaíocht, ed. Pádraig Ó Fiannachta (Léachtaí Cholm Cille, 14). Maynooth: An Sagart, 1983, 121-51.

Ní Annracháin, Máire.  ‘An t-ainm dílis agus an dílseacht fhileata’, in An Nuafhilíocht, ed. Pádraig Ó Fiannachta (Léachtaí Cholm Cille, 17). Maynooth: An Sagart, 1986, 25-36.

Ní Annracháin, Máire.  Aisling agus tóir: an slánu i bhfilíocht Shomhairle MhicGill-Eain. Maynooth: An Sagart, 1992.

Ní Annracháin, Máire.  ‘Vision and Quest in Somhairle MacGill-Eain’s “An Cuilithionn”’, Lines Review 141(June 1997), 5-11.

Ní Annracháin, Máire.  ‘“Duais Úr an Dàin”: Filíocht Shomhairle MhicGill-Eain á léamh tar éis a bháis’, in Blianiris 2000, ed. Ruairí Ó hUiginn and Liam Mac Cóil. Rath Cairn, County Meath: Carbad, 1999, 163-78.

Ní Annracháin, Máire.  ‘An creideamh eaglasta agus nuafhilíocht na Gaeilge’, Aimsir Óg 2000, volume 2, 104-19.

Ní Annracháin, Máire.  ‘An Talamh agus an Teanga Fhíortha’, in Cruth na Tìre, ed. Wilson McLeod agus Máire Ní Annracháin. Dublin: Coiscéim, 2003, 136-65.

Nicolson, Angus. ‘An Interview with Sorley MacLean’, Studies in Scottish Literature XIV (1997), 23-36.

Nicholson, Colin.  ‘To Sing a People’s Fate’, The Scotsman. 25 October 1986.

Nicholson, Colin.  ‘Poetry of Displacement: Sorley MacLean and his Writing’, Studies in Scottish Literature 22 (1987), 109.

Nicholson, Colin.  ‘Sorley MacLean at 75’, Clan MacLean II, 2 (1988), 7-10.

Nicholson, Colin.  ‘Against an Alien Eternity’, in his Poem, Purpose and Place: Shaping Identity in Contemporary Scottish Verse. Edinburgh: Polygon, 1992, 1-18.

Ní Dhufaigh, Caitríona.  ‘Feiniméaneolaíocht Tírdhreacha i bhfilíocht Shomhairle Mhic Gill-Eain’, Nua-Aois, (1986), 5-12.

Ó Curraoin, Seán.  ‘Cuimhní ar Shomhairle’, Comhar 56, no. 3 (1997), 12.

Ó Doibhlin, Breandán.  ‘Mórfhile Ghael Albain’, Irisleabhar Mhá Nuad 1973, 9-35.

Ó Doibhlin, Breandán.  ‘Mórfhile Ghael Albain’, re-published in Aistí Critice agus Cultuir. Dublin: Foilseacháin Náisiúnta Teo., 1975, 113-38.

O’Driscoll, Robert, ed.  ‘The Celtic Consciousness’.  Portlaoise: Dolmen Press; and Edinburgh: Canongate, 1982.

Peaver, Richard.  ‘Time, the Deer, is in the Woods of Hallaig’, Parnassus: Poetry in Review 4, no. 2 (1976), 68-82.

Ross, Raymond J. and Hendry, Joy.  Sorley MacLean: Critical Essays. Edinburgh: Scottish Academic Press, 1986.

Ross, Raymond J.  ‘Marx, MacDiarmid and MacLean’, in Sorley MacLean: Critical Essays, ed. Raymond J. Ross and Joy Hendry. Edinburgh: Scottish Academic Press, 1986, 91-107.

Sassi, Carla.  ‘Sorley Maclean; l’incanto della parola’, Diverse Lingue 10 (1991), 105-15.

Sassi, Carla.  ‘Riposte di Sorley Maclean’, Diverse Lingue 11 (1992), 17-22.

Sealy, Douglas.  ‘Out from Skye to the World: Literature, History and the Poet’, in Sorley MacLean: Critical Essays, ed. Raymond J. Ross and Joy Hendry. Edinburgh: Scottish Academic Press, 1986, 53-70.

Smith, Iain Crichton.  ‘The Poetry of Sorley Maclean’, An Gaidheal 53 No 10 (1958), 99-100, and 53 No. 11 (1958), 109-10.

Smith, Iain Crichton.  ‘Homage to Sorley Maclean’, Saltire Review 5 No. 15 (1958), 37-40.

Smith, Iain Crichton.  ‘A Note on Sorley Maclean’s Dàin do Eimhir’, Stand 12 No.2 (1971), 8.

Smith, Iain Crichton. ‘The Poetry of Sorley Maclean’, The Glasgow Review 4 No. 3 (1973), 38-41.

Smith, Iain Crichton.  ‘Gaelic Master: Sorley MacLean’, Scottish Review 34 (1984), 4-10.

Smith, Iain Crichton.  ‘Gaelic Master: Sorley MacLean’, re-published in Towards the Human: Selected Essays. Edinburgh: Macdonald Publishers, 1986, 123-31.

Smith, Iain Crichton.  ‘A Poet’s Response to Sorley MacLean’ in Sorley MacLean: Critical Essays, ed. Raymond J. Ross and Joy Hendry. Edinburgh: Scottish Academic Press, 1986, 45-51.

Smith, Iain Crichton.  ‘Sorley MacLean’, Scotia Review 22 (1997), 84-87.

Smith, Iain Crichton.  ‘Loss of Sorley MacLean Leaves a Great Gap’ (pp.11-14) and ‘Introduction’ (pp.15-18), in Eimhir [translated by Iain Crichton Smith].

Stalmaszczyk, Piotr.  ‘Alba’s Major Voice – Somhairle MacGill-Eain’, The Celtic Pen 10 (1996), 8-10.

Stoddart, John.  ‘Sorley MacLean a’r Farddonaieth Aeleg Newydd’, Y Traethodydd 133 (1978), 191-203.

Van Eeerde, John, and Williamson, Robert.  ‘Sorley MacLean: A Bard and Scottish Gaelic’, World Literature Today 52 (1978), 229-32.

Walker, Marshall.  Scottish Literature Since 1707 [includes section on Sorley MacLean]. London: Longman, 1996, 290-94.

Watson, Roderick.  The Literature of Scotland [includes section on Sorley MacLean] in Macmillan History of Literature.  London: Macmillan, 1984, 10, 443-7.

Whyte, Christopher. ‘The Cohesion of Dain do Eimhir’, Scottish Literary Journal Vol. 17 No. 1 (May 1990), 46-70.

Whyte, Christopher.  Section in the ‘Introduction’ (pp.vii-xxi) to An Aghaidh na Sìorraidheachd: Ochdnar Bhàrd Gàidhlig, ed. Christopher Whyte.Edinburgh: Polygon, 1991.

Whyte, Christopher.  ‘A Note on Dàin do Eimhir XIII’,  Scottish Gaelic Studies XVII (1996), 383-92.

Whyte, Christopher.  ‘In Appreciation of Sorley MacLean/Somhairle MacGill-Eain’, Poetry Review  87, no. 1 (1997), 92.

Whyte, Christopher. ‘The Gaelic Renaissance: Sorley MacLean and Derick Thomson’ in British Poetry from the 1950s to the 1990s, ed. Gary Day and Brian Docherty. London: Macmillan, 1997, 143-69.

Whyte, Christopher.  ‘Introduction’ to Dàin do Eimhir [ed. Christopher Whyte]. Glasgow: Association for Scottish Literary Studies, 2002, 1-41.

Whyte, Christopher.  ‘The Poetry of Sorley MacLean’, in Scottish Literature in English and Scots, ed. Douglas Gifford et al. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2002, 655-70.

Whyte, Christopher.  ‘A Tantalising Tale: Rediscovering Sorley MacLean’s Dàin do Eimhir’, Folio 5 (2002), 6-9.

Whyte, Christopher. ‘Sorley MacLean’s “An Cuilithionn”: the emergence of the text’, Cànan & Cultur/Language & Culture. Rannsachadh na Gàidhlig 3, ed. Wilson McLeod, James E. Fraser and Anja Gunderloch. Edinburgh: Dunedin Academic Press, 2006, 111-127.

Whyte, Christopher.  Modern Scottish Poetry. Chapter 4. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2004.

Wittig, Kurt.  The Scottish Tradition in Literature [reference to Sorley MacLean) Edinburgh: Oliver and Boyd, 1958, 308-09.

Young, Douglas.  ‘A Note on Scottish Gaelic Poetry’, in Scottish Poetry: A Critical Survey, ed. James Kinsley. London: Cassell, 1955, 280-86.