Scottish Gaelic literature refers to literary works composed in theScottish Gaelic language, which is, likeIrish andManx, a member of theGoidelic branch ofCeltic languages. Gaelic literature was also composed inGàidhealtachd communities throughout the globalScottish diaspora where the language has been and is still spoken.

In early Middle Ages what is now Scotland was culturally and politically divided. In the West were theGaels ofDál Riata, who had close links with theclan system ofGaelic Ireland, from whence they had migrated and brought with them the name of Scots.^[1] Very few works ofGaelic poetry survive from the early medieval period, and most of these are in Irish manuscripts.^[2] There are works ofChristian poetry that can be identified as Scottish, including theElegy forSt Columba byDallán Forgaill (c. 597) and "In Praise of St Columba" byBeccan mac Luigdech ofRùm, c. 677.^[3] A series of anecdotes contained in the tenth centuryBetha Adamnáin (Life of St. Adomnán) are probably derived from works composed onIona. Outside of these, there are works ofIrish bardic poetry inpraise of thePictish kings preserved withinIrish annals, that were almost certainly composed in Scotland.^[2]

Beginning in the later eighth century,Viking raids and invasions may have forced a merger of the Gaelic and Pictish crowns. TheKingdom of Alba emerged, which would eventually become known as theKingdom of Scotland, and traced its origin toCínaed mac Ailpín (Kenneth MacAlpin) in the 840s through theHouse of Alpin.^[4] The Kingdom of Alba was overwhelmingly an oral society dominated by Gaelic culture. Fuller sources for Ireland of the same period suggest that there would have beenfilidh, who acted as poets, musicians and historians, often attached to the court of a lord or king, and passed on their knowledge and culture in Gaelic to the next generation.^[5][6]

At least from the accession ofDavid I (r. 1124–53), as part of aDavidian Revolution that introducedFrench culture and political systems, Gaelic ceased to be the main language of the royal court and was probably replaced by French. After this "de-gallicisation" of the Scottish court, a less highly regarded order ofbards took over the functions of the filidh, and they would continue to act in a similar role in the Highlands and Islands into the eighteenth century. They often trained in bardic schools. A few of these, like the one run by theMacMhuirich dynasty, who were bards to theLord of the Isles,^[7] continued until they were suppressed from the seventeenth century.^[6] Members of bardic schools were trained in thestrict metres, rooted inIrish bardic poetry.^[8] Much of their work was never written down, and what survives was only recorded from the sixteenth century.^[5] It is possible that moreMiddle Irish literature was written in Medieval Scotland than is often thought, but has not survived because the Gaelic literary establishment of eastern Scotland died out before the fourteenth century. Thomas Owen Clancy has argued that theLebor Bretnach, the so-called "Irish Nennius", was written in Scotland, and probably at the monastery inAbernethy, but this text survives only from manuscripts preserved in Ireland.^[9] Other literary works that have survived include that of the prolific poetGille Brighde Albanach. HisHeading for Damietta (c. 1218) dealt with his experiences of theFifth Crusade.^[10]

In the late Middle Ages,Middle Scots, often simply called English, became the dominant language of the country. It was derived largely fromOld English, with the addition of elements from Gaelic andNorman French. Although resembling the language spoken in northern England, it became a distinct dialect from the late fourteenth century onwards.^[8] As the ruling elite gradually abandoned Norman French, they began to adopt Middle Scots, and by the fifteenth century it was the language of government, with acts of parliament, council records and treasurer's accounts almost all using it from the reign ofJames I (1406–37) onwards. As a result, Gaelic, once dominant north of the Tay, began a steady decline.^[8] Lowland writers began to treat Gaelic as a second class, rustic and even amusing language, helping to frame attitudes towards the highlands and to create a cultural gulf with the lowlands.^[8] The major corpus of Medieval Scottish Gaelic poetry,The Book of the Dean of Lismore was compiled by the brothers James and Donald MacGregor inGlenlyon during the early decades of the sixteenth century. Beside Scottish Gaelic verse it contains a large number of poems composed in Ireland as well as verse and prose in Scots and Latin. The subject matter includes love poetry, heroic ballads and philosophical pieces. It also is notable for containing poetry by at least four women.^[11] These includeAithbhreac Inghean Coirceadal (f. 1460), who after being widowed composed a lament addressed to therosary of her late husband, aTacksman ofClan MacNeil and the constable ofCastle Sween.^[12]

The same book also includes three poems byIseabail Ní Mheic Cailéin, the daughter ofColin Campbell,Earl of Argyll andChief ofClan Campbell (died 1493). Iseabail married William Drummond,Chief ofClan Drummond. She became the grandmother ofDavid Drummond, 2nd Lord Drummond of Cargill and is the ancestor of all subsequentEarls of Perth.

By far the most famous of Iseabail's three poems isÉistibh, a Luchd an Tighe-se, which Thomas Owen Clancy has described as, "a fairly obscene boast to the court circle on the size and potency of her householdpriest'spenis. The authenticity of the attribution to Iseabail has been questioned, but without substantial grounds."

In a 2017 article about Scottish Gaelicerotic literature, Peter Mackay suggested that Iseabail may have been following the established tradition inScottish Renaissance literature of exposing, mocking, and criticizing the sexual sins of priests and consecrated religious. Mackay conceded, however, that Iseabail's poem could just as easily be an unashamed celebration of female promiscuity and lust.^[13]

The poetWalter Kennedy (d. 1518?), who was one of theMakars at the court ofJames IV, was a native speaker ofGalwegian Gaelic and was the younger brother of aTacksman ofClan Kennedy, based inGalloway,South Ayrshire.

William Dunbar inThe Flyting of Dunbar and Kennedie characterises Kennedy as one "of the Irishry" who speaks a barbarousHighland dialect, as physically hideous and withered like a sort of livingmemento mori, as poor and hungry, and of committingbestiality withmares. Kennedy, by contrast, tells Dunbar to go over to England if he wants to speak English, suggests that Dunbar was descended fromBeelzebub, is adwarf, and has no control of his bowel movements (to the point of almost sinking a ship on which he was travelling).

While Kennedy may well have also written poems in his nativeGalwegian Gaelic, his poetry inMiddle Scots is all that now survives.

During theScottish Reformation, theBook of Common Order was translated into Gaelic bySéon Caramel, Bishop of the Isles, and released via theprinting press in 1567. This is considered the first printed book in Scottish Gaelic though the language heavily resemblesClassical Irish.

By theearly modern eraGaelic had been in geographical decline for three centuries and had begun to be aminority language, which was increasingly confined to the Highlands and Islands.^[14] The traditions and educational roots ofClassical Gaelic rooted inIrish bardic poetry survived much longer in Scotland than in Ireland, with the last fully competent member of theMacMhuirich dynasty, who were hereditary poets to theLords of the Isles and then theCaptains ofClanranald, still working in the early eighteenth century.

InGaelic Ireland, Irish language bards were trained at special bardic schools based on the principle of memorization. Bards were expected, even after the bardic school system was replaced byhedge schools, to compose their verses lying down and in the dark, "to avoid the distraction which light and the variety of objects represented commonly occasions" and to concentrate solely, "upon the subject at hand and the theme given".^[15] In the ScottishHighlands and Islands, where Irish-inspired bardic schools survived until well into the 18th-century,Martin Martin described Gaelic poetry composition practices as almost identical, "They shut their doors and windows for a day's time, and upon their backs with a stone upon their belly, and [their] Plaids about their heads, and their eyes being cover'd they pump their brains forrhetoricalencomium orpanegyric; and indeed they furnish sucha style from this dark cell as is understood by very few; and indeed if they purchase a couple of horses as the reward of their meditation, they think they have done a great matter."^[16]

Nevertheless, interest in the sponsorship ofpanegyric Gaelic poetry was declining among the clan leaders.^[17] Gaelic was gradually being overtaken byMiddle Scots, which became the language of both theScottish nobility and the majority population. Middle Scots was derived substantially fromOld English, with Gaelic and French influences. It was usually calledInglyshe and was very close to the language spoken in northern England,^[14] Unlike many of his predecessors, James VI actively despised Gaelic culture.^[18] As the tradition of Classical poetry declined, a new tradition ofvernacular Scottish Gaelic poetry began to emerge. WhileClassical Gaelic poetry had used aliterary language largely fixed in the twelfth century while still being widely understood on both sides of theIrish Sea, the vernacular in both Ireland and Scotland had long since diverged from it, often radically. In further contrast to the Classical tradition, which had usedsyllabic metres (Dán Díreach), vernacular poets tended to use less complex forms ofstressed metres (Scottish Gaelic:Òran) rooted in the repertoire oftraditional singers. However, they shared with the Classic poets a set of complex metaphors and role, as the verse was still often panegyric. A number of these vernacular poets were women,^[19] such asMàiri nighean Alasdair Ruaidh (c. 1615–1707), a member ofClan MacLeod from theIsle of Harris.^[17]Iain Lom (c. 1624–c. 1710), a senior member ofClan MacDonald of Keppoch fromLochaber, was aRoyalist poet and was appointedpoet laureate of Scotland byKing Charles II during theRestoration. Iain Lom recited a Gaelic eulogy at the King's coronation, and remained loyal to theHouse of Stuart even aftertheir overthrow in 1688, opposing theWilliamites and later, in his vituperativeÒran an Aghaidh an Aonaidh, denouncing the1707 Act of Union.^[20]

The use of Scottish Gaelic suffered when Highlanders were persecuted after theBattle of Culloden in 1746, and during theHighland Clearances. The efforts of the Government to abolish the Gaelic language, however, dated back much earlier.

According to Marcus Tanner, theSociety in Scotland for Propagating Christian Knowledge was incorporated underQueen Anne in 1709 and immediately began building both schools and libraries throughout theGàidhealtachd with a twofold purpose. The first was to prevent theGaels from, "backsliding to", the strictly illegal and still undergroundCatholic Church in Scotland. The second was to ensure, "that in process of time Britons from North to South may speak the same language". For this reason, S.S.P.C.K. schoolmasters were under orders to teach only in English and to subject any student who spoke Gaelic inside the school or on the playground toflogging.^[21]

Furthermore, in 1714 the ProtestantElector of Hanover mounted the British and Irish thrones asKing George I and, with his assistance, the ascendentWhigpolitical party seizedabsolute power and launched apurge of allTories from the Government, theBritish Army, theChurch of England, the legal profession, and local politics. Great Britain and Ireland becamede factosingle party states and were to remain so until KingGeorge III was crowned in 1760 and allowed the Tories back into the Government. Even so, some modern historians now call the period between 1714 and 1783 the, "age of the Whigoligarchy."^[22]

An intense hostility felt by many ScottishGaels to theHouse of Hanover was accordingly rooted in their enabling of the Whigsingle party state's policies ofcentralized government,linguistic imperialism, and the systematicreligious persecution of both theCatholic Church in Scotland and theNon-juringScottish Episcopal Church. Opposition to these policies, whichJohn Lorne Campbell was later to term, "a calculatedgenocidal campaign" against everything that truly mattered to the Gaels, are what motivated theScottish clans to violently fight forregime change in theBritish Isles through theJacobite risings, which Campbell has accordingly termed, "a natural reaction."^[23]

In the songLà Sliabh an t-Siorraim,Sìleas na Ceapaich, the daughter of the 15thChief ofClan MacDonald of Keppoch, sings of the joy upon the arrival of PrinceJames Francis Edward Stuart, the indecisiveBattle of Sheriffmuir and the state of uneasy anticipation between the battle and the end of theJacobite rising of 1715.

The most iconic poem by Sìleas, however, inspired by the events of the Uprising was only completed many years later. When Ailean Dearg, the Chief ofClan Macdonald of Clanranald had been mortally wounded at theBattle of Sherrifmuir, Alasdair Dubh, 11th Chief ofClan MacDonald of Glengarry rallied the faltering warriors ofClan Donald by throwing up hisblue bonnet and crying"Buillean an-diugh, tuiream a-màireach!" ("Blows today, mourning tomorrow!").^[24] Following Alasdair Dubh's death (c. 1721 or 1724), he was eulogized by Sìleas in the song-poemAlistair à Gleanna Garadh, which hearkens back to the mythological poetry attributed toAmergin Glúingel and which remains an iconic and oftimitated work of Scottish Gaelic literature.^[25]

Roderick "Ruairidh Òg" Macleod, 19th Chief ofClan MacLeod, inspired the BardRoderick Morison to compose the completely opposite song-poemÒran do Mhac Leoid Dhun Bheagain ("A Song to MacLeod of Dunvegan"). The song was meant to rebuke MacLeod for not fulfilling "the obligations of his office".^[26][27][28] Instead of patronizing the Gaelic Bards and hosting feasts atDunvegan Castle for his clansmen and their families, Morison was disgusted that the Chief had become anabsentee landlord inLondon, who, "spent his money on foppish clothes". In the poem, Morison urged the Chief in vain to emulate his predecessors.^[29]

BeforeBarra-bornTraditional singer Calum Johnston performedÒran do Mhac Leoid Dhun Bheagain at the 1951 Edinburgh People's Festival Ceilidh,Hamish Henderson, who erroneously believed the poem to be about subsequentWhig ChiefNorman MacLeod, who is still known in Gaelic asAn Droch Dhuine ("The Wicked Man"), said, "It's one of the great songs in the Gaelic tongue, and the poetic concept in it is very great. The poet says that he left the castle, and he found on the slopes of the mountain the echo of past mirth, the echo of his own singing. And he then has a conversation with the echo about the fate of the House of MacLeod."^[30]

During the same era, theJacobitewar poet,satirist, andlexicographerAlasdair mac Mhaighstir Alasdair has been said to rank first among all bards of the ScottishGaels, perhaps with onlySorley MacLean, of more recent fame, as an exception. He "owed little or nothing either to his predecessors or his contemporaries"^[31] in the field of poetry and many of his poems are available in anthologies of Scottish poetry.

He was the second son of Maighstir Alasdair (Fr. Alexander MacDonald) who was theNon-juringEpiscopalianRector ofKilchoan andTacksman ofDalilea inMoidart and from whom his son received an education in theWestern canon. His son's subsequent poetry,lexicography, andorthography were also informed by his acquisition and careful study of old Gaelic manuscripts.

While teaching at a school run by theSociety in Scotland for Propagating Christian Knowledge at Kilchoan, the bard compiled the first secular book in Scottish Gaelic to be printed:Leabhar a Theagasc Ainminnin (1741), a Gaelic-English glossary.

The second secular book in Scottish Gaelic, which Alasdair published after serving as aJacobite Army officer and teacher of the Gaelic language toPrince Charles Edward Stuart, was his 1751 poetry collectionAis-Eiridh na Sean Chánoin Albannaich (The Resurrection of the Ancient Scottish Language).

Until very recently, Gaelic poetry was widely assumed to be completely isolated from literature in other languages, but Alan Riach argues that Alasdair mac Mhaighstir Alasdair was both multi-lingual and very much aware of the ongoingScottish Enlightenment. According to Riach, "WithDuncan Ban MacIntyre, you have someone who is illiterate but fluent in Gaelic, and composes his poetry to be sung, to be performed, as music; with Alasdair mac Mhaighstir Alasdair andThe Birlinn of Clanranald you have an extremely sophisticated poet who reads fluently in a number of languages. So he's familiar withHomer andVirgil and the greatepics ofclassical literature. He's familiar with poetry being written in English at the time. He's familiar with poetry written inScots. His own writing in Gaelic is part of that continuum, part of that context."^[32]

Due to his experiences as military officer andwar poet during and after theJacobite rising of 1745, Alasdair mac Mhaighstir Alasdair also remains the most overtlynationalist and anti-Whig Gaelic poet of the era and his 1751 poetry collectionAis-Eiridh na Sean Chánoin Albannaich was accordingly burned by the public hangman inEdinburgh.^[33]

Linguist Robert Dunbar, however, has called Alasdair mac Mhaighstir Alasdair, "the greatest poet of the eighteenth century Golden Age of Gaelic poets", and adds that the 1751 publication ofAis-eridh na Sean Chánoin Albannaich inspired the publication of, "an increasing number of important collections of Gaelic poetry."^[34]

In a 2020 article,Scottish nationalist Hamish MacPherson ranked the Clanranald Bard as one of the two greatestScottish poets in any language. MacPherson also wrote, "It is a national disgrace that there is no national monument to Alasdair mac Mhaighstir Alasdair... I have no hesitation in saying that Alasdair is a seminal figure in the history of this country, for just asRobert Burns helped preserve theScots language, so did Alasdair mac Mhaighstir Alasdair perform the same duty for Gaelic."^[35]

Another poet during the same uprising,Iain Ruadh Stiùbhart, the Colonel of the Edinburgh Regiment in the Jacobite Army, also composed well-known poems including "Lament for Lady Macintosh" and"Latha Chuil-Lodair" ("Culloden Day"),^[36]"Òran Eile air Latha Chu-Lodair ("Another Song on Culloden Day"),^[37] andUrnuigh Iain Ruadh ("John Roy's Prayer").^[38]

According toJohn Lorne Campbell, Stùibhart's literary and historical importance is increased by the fact that, "He was the only Jacobite leader who was a Gaelic poet. His Gaelic verse shows a polish and an elegance not possessed by his contemporaries, and it is much to be regretted that so few of his compositions have survived. He does not seem to have possessed the knowledge of writing hismother tongue. His two poems on Culloden are of great historical interest, revealing as they do the depth of bitterness that was felt towards the Prince's lieutenant general,Lord George Murray, by a section of the Jacobite leaders."^[39]

Due to the often "arbitrary and malicious violence" inflicted by Hanoverian Redcoats under the command of the Duke of Cumberland andLord Albemarle, the aftermath of Culloden is still referred to in theGàidhealtachd asBliadhna nan Creach ("The Year of the Pillaging").^[40]

Other Scottish Gaelic poets produced laments on the Jacobite defeats of1715 and1745.Maighread nighean Lachlainn andCatriona Nic Fhearghais are among the female poets who reflected on the crushing effects of the aftermath of the Jacobite risings. A consequent sense of desolation pervaded the works of Scottish Gaelic writers such asDughall Bochanan which mirrored many of the themes of thegraveyard poets writing in England.^[33]

For example,Clan MacKay had sided with theHouse of Hanover during theJacobite rising of 1745. Despite this, the MacKays were included in the repression of Gaelic culture that followed theBattle of Culloden in 1746. InÒran Nan Casagan Dubha ("The Song of the BlackCassocks"),Rob Donn MacKay's outraged response to theDress Act 1746, the Bard denounced the banning of Highland dress and mocked the Lowland garb that was replacing it. Rob Donn considered the Dress Act to be so insulting that he urgedClan MacKay to change its allegiance fromKing George II to PrinceCharles Edward Stuart.^[41]

When Robb Donn's patron, Ian mac Eachainn MacAoidh, died in 1757, Rob Donn praised theClan MacKaytacksman ofStrathmore (Scottish Gaelic:An Srath Mòr), in poetry, in a way normally reserved for much higher level members of theScottish nobility. However, Rob Donn made an extremely, "uncharacteristic choice", for the writer of a Gaelicelegy or work ofpraise poetry. Rob Donn underlined his praise of Iain mac Eachainn, "by referring to the shortcomings of others... of his class. Here is atacksman who is not simply concerned to gather wealth, but who is ready to share it with the needy. Robb Donn turns his elegy into a social document, in what is a highly refreshing way at this period."^[42]

A legacy of Jacobite verse was later compiled (and adapted) byJames Hogg in hisJacobite Reliques (1819).

Donnchadh Bàn Mac an t-Saoir (usuallyDuncan Ban MacIntyre, inEnglish; 20 March 1724 – 14 May 1812)^[43] amonoglot Gaelic-speaker who was illiterate in his own language, remains one of the most renowned ofScottish Gaelic poets and formed an integral part of one of the golden ages of Gaelic poetry in Scotland during the 18th century. He is best known for his poem aboutBeinn Dorain; "Moladh Beinn Dòbhrain" (English: "Praise of Ben Doran"). Most of his poetry is descriptive and the influence of Alasdair MacMhaighstir Alasdair is notable in much of it. Despite also composing poetry about fighting for the government in theCampbell of Argyll Militia during the 1745 Jacobite rising,^[44] MacIntyre also offers in his later poetry, according to John Lorne Campbell, "an interesting testimony to the bitter disillusionment of the Highlanders who had come to the aid of the Government, to be in the end treated no better that those who had rebelled against it."^[45] It was his experience as aghillie inArgyll andPerthshire in the employ of theDuke of Argyll which had the greatest impact upon his poetry.Moladh Beinn Dòbhrain andCoire a' Cheathaich, both date from this period. The significance of Duncan Bàn's nature themed poetry is such that it has, along with that of MacMhaighstir Alasdair, been described as "the zenith of Gaelic nature poetry".^[46]

AtGairloch (Scottish Gaelic:Geàrrloch) during the same era lived theRomantic poetWilliam Ross, who is, according toDerick S. Thomson, "justly regarded as the leadingpoet of love of the eighteenth century."^[47] Despite being widely viewed as a, "love-lornromantic who died ofunrequited love" for the noblewoman Mòr Ros (Lady Marion Ross), William Ross was very capable of poking fun at himself, as he did in the self-flyting poemÒran eadar am Bàrd agus Cailleach-mhilleadh-nan-dàn ("Exchange of Verses between the Poet and theHag-who-spoils-poems").^[48]

His poetic range also coveredScotch whisky, chasing girls, and an iconic lament over the death in exile ofPrince Charles Edward Stuart in 1788.^[49][50] According to John Lorne Campbell, William Ross' Gaelic lament for the Prince, which begins"Soraidh bhuan do'n t-Suaithneas Bhàn", ("Farewell to the White Cockade"), "is at once the Prince's only trueelegy and the last genuine Jacobite poem composed in Scotland."^[51]

In his 1783 poemMoladh Gheàrrloch ("In Praise of Gairloch"), William Ross describes the Highlandwinter sport ofshinty (Scottish Gaelic:camanachd, iomain), which was traditionally played by theGaels uponSt. Andrew's Day,Christmas Day,New Year's Day,Handsel Monday, andCandlemas. The Bard's account of the annual match played uponNew Year's Day atebb tide upon the Big Sand (Scottish Gaelic:Gainmheach Mhòr) of Gairloch, is, according to Ronald Black, "as succinct a description as we have of the great festive shinty matches of the past."^[52]

William Ross is said to have burned all his manuscripts, but his verses survived in Gairloch asoral poetry. They were ultimately written down byJohn MacKenzie from the dictation of those who had memorized them and published posthumously.^[50] His most famous song is the lament,Cuachag nan Craobh ("Cuckoo of the Tree"),^[53] the tune of which is now known throughout theAnglosphere asThe Skye Boat Song, based on multiple sets ofScottish English lyrics composed a century later.

More recently, William Ross' poetry was a major influence uponSorley MacLean, who remains one of the most important figures in 20th century Gaelic literature.^[54] MacLean considered William Ross' last song,Òran Eile,^[55] "one of the very greatest poems ever made in any language", in theBritish Isles and comparable to the best ofWilliam Shakespeare's154 sonnets.^[56]

TheNorth Uist poetJohn MacCodrum, theofficial Bard to Sir AlexanderMacDonald of Sleat, composed poetry criticizing both theScottish clan chiefs and theAnglo-Scottish landlords of theHighlands and Islands for the often brutalmass evictions of the Scottish Gaels that followed theBattle of Culloden^[57] and on mundane topics such as old age andwhiskey.^[58]

Among MacCodrum's most popular anti-landlord poems mocks Aonghus MacDhòmhnaill, the post-Cullodentacksman of Griminish. It is believed to date from between 1769 and 1773, when overwhelming numbers of Sir Alexander MacDonald's tenants on the isles ofNorth Uist andSkye were reacting to hisrackrenting and other harsh treatments by immigrating to the district surrounding theCape Fear River ofNorth Carolina. The song is known in the oral tradition ofNorth Uist asÒran Fir Ghriminis ("A Song of the Tacksman of Griminish"). The song is equally popular among speakers ofCanadian Gaelic inNova Scotia, where it is known under the differing title,Òran Aimereaga ("The Song of America").^[59]

Among the "earliest Scottish Gaelic poets inNorth America about whom we know anything", isKintail-bornIain mac Mhurchaidh, descendant of theClan Macraetacksmen ofInverinate, who emigrated at the urging of Rev.John Bethune to a homestead alongMcLendons Creek, in what is nowMoore County, North Carolina, around 1774. He continued composing Gaelic-poetry there until his death around 1780.^[60]

In the traditionalScottish culture of theHighlands and Islands, hunting was a traditional pastime for both nobles and warriors and eating fish or seafood was considered a sign a low birth or status. By this time, however, hunting was being increasingly treated aspoaching by theAnglo-Scottish landlords. Iain mac Mhurchaidh had already composed a poem complaining that his hunting rights were being restricted and, for this and many other reasons, he decided on emigrating to theColony of North Carolina.^[61]

He had no intention of going alone and composed many Gaelic poems and songs in which he urged his friends and relations to join him. In those poems, like many other Gaelic poets who were urging emigration during the same era, Iain mac Mhuirchaidh complained that warriors were no longer valued and thatgreed had come to mean more to theChiefs and theTacksmen than honor, family, or clan ties. Iain mac Mhurchaidh always concluded his poems by arguing that theGaels would do well to abandon such a corrupted nobility and emigrate to theNew World.^[62]

During theAmerican Revolution, Iain mac Mhuirchaidh and his son Murdo Macrae fought as aLoyalist soldiers in the famousHighland charge at theBattle of Moore's Creek Bridge in February 1776. Even though his son fell, Iain mac Mhurchaidh later fought again as a Loyalist under the command of MajorPatrick Ferguson at theBattle of King's Mountain in 1780. His many war poems which celebrate the British cause remain an important part of Scottish Gaelic literature.

According to Michael Newton, Iain mac Mhuirchaidh thewar poet so inspired theGaels settled along theCape Fear River to rise up and fight forKing George III that AmericanPatriots, "treated him with great severity."^[63]

Even though there many other poems like it, one of the only surviving pro-Patriot Gaelic poems from theAmerican Revolution was composed in Scotland, rather than in America. The poet skillfully invokes the two traditional attributes of an unworthyScottish clan chief, raising the rent needlessly and spending the money on himself, and then lays those very attributes at the doors of both theScottish nobility andKing George III.^[64]

In 1783, the year that saw the end of theAmerican Revolution and the beginning of theHighland Clearances in Inverness-shire,Cionneach mac Cionnich (Kenneth MacKenzie) (1758–1837), a poet fromClan MacKenzie who was born at Castle Leather nearInverness,^[65] and who died atFermoy,County Cork,Ireland,^[66] composedThe Lament of the North. In the poem, Cionneach mac Cionnich mocks theScottish clan chiefs for becomingabsentee landlords, for bothrackrenting andevicting their clansmen en masse in favor of sheep, and of "spending their wealth uselessly", in London. He accuses KingGeorge III both of tyranny and of steering theship of state into shipwreck. MacCionnich also argues that truth is on the side ofGeorge Washington and theContinental Army and that theGaels would do well to emigrate from theHighlands and Islands to the United States before the King and the landlords take everyfarthing they have left.^[67] The poem appeared in MacKenzie's poetry collection,Òrain Ghaidhealach, agus Bearla air an eadar-theangacha.^[66]

The poetMìcheal Mór MacDhòmhnaill emigrated fromSouth Uist toCape Breton around 1775 and a poem describing his first winter there survives.Anna NicGillìosa emigrated fromMorar toGlengarry County, Ontario in 1786 and a Gaelic poem in praise of her new home there also survives.^[68]

James Macpherson (1736–96), the nephew ofEwen MacPherson of Cluny, was the first Scottish poet to gain an international reputation. Claiming to have collected poetry by thedemigodOssian from theFenian Cycle ofCeltic mythology, Macpherson published translations from Scottish Gaelic that he proclaimed were an equivalent to theClassicalepics ofHomer andVirgil and which immediately became an international sensation.Fingal was published in 1762 and was speedily translated into many European languages. Its awe of the natural world and the melancholy tenderness of its treatment of ancient legends did more than any single work to create theRomantic movement, especially inGerman literature, where it influencedHerder andGoethe.^[69] Eventually it became clear that the poems were not exact translations from the Gaelic, butMythopoeicadaptations. MacPherson had collected many contradictory accounts of the same stories from theFenian Cycle and then chose to rewrite them into a coherent plot in order to suit the aesthetic expectations of his readers.^[70]

AMiddle Irish translation of theChristian Bible, dating from theElizabethan period but revised in the 1680s, was in use until the Bible wastranslated into Scottish Gaelic.^[71] Author David Ross notes in his 2002 history of Scotland that a Scottish Gaelic version of the Bible was published in London in 1690 by the Rev.Robert Kirk,EpiscopalianRector ofAberfoyle; however it was not widely circulated.^[72] The first well-known translation of the Bible into modern Scottish Gaelic was begun in 1767 when Rev.James Stuart ofKillin andDugald Buchanan ofRannoch produced a translation of theNew Testament. Very few other European languages have developed a modernliterary language without a much earliervernacular and more widely available translation of the Bible. The lack of a well-known translation until the late 18th century may well have contributed to thedecline of Scottish Gaelic.^[71] A highly acclaimed Roman Catholic translation of theNew Testament into theArisaig dialect of Scottish Gaelic, was made by Fr.Ewen MacEachan, worked over by Fr. Colin Grant, and finally published in 1875. Fr. MacEachan, a graduate of theRoyal Scots College atValladolid, also produced an important Gaelic-English dictionary as well as translations ofThomas a Kempis'The Imitation of Christ (Scottish Gaelic:Leanmhainn Chriosda), published in 1826, andLorenzo Scupoli'sThe Spiritual Combat (Scottish Gaelic:An cath spioradail), published in 1835.^[73]

TheHighland Clearances and widespread emigration significantly weakened Gaelic language and culture and had a profound impact on the nature of Gaelic poetry.

Emigration also resulted inGàidhealtachd communities abroad, most notably in Canada and the United States, both of which produced a very large quantity of literature in theScottish Gaelic language outside Scotland.^[74] Canadian and American Bards made sense of their relationship to their homeland as a diaspora in both romantic poetry praising their "an t-Seann Dùthaich" (English: "the Old Country") and political songs about the Highland Clearances. Many songs, such as "O mo dhùthaich," contain both themes.^[75]

In the Gàidhealtachd settlements along theCape Fear River inNorth Carolina, the first Gaelic books published locally were religious tracts for the region'sPresbyterian congregations. The first such book,Searmoin Chuaidh a Liobhairt ag an Raft Swamp ("Sermons at Raft Swamp"), was published by Rev. Dùghall Crauford, aPresbyterian minister and native speaker ofArran Gaelic, atFayetteville,North Carolina in 1791. An edition ofDàin Spioradail ("Spiritual Verses") by Rev. Pàdraig Grannd was printed on the same press in 1826. The North Carolina Gaelic dialect by then was already going into decline.^[76] According to Marcus Tanner, despite the post-American Revolution redirection of Scottish Highland emigration towardsCanada, a Gàidhealtachd continued to exist inNorth Carolina, "until it was well and truly disrupted", by theAmerican Civil War.^[77]

According to Michael Newton, however, "Professor Catrìona Persons ofSt Francis Xavier University ofAntigonish presented a talk about a recently discovered item to theInternational Celtic Congress inEdinburgh in 1994. The four verse song seems to have been composed in North Carolina about the time of the Civil War and mentions the dance theReel of Tulloch, suggesting that the members of the Highland community were still engaged in traditionalGaelic song anddance to some degree at that time."^[78]

Lord Selkirk's early settler inCanadaCalum Bàn MacMhannain, alias Malcolm Buchanan, left behind the song-poemÒran an Imrich ("The Song of Emigration"), which describes his 1803 voyage from theIsle of Skye toBelfast,Prince Edward Island and his impressions of his new home asEilean an Àigh ("The Island of Prosperity").^[79]Ailean a' Ridse MacDhòmhnaill emigrated fromGlen Spean,Lochaber toMabou,Cape Breton,Nova Scotia in 1816 and composed several Gaelic poems in the New World. The most prolific emigre poet wasIain mac Ailein, a native of Caolas,Tiree, and the former chief bard to theChief of Clan MacLean ofColl, who emigrated with his family toPictou County, Nova Scotia in 1819. In Nova Scotia, Iain Mac Ailein is known colloquially today as, "The Bard MacLean".^[68]

Robert Dunbar has dubbed MacLean, "perhaps the most important of all the poets who emigrated during the main period of Gaelic overseas emigration".^[80]

As there was at first no Gaelic-language printing press in Atlantic Canada, in 1819, Rev.Seumas MacGriogar, the first Gaelic-speakingPresbyterian minister appointed toNova Scotia, had to publish his collection ofChristian poetry inGlasgow.^[76]

Printing presses soon followed, though, and the first Gaelic-language books printed in Canada, all of which were Presbyterian religious books, were published atPictou, Nova Scotia andCharlottetown,Prince Edward Island in 1832. The first Gaelic language books published in Toronto and Montreal, which were also Presbyterian religious books, appeared between 1835 and 1836. The first Catholic religious books published in the Gaelic-language were printed at Pictou in 1836.^[76]

In 1835, while living on a homestead at Glenbard, nearAddington Forks,Antigonish County, Nova Scotia,Tiree-born poetIain mac Ailein published twenty of his works ofChristian poetry in Gaelic atGlasgow under the title,Laoidhean Spioradail le Iain MacGilleain ("Spiritual Songs by John MacLean").^[81]

According to Natasha Sumner andAidan Doyle, "due to exceptional circumstances",John The Bard MacLean andAllan The Ridge MacDonald are the only 19th century North American Gaelic Bards from whom, "sizeable repertoires", still exist. Unlike John The Bard MacLean, however, who both wrote his own poetry down and successfully sought publishers for it, Allan The Ridge MacDonald was well known as a poet andSeanchaidh, "but he was not a compiler of manuscripts." The Gaelic verse of Allan The Ridge was shared by its author only asoral literature and we owe its survival primarily toCanadian Gaelic literary scholar andPresbyterian minister Rev.Alexander MacLean Sinclair (1840-1924), who persuaded the Bard's son, Alasdair a' Ridse MacDhòmhnaill, to write down everything he had learned from his father.^[82] A phrase that was to become amantra in the letters and manuscripts of Alasdair a' Ridse was,"Sin Mar a' chuala mis' aig m' athair e", ("This is how I heard it from my father").^[83]

So much of the history, culture, literature, and traditions ofLochaber, as well as the Gaelic poetry of his father were written down by Alasdair a' Ridse thatRaasay-born poetSorley MacLean, who along withAlasdair mac Mhaighstir Alasdair remains one of the two greatest figures in the history of Scottish Gaelic literature, was later to comment that Rev. Sinclair, "had no need to come or to write to Scotland, as there was inNova Scotia a greatSeanchaidh, Alexander MacDonald of Ridge."^[83]

Dr John MacLachlan, the author ofDìreadh a-mach ri Beinn Shianta, a poem on theClearances inArdnamurchan, is unusual for his outspoken criticism of theAnglo-Scottishlandlords.^[84] More recently, the poem has influencedSorley Maclean, who wrote a poem addressed Dr. MacLachlan.^[85]

In Sutherland,Eòghainn MacDhonnchaidh (Ewan Robertson, (1842 – 1895) ofTongue^[86] was called "the Bard of the Clearances";^[87] is most famous for his songMo mhallachd aig na caoraich mhòr ("My curses upon the Border sheep") mocking, among others, theDuchess of Sutherland andPatrick Sellar.^[88] The song has been recorded by notable singersJulie Fowlis andKathleen MacInnes. There is a monument to Robertson in Tongue.^[89][90][88]

A similar poem in Gaelic attacks James Gillanders of Highfield Cottage nearDingwall, who was theFactor for the estate of Major Charles Robertson ofKincardine. As his employer was then serving with theBritish Army inAustralia, Gillanders was the person most responsible for the mass evictions staged atGlencalvie,Ross-shire in 1845. The Gaelic-language poem denouncing Gillanders for the brutality of the evictions was later submitted anonymously to Pàdraig MacNeacail, the editor of the column inCanadian Gaelic in which the poem was published in theAntigonish, Nova Scotia newspaperThe Casket. The poem, which is believed to draw upon eyewitness accounts, is believed to be the only Gaelic language source relating to the evictions inGlencalvie.^[91]

Enraged by what he saw as, "awar of attrition against theGaels", embodied in theHighland Clearances,^[92]Bowmore poet andScottish nationalistUilleam Mac Dhun Lèibhe (1808–70) protested against the mass evictions ordered uponIslay, in theInner Hebrides, after the island was purchased byJames Morrison in the poemFios Thun a' Bhard ("A Message for the Bard"), which was composed to the airWhen the kye came hame^[93] Mac Dhun Lèibhe presents in the poem, according to John T. Koch, "a stark view of an Islay in which the human world has been all but banished from the natural landscape."^[94]

In his 1861 poemEirinn a' Gul ("Ireland Weeping"), Uilleam Mac Dhun Lèibhe recalled the many stories of his fellowGaels onInis Fáil (Ireland) he had heard in theCeilidh houses of Islay, before that island was emptied by theHighland Clearances. He then lamented the destruction wreaked upon theIrish people by both famine and similar evictions ordered byAnglo-Irish landlords. He particularly laments the loss of theChiefs of theIrish clans, who led their clansmen in war and provided "leadership of the old and true Gaelic kind". Mac Dhun Lèibhe comments sadly that the mid-19th century leaders and fighters forIrish republicanism had none of the heroic qualities shown byRed Hugh O'Donnell,Hugh O'Neill, andHugh Maguire during theNine Years War againstQueen Elizabeth I. Sadly, but expressing hope for the future of theIrish people, Mac Dhun Lèibhe closes by asking where are the Irish clan warriors who charged out of the mist and slaughtered the armies of the Stranger at theBattle of the Yellow Ford and theBattle of Moyry Pass.^[95]

Seonaidh Phàdraig Iarsiadair (John Smith, 1848–81) also composed a long and emotional condemnation of those responsible for the clearancesSpiord a' Charthannais. The best known Gaelic poet of the era wasMàiri Mhòr nan Òran, 1821–98), whose verse has been criticised for its lack of intellectual weight, but which embodies the spirit of theHighland Land Leaguedirect action campaigns of the 1870s and '80s and whose evocation of place and mood has made her among the most enduring Gaelic poets.^[17] Professor Donald E. Meek, however, has written that the songs of Mairi Mhòr nan Òran show the influence that the weekly newspaperThe Highlander and its editorMurchadh na Feilidh had on both Scottish Gaelic literature and upon the opinions of ordinary Highland people, even though the articles were mainly printed in English.^[96]

Lochaber poetEòghann MacLachlainn translated the first eight books ofHomer'sIliad into Scottish Gaelic. He also composed and published his ownGaelic Attempts in Verse (1807) andMetrical Effusions (1816), and contributed greatly to the 1828 Gaelic–English Dictionary.^[97]

The Gaelic verse of Fr.Allan MacDonald (1859–1905), aRoman Catholic priest who was stationed atOban,South Uist, andEriskay, is mainlyChristian poetry. He composed hymns and verse in honour of theBlessed Virgin, theChrist Child, and theEucharist. However, several secular poems and songs were also composed by him. In some of these, Fr. MacDonald praises the beauty of Eriskay and its people, as in his iconic song poemEilein na h-Òige ("Island of the Young").

In his comicverse drama,Parlamaid nan Cailleach ("The Parliament ofHags"), however, Fr. MacDonald lampoons the gossiping of his female parishioners and local courtship and marriage customs. Ronald Black has compared the play to similar works comic poetry fromIrish literature in theIrish language, such asDomhnall Ó Colmáin's 1670Párliament na mBan ("The Women's Parliament") andBrian Merriman's 1780Cúirt an Mheán Oíche ("The Midnight Court").^[98]

Since his death, the enormous degree to which Fr. MacDonald's folklore and folksong research was plagiarized during his lifetime by other writers has been meticulously documented byJohn Lorne Campbell.^[99] Furthermore, Ronald Black praised Fr. MacDonald in 2002 as, "a huge literary talent",^[100] Black has also written that Fr. MacDonald's prophetic poemCeum nam Mìltean deserves to be, "first in any anthology of thepoetry of theFirst World War", and, "would not have been in any way out of place, with regard to style or substance", inSorley MacLean's groundbreaking 1943 poetry collectionDàin do Eimhir.^[101] Black concluded by commenting that had Fr. Allan MacDonald not died prematurely at the age of only 45, "then the map of Gaelic literature in the twentieth century might have looked very different."^[102]

Under to the1872 Education Act, school attendance was compulsory and only English was taught or tolerated in the schools of both the Lowlands and theHighlands and Islands. As a result, any student who spokeScots orScottish Gaelic in the school or on its grounds could expect what Ronald Black calls the, "familiar Scottish experience of being thrashed for speaking [their] native language."^[103]

In 1891,An Comunn Gàidhealach was founded inOban to help preserve theScottish Gaelic language and its literature and to establish theRoyal National Mòd (Am Mòd Nàiseanta Rìoghail), as a festival^[104] of Gaelic music, literature, arts, and culture deliberately modelled upon theNational Eisteddfod of Wales.

Before serving in theSeaforth Highlanders inBritish India and during theFall of France in 1940, however, Gaelic languagewar poetAonghas Caimbeul attended the 300-pupil Cross School on theIsle of Lewis after the 1872 Education Act. He later recalled, "A Lowlander, who had not a word of Gaelic, was the schoolmaster. I never had a Gaelic lesson in school, and the impression you got was that your language, people, and tradition had come from unruly, wild, and ignorant tribes and that if you wanted to make your way in the world you would be best to forget them completely. Short of the stories of theGermanBaron Münchhausen, I have never come across anything as dishonest, untruthful, and inaccurate as thehistory of Scotland as taught in those days."^[105]

Even so, large numbers of theScottish people, both Highlander and Lowlander, continued to enlist in theBritish armed forces andScottish regiments becoming renowned worldwide asshock troops.

For this reason, literary critic Wilson MacLeod has written that, in post-Culloden Scottish Gaelic literature,anti-colonialist poets such asDuncan Livingstone "must be considered isolated voices. The great majority ofGaelic verse, from the eighteenth century onwards, was steadfastlyPro-British andPro-Empire, with several poets, including Aonghas Moireasdan and Dòmhnall MacAoidh, enthusiastically asserting the conventual justificatory rationale for imperial expansion, that it was acivilising mission rather than a process of conquest and expropriation. Conversely, there is no evidence that Gaelic poets saw a connection between their own difficult history and the experience of colonised people in other parts of the world."^[106]

The first novel in Scottish Gaelic was John MacCormick'sDùn-Àluinn, no an t-Oighre 'na Dhìobarach, which was serialised in thePeople's Journal in 1910, before publication in book form in 1912. The publication of a second Scottish Gaelic novel,An t-Ogha Mòr by Angus Robertson, followed within a year.^[107]

When theFirst World War began, Scotland was filled with patriotic euphoria and an enormous number of young men rushed up to enlist in theBritish armed forces. During the war, the devastating effectiveness ofHighland charges intrench warfare caused the kilt-wearing soldiers theScottish regiments to be dubbed, "Die Damen aus der Hölle" ("The Ladies from Hell") by the soldiers of theImperial German Army on theWestern Front.^[108][109] In the 1996 memoirThe Sea Hunters: True Adventures with Famous Shipwrecks,American author and explorerClive Cussler revealed that his father, Eric Edward Cussler, served with theImperial German Army on theWestern Front duringWorld War I. In later years, Eric Cussler used to tell his son thatFrenchPoilus were, "mediocre fighters", thatBritishTommies were, "tenacious bulldogs", and thatAmericanDoughboys, were, "real scrappers." Eric Cussler always added, however, "But my German comrades took anything they could all dish out. It was only when we heard thebagpipes from, 'The Ladies from Hell,' that we oozed cold sweat and knew a lot of us wouldn't be going home forChristmas."^[110]

Despite their effectiveness, however, theScottish regiments suffered horrendous losses on the battlefield, which included manywar poets who wrote inScottish Gaelic.

TheScottish Gaelic poetJohn Munro, a native ofSwordale on theIsle of Lewis, won theMilitary Cross while serving as a2nd Lieutenant with theSeaforth Highlanders and was ultimatelykilled in action during the1918 Spring Offensive. Lt. Munro, writing under thepseudonymIain Rothach, came to be ranked by critics alongside the major war poets. Tragically, only three of his poems are known to survive. They areAr Tir ("Our Land"),Ar Gaisgich a Thuit sna Blàir ("Our Heroes Who Fell in Battle"), andAir sgàth nan sonn ("For the Sake of the Warriors").^[111]Derick Thomson – the venerable poet and Professor of Celtic Studies atGlasgow – hailed Munro's work in hisCompanion to Gaelic Scotland as being: "the first strong voice of the new Gaelic verse of the 20th century".

Ronald Black has written that Munro's three poems leave behind, "his thoughts on his fallen comrades in torturedfree verse full ofreminiscence-of-rhyme; forty more years were to pass before free verse became widespread in Gaelic."^[112]

Pàdraig Moireasdan, aScottish Gaelicbard andseanchaidh fromGrimsay,North Uist, served in theLovat Scouts during World War I. He served in theGallipoli Campaign, in theMacedonian front, and on the Western Front. In later years, Moireasdan, who ultimately reached the rank ofcorporal, loved to tell how he fed countless starving Allied soldiers inThessalonica by making aquern. Corporal Moireasdan composed many poems and songs during the war, includingÒran don Chogadh ("A Song to the War"), which he composed while serving at Gallipoli.^[113]

In1969,Gairm, apublishing house based inGlasgow and specializing in Scottish Gaelic literature, posthumously published the first book of collected poems byDòmhnall Ruadh Chorùna. The poet, who had died two years previously in the hospital atLochmaddy on the island ofNorth Uist, was a combat veteran of theKing's Own Cameron Highlanders during World War I and highly talented poet in the Gaelic language.

According to Ronald Black, "Dòmhnall Ruadh Chorùna is the outstanding Gaelic poet of the trenches. His best known songAn Eala Bhàn ("The White Swan") was produced there for home consumption, but in a remarkable series of ten other compositions he describes what it looked, felt, sounded and even smelt like to march up to the front, to lie awake on the eve of battle, to goover the top,to be gassed, to wear amask, to be surrounded by the dead and dying remains of Gaelic-speaking comrades, and so on. Others of his compositions contain scenes ofdeer hunting, a symbolically traditional pursuit of which he happened to be passionately fond, and which he continued to practice all his life."^[112]

UnlikeCharles Sorley,Wilfred Owen andSiegfried Sassoon, Dòmhnall Ruadh believed himself to be fighting ajust war against a terrible enemy. The Bard's anger over the futility of the war only boiled over after theArmistice.

According to John A. Macpherson, "After the war, Dòmhnall Ruadh returned home to Corùna, but although he was thankful to be alive, he was, like most other returning soldiers, disillusioned. The land which they had been promised was as securely held by the landlords as it had ever been, and so were thehunting andfishing rights."^[114]

Many years later, Dòmhnall expressed his feelings about the years that followed the war in his poem,Caochladh Suigheachadh na Duthcha ("Changed Days"). He recalled the poverty of his youth and how he and his fellowGaels went away to war and frustratedthe Kaiser's war aims at a truly unspeakable cost in lives. Meanwhile, theAnglo-Scottish landlords of theHighlands and Islands stayed home and got richer. He recalled how after the war there was no work and how theGaels emigrated fromScotland toall corners of the world. For those who stayed, there was no food except what was grown and ground by hand and supplemented by occasional discreet defiance of the landlords' bans onhunting andfishing.^[115]

Dòmhnall used to often say of those same years, "If it weren't for the gun and what Ipoached, it would have been dire poverty."^[116]

In his poemDhan Gàidhlig ("For Gaelic"), Dòmhnall called forlanguage revival and urged his fellowGaels to "forgetEnglish", saying he had no use for it. He urged his listeners to remember their warrior ancestors from theScottish clans, who never gave way in battle while there was still a head on their shoulders. Dòmhmnall compared the Gaelic language to a tree that had lost its branches and leaves. But he said that if people were to dig and weed around the base of its trunk, the tree would grow again and spread its leaves and branches. Dòmhnall expressed the hope that the descendants of theGaels who were evicted during theHighland Clearances would return from around the world to hear from those who had stayed how heartlessly the landlords treated their ancestors. Dòmhnall also expressed a vision of theScottish Gaeldom prosperous and teeming with children and how sheep, with which the landlords replaced those whom they evicted, would be replaced withHighland cattle. Dòmhnall concluded by predicting that the women in the milking fold will sing Gaelic songs and recite Gaelic poems as they work.^[117]

The revitalisation of Gaelic poetry in the twentieth century, known as theScottish Gaelic Renaissance was largely due to the work ofSorley Maclean (Somhairle MacGill-Eain, 1911–96). He was raised in theFree Presbyterian Church of Scotland, which he later described as "the strictest ofCalvinist fundamentalism" on theIsle of Raasay. He had become, by the outbreak ofWorld War II, aCommunist-sympathiser. MacLean was also awar poet who wrote about his combat experiences with theRoyal Corps of Signals during theWestern Desert campaign. MacLean's time in the firing line ended after he was severely wounded at theSecond Battle of El Alamein in 1941.

MacLean's most famous Gaelic war poem isGlac a' Bhàis ("The Valley of Death"), which relates his thoughts on seeing a dead German soldier in North Africa. In the poem, MacLean ponders what role the dead man may have played in Nazi atrocities against bothGerman Jews and members of theCommunist Party of Germany. MacLean concludes, however, by saying that whatever the German soldier may or may not have done, he showed no pleasure in his death upon Ruweisat Ridge.

Following the war, MacLean would go on to become a major figure inworld literature. He was described by theScottish Poetry Library as "one of the major Scottish poets of the modern era" because of his "mastery of his chosen medium and his engagement with the European poetic tradition and European politics".^[118]Northern Irish poet and winner of theNobel Prize for LiteratureSeamus Heaney has credited MacLean with saving Scottish Gaelic poetry.

Aonghas Caimbeul (1903–1982), aScottish Gaelic poet fromSwainbost on theIsle of Lewis, had served during theInterwar Period with theSeaforth Highlanders inBritish India. While there, Caimbeul had heardMahatma Gandhi speak and had also seen the aviatorAmy Johnson. Therefore, upon the outbreak ofWorld War II in September 1939, Caimbeul rejoined his old regiment and saw combat against the invadingWehrmacht during theFall of France. After Major-GeneralVictor Fortune surrendered the51st (Highland) Division to Major-GeneralErwin Rommel atSaint-Valery-en-Caux on 12 June 1940, Caimbeul spent the rest of the war as aPOW atStalag XX-A, nearThorn, inOccupied Poland, where he mostly did unpaid agricultural labour.^[119]

In his award-winning memoirSuathadh ri Iomadh Rubha,^[120] Caimbeul recalled the origins of his poem,Deargadan Phòland ("The Fleas of Poland"), "We called them theFreiceadan Dubh ('Black Watch'), and any man they didn't reduce to cursing and swearing deserved a place in the courts of the saints. I made a satirical poem about them at the time, but that didn't take the strength out of their frames or the sharpness out of their sting."^[121]

Caimbeul composed other poems during his captivity, includingSmuaintean am Braighdeanas am Pòland, 1944 ("Thoughts on Bondage in Poland, 1944").^[120]

After athree-month-long death march fromThorn toMagdeburg which he graphically describes in his memoirs, Caimbeul was finally liberated on April 11, 1945. He returned to his native Swainbost and spent his life there as a shopkeeper until he died atStornoway on January 28, 1982.^[122]

Aonghas Caimbeul's collected poems,Moll is Cruithneachd, were published atGlasgow in 1972 and were favorably reviewed.^[120]

Caimbeul's memoirs,Suathadh ri Iomadh Rubha, which won the £200 prize in a contest offered by theGaelic Books Council, were also published at Glasgow in 1973. Of the memoir, Ronald Black has written, "It is a remarkable achievement consisting as it does of the memoirs of an exciting life, woven together with a forthright personal philosophy and much detailed ethnological commentary on tradition and change in island communities during the twentieth century, all steeped in a solution of anecdote, sometimes brilliantly funny. It is the twentieth century's leading work of Gaelic nonfictional prose."^[120]

While similarly en route to captivity as a POW inNazi Germany in June 1940,South Uist native and fellow 51st (Highland) Division soldierDòmhnall Iain Dhonnchaidh composed a lament for his fellow soldiers who had lost their lives before the Division surrendered. The result is the Gaelic song poem"Na Gillean nach Maireann" ("The Lads that Are No More"), which he set to the air"O ho nighean, è ho nighean"^[123] and which bears a strong resemblance to the poem"Tha Mi Duilich, Cianail, Duilich" ("I am Sad, Lamenting, and Full of Sorrow"), which was composed for very similar reasons duringWorld War I by his cousin Dòmhnall Ruadh Chorùna.^[124]

In accordance with theThird Geneva Convention, POWs like Dòmhnall MacDonald, who were below the rank of Sergeant, wererequired to work. MacDonald spent his captivity attached toArbeitskommando ("labour units") and doing unpaid labour, mainly in quarries and salt mines. MacDonald later described, "in harrowing detail", his experiences in enemy captivity in the postwar memoirFo Sgàil a' Swastika ("Under the Shadow of the Swastika").^[125]

Similarly to his contemporaryAlexander Solzhenitsyn while imprisoned in theGulag,^[126] Dòmhnall Iain Dhonnchaidh composed many works oforal poetry during forced labour in German captivity, all of which he memorized and was only able to write down and edit for publication following the end of the war and his release.^[127]

Furthermore, Dòmhnall Iain Dhonnchaidh'sWorld War II experiences in both combat and as a POW in German captivity left him as a ferventScottish nationalist with an intensive hatred ofcolonialism,militarism, and war; which later expressed itself in many works of Gaelic poetry condemning what he considered the wasteful loss of human life due toWorld War I,World War II, theCold War,the Troubles inNorthern Ireland,^[128] and the1967 Abortion Act.^[129][130]

Furthermore, in"Moch sa Mhadainn 's Mi Dùsgadh" ("Rising Early"), Dòmhnall Iain Dhonnchaidh somewhat facetiously rewrote Scottishnational poetAlasdair mac Mhaighstir Alasdair's"Òran Eile donn Phrionnsa" ("A New Song to the Prince"), which celebrates the arrival in Scotland ofPrince Charles Edward Stuart, the raising of his standard atGlenfinnan, and the beginning of theJacobite rising of 1745. In Dòmhnall Iain Dhonnchaidh's version, which is sung to the exact same melody, he instead speaks of his joy at waking up onboard a ship that was about to return him to South Uist after five years in enemy captivity.^[131]

In 1948, MacDonald's poem"Moladh Uibhist" ("In Praise of Uist"), which he had composed while being held as a POW and carefully edited for publication following his release, won theBardic Crown at theRoyal National Mòd at Glasgow.^[125] In the poem, which is in strict bardic metre, Dòmhnall lamented what he had come to see in enemy captivity as his own stupidity in not properly appreciating the peacetime and civilian life that had once bored him so terribly. He called the reckoning of his wartime experiences bitter and praised the natural beauty, wildlife, history, and culture of his native island at considerable length.^[132]

With these changed beliefs in mind, Dòmhnall Iain Dhonnchaidh would often say following his return from German captivity, "I learned more in those five years than I could have in eighty years of ordinary living."^[133]

Calum MacNeacail (1902-1978), a Scottish Gaelic poet fromGedintailor,Isle of Skye, served in theRoyal Air Force during theSecond World War. In his 1946 poemCùmhnantan Sìthe Pharis ("The Paris Peace Treaties"), MacNeacail praised theatomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and threatened the same fate againstJoseph Stalin andVyacheslav Molotov if they continued refusing to cooperate with theWestern Allies.

After returning home following combat in theNorth African Campaign,Sorley MacLean abandoned the stylistic conventions of the Bardic tradition and opened up new possibilities for composition with hisSymbolist-inspired poetry collectionDàin do Eimhir (Poems for Eimhir, 1943). Considered MacLean's masterpiece, the poems deal with intertwining themes ofromantic love, landscape,Scottish history, theHighland Clearances, and theSpanish Civil War. They are among the most important literary works ever written in theScottish Gaelic language.

MacLean's work inspired a new generation to take upnea bhardachd ("The New Poetry"). These includedDeòrsa Mac Iain Dheòrsa, (1915–1984), Lewis-born poetsRuaraidh MacThòmais, (1921–2012) andIain Mac a' Ghobhainn, (1928–98). They all focused on the issues of exile, the fate of the Gaelic language and bi-culturalism.^[17]Aonghas MacNeacail, (b. 1942), amongst the most prominent post-war Gaelic poets, was influenced by newAmerican poetry, particularly theBlack Mountain School.^[134]

On March 28, 1956, whenBBC Scotland played a recording of aScottish Gaelic languageceilidh by the soldiers of theKing's Own Cameron Highlanders during theKorean War,Dòmhnall Ruadh Chorùna, who has served in the same regiment duringWorld War I, was listening. He later composed the poemGillean Chorea ("The Lads in Korea"), in which he declared that the recording had brought back his youth.^[135]

The 1960s and 1970s also saw the flourishing of Scottish Gaelic drama. Key figures includedIain Mac a' Ghobhainn, whose plays explored wide-ranging themes. Often humorous, they also dealt with serious topics such as the betrayal of Christ inAn Coileach (A Cockerel, 1966) of theHighland Clearances inA' Chùirt (The Court, 1966).^[136]Iain Moireach's plays also used humour to deal with serious subjects, as inFeumaidh Sinn a Bhith Gàireachdainn (We Have to Laugh, 1969), which focused on threats to the Gaelic language. Other major figures includedTormod Calum Dòmhnallach (1927–2000), whose work includedAnna Chaimbeul (Anna Campbell, 1977), which was influenced by JapaneseNoh theatre.Fionnlagh MacLeòid's (Finley Macleod) work includedCeann Cropic (1967), which was strongly influenced by thetheatre of the absurd. Similarly,Donaidh MacIlleathain (Donnie Maclean), made use of absurd dialogue inAn Sgoil Dhubh (A Dark School, 1974). Many of these authors continued writing into the 1980s and even the 1990s, but this was something of a golden age for Gaelic drama that has not been matched.^[137]

Thecowboy poet Murchadh MacGilleathain ("Murdo MacLean"), a native ofCoigach inWester Ross, was one of manyGaels who emigrated to theAmerican West prior to the Great War. Around 1910, MacGilleathain expressed his loneliness and homesickness in a song-poem composed upon hiscattle ranch inMontana: 'S ann a fhuair mi m' àrach an taobh tuath de Alba mhòr ("It was in the north of great Scotland that I was reared"). As he expressed hope to do in the song, Murchadh permanently returned home to Coigach and his song was collected and recorded by theSchool of Scottish Studies from Maighread Cros in the village ofCeann Loch Iù, alongLoch Maree, inWester Ross.^[138]

For Gaels from theCanadian Gaelic-speaking communities ofNova Scotia andPrince Edward Island, the American city ofBoston,Massachusetts and itssuburbs remained a particular draw to the point that one contemporary writer compared emigration to Boston to agold rush, and many works of Gaelic poetry were composed there.^[139] For example, according toCelticist Michael Newton, "After Mrs. Catherine MacInnes moved fromCape Breton to Boston, she composed a Gaelic translation ofThe Star Spangled Banner."^[140]

In 1917, Rev. Murdoch Lamont (1865-1927), a Gaelic-speakingPresbyterian minister fromOrwell,Queens County,Prince Edward Island, published a small,vanity press booklet titled,An Cuimhneachain: Òrain Céilidh Gàidheal Cheap Breatuinn agus Eilean-an-Phrionnsa ("The Remembrance: Céilidh Songs of the Cape Breton and Prince Edward Island Gaels") inQuincy, Massachusetts. In Rev. Lamont's pamphlet and due to his work as a collector, the most complete versions survive of theCanadian Gaelicoral poetry composed uponPrince Edward Island before theloss of the language there, including the 1803 song-poemÒran an Imrich ("The Song of Emigration") byCalum Bàn MacMhannain (Malcolm Buchanan) andÒran le Ruaraidh Mór MacLeoid by Ruaraidh Mór Belfast, (Roderick MacLeod), both of whom were from the district ofBelfast, Prince Edward Island.^[79]

In 1924, aCanadian Gaelic poetic tribute to theCanadian Corps soldiers of the85th Battalion (Nova Scotia Highlanders) was composed by Alasdair MacÌosaig ofSt. Andrew's Channel,Cape Breton,Nova Scotia. The poem praised the courage of the fallen CanadianGaels and told them that they had fought better against theImperial German Army than theEnglish did, while also lamenting the absence of fallen soldiers from their families and villages. The poem ended by denouncing theinvasion of Belgium and vowing, even thoughKaiser Wilhelm II had managed to evade prosecution by seeking and being grantedpolitical asylum in the neutralNetherlands, that he would one day be tried forwar crimes andhanged. The poem was first published in the bilingualAntigonish newspaperThe Casket on February 14, 1924.^[141]

The Gaelic poetIain Eairdsidh MacAsgaill, (1898—1934), who is widely known as theBàrd Bheàrnaraigh ("theBard ofBernera"), was one of many Gaels who emigrated from Scotland during the interwar period. After arriving in theWheatbelt region ofWestern Australia, Iain Eairsidh farmed nearLake Varley from 1925 to 1933. He is best known for his poems and songs expressinghomesickness and his regret for ever leaving Scotland, which remain an important part of Gaelic literature.^[142]

The poetDuncan Livingstone (1877-1964) was born in his grandfather'sCroft at Reudle, nearTorloisk on theIsle of Mull. His father, Donald Livingstone (Dòmhnall Mac Alasdair 'ic Iain 'ic Dhòmhnall 'ic Dhonnchaidh) (1843–1924) was ajoiner andstone-mason. According to the family oral tradition, the poet's paternal grandfather was the uncle of the missionary and explorerDavid Livingstone. The Poet's mother was Jane MacIntyre (Sine nighean Donnchaidh mhic Iain) (1845-1938), a native ofBallachulish who was said to be the grandniece of the Gaelic poetDuncan Ban MacIntyre (1724-1812).^[143]

After serving in theBritish Army during theSecond Anglo-Boer War, Livingstone emigrated permanently toSouth Africa in 1903. While living a comfortable and prosperous life with his wife inPretoria, Livingstone published several poems in Gaelic about theSecond World War. They included an account of theBattle of the River Plate and also a lament, inimitation ofSìleas na Ceapaich's iconic1723 lament,Alistair à Gleanna Garadh, in honor of Livingstone's nephew,Pilot Officer Alasdair Ferguson Bruce of theRoyal Air Force, who was shot down and killed during a mission overNazi Germany in 1941.^[144]

From his home inSouth Africa, Gaelic-poetDuncan Livingstone contemptuously mocked the collapse of theBritish Empire after World War II with the satirical Gaelic poem,Feasgar an Duine Ghil ("The Evening of the White Man").^[145]

The subsequent rise of theAfrikaner nationalistNational Party and itsWhite Supremacist policy ofApartheid, however, troubled Livingstone deeply. The Poet's nephew, Prof. Ian Livingstone, recalls, "I visited Duncan (fromUganda) at his hotel (the Union Hotel, Pretoria) in 1959. He was resident there. Later, when I was back in Uganda, he sent me a long poem, in English (10 pages) onSharpeville, where some 77 Africans had been shot dead by police (mostly in the back). This had obviously affected him greatly. Unfortunately, I don't have the copy anymore."^[146]

TheSharpeville massacre also inspired Livingstone to write the Gaelic poemBean Dubha' Caoidh a Fir a Chaidh a Marbhadh leis a' Phoiles ("A Black Woman Mourns her Husband Killed by the Police").^[147]

Modern Gaelic poetry has been most influenced bySymbolism, transmitted via poetry in English, and byScots language poetry. Traditional Gaelic poetry utilised an elaborate system of metres, which modern poets have adapted to their own ends.Deòrsa Mac Iain Dheòrsa looks beyond the popular metres of the 19th and 20th centuries back toDán Díreach and other forms fromIrish bardic poetry. Donald MacAuley's poetry is concerned with place and community.^[148] The following generation of Gaelic poets writing at the end of the 20th century lived in a bilingual world to a greater extent than any other generation, with their work most often accompanied in publication by a facing text in English. Such confrontation has inspired semantic experimentation, seeking new contexts for words, and going as far as the explosive and neologistic verse of Fearghas MacFhionnlaigh (1948- ).^[149]

Scottish Gaelic poetry has been the subject ofliterary translation not only into English, but also into otherCeltic languages. For example, the poetry of bothMaoilios Caimbeul andMàiri NicGumaraid has been translated into theIrish-language, andJohn Stoddart has produced anthologies of Gaelic poetry translated intoWelsh.^[150]

Scottish Gaelic literature is currently undergoing a revival. In the first half of the 20th century only about four or five books in Gaelic were published each year. Since the 1970s this number has increased to over 40 titles per year.^[151]

South Uist-born Gaelic poet and novelistAngus Peter Campbell (Scottish Gaelic:Aonghas Pàdraig Caimbeul), whose writings combineHebridean mythology and folklore withMagic realism inspired by the writings ofGabriel García Márquez,Jorge Luis Borges, andItalo Calvino, credits his mentorsIain Crichton Smith andSorley MacLean with teaching him, "thatpoetry was a great international language and that Gaelic could proudly stand alongsideSpanish orGreek orRussian orEnglish or whatever in that great discourse."^[152]

In a 1992 interview withThe Highland Free Press,Sorley MacLean referred to Angus Peter Campbell as one of the best livingScottish poets in any language.^[153]

With regard to Gaelic poetry this includes the Great Book of Gaelic,An Leabhar Mòr, aScottish Gaelic,English andIrish language collaboration featuring the work of 150 poets, visual artists and calligraphers.^[154] Established contemporary poets in Scottish Gaelic includeMeg Bateman,Aonghas Phàdraig Caimbeul, Maoilios Caimbeul,Rody Gorman,Aonghas MacNeacail andCrìsdean MacIlleBhàin.Marcas Mac an Tuairneir, an award-winning poet cemented the place of second-language Gaelic learners and gay people in his 2014 collection,Deò.^[155]

According to Natasha Sumner, the currentlanguage revival ofCanadian Gaelic inNova Scotia was largely instigated byKenneth E. Nilsen (1941-2012), anAmericanlinguist with a specialty inCeltic languages. During his employment as Professor of Gaelic Studies atSt. Francis Xavier University inAntigonish, Nilsen was known for his contagious enthusiasm for the distinctive Nova Scotiadialect of the Gaelic language, its folklore and itsoral literature. Several important figures in the recent Canadian Gaelic revival, including the poetLewis MacKinnon (Lodaidh MacFhionghain), have credited Nilsen with sparking their interest in learning the Gaelic language and in actively fighting for its survival.^[156]

In a major innovation, the 2011Royal National Mòd, held atStornoway on theIsle of Lewis, crownedLewis MacKinnon (Lodaidh MacFhionghain), a poet inCanadian Gaelic fromAntigonish County,Nova Scotia, as the winning Bard. It was the first time in the 120-year history of the Mòd that a writer of Gaelic poetry from theScottish diaspora had won the Bardic Crown.^[157]

Following Prof. Nilsen's death in 2012, AntigonishbardLewis MacKinnon (Lodaidh MacFhionghain) composed a Gaelic-language poetic lament for his former teacher, which is titledDo Choinneach Nilsen, M'Oide.^[158]

Gaelic prose has expanded also, particularly with the development since 2003 of theÙr-sgeul series published byCLÀR, which encourages new works of Gaelic fiction by both established and new writers.

Since the turn of the millennium,Angus Peter Campbell, besides his three Scottish Gaelic poetry collections, has also published five Gaelic novels:An Oidhche Mus Do Sheol Sinn (2003),Là a' Deanamh Sgeil Do Là (2004),An Taigh-Samhraidh (2006),Tilleadh Dhachaigh (2009) andFuaran Ceann an t-Saoghail (2011).

Other established fiction writers includeAlasdair Caimbeul and his brother Tormod,Catrìona Lexy Chaimbeul, Alison Lang, Dr Finlay MacLeod, Iain F. MacLeod, Norma MacLeod, Mary Anne MacDonald and Duncan Gillies. New fiction writers include Mairi E. MacLeod and the writers of theAn Claigeann Damien Hirst (Ùr-sgeul, 2009) andSaorsa (Ùr-sgeul, 2011) anthologies. In 2013, the first ever Scottish Gaelichard science fiction novel,Air Cuan Dubh Drilseach by Tim Armstrong, was published by CLÀR.

Lewis MacKinnon's 2017Canadian Gaelic poetry collectionRàithean airson Sireadh ("Seasons for Seeking"), includes both his original poetry and his literary translations of thePersian poetry ofSufi mysticRumi, all of which are themed around the seasons of the year.^[159]

Within Gaelic drama, two Gaelic theatre companies were recently professionally active:Fir Chlis andTosg, which was managed by the late Simon MacKenzie.^[160] Most recently, the Gaelic drama groupTog-I, established by Arthur Donald, has attempted to revive the sector.

Even though some resent the promotion of a Scottish Gaeliclanguage revival through the use ofimmersion schools in the Lowlands,^[161][162] in 2019Niall O'Gallagher, a poet in the new urban dialect known asGlasgow Gaelic, was appointedBàrd Baile Ghlaschu, or as the City of Glasgow's first ever Gaelic languagePoet Laureate.^[163]

• TheNational Library of Scotland holds over 3000 Gaelic books, including several distinct collections.^[164]
• TheUniversity of Edinburgh's Gaelic material includes the School of Scottish Archives Studies, the Carmichael Watson Collection, the archives of Gaelic scholarDonald MacKinnon, and the Laing Collection.^[165]
• University College London holds c.700 items from the Gaelic Society of London.^[166]

• Book of Deer
• Book of the Dean of Lismore
• CLÀR
• Fernaig manuscript
• Glenmasan manuscript
• Islay Charter
• Ùr-sgeul

• Clancy, Thomas Owen (2006). "Scottish Gaelic literature (toc. 1200)". InKoch, John T. (ed.).Celtic Culture: A Historical Encyclopedia. Vol. 4. Santa Barbara, Denver, and Oxford:ABC-CLIO. pp. 1276–7.
• Sumner, Natasha;Doyle, Aidan, eds. (2020).North American Gaels: Speech, Story, and Song in the Diaspora. McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP.ISBN 978-0-2280-0518-6.

• Black, Ronald I.M. (ed.).An Lasair: an anthology of 18th-century Scottish Gaelic verse. Edinburgh, 2001.
• Black, Ronald I.M. (ed.).An Tuil: an anthology of 20th-century Scottish Gaelic verse. Edinburgh, 1999.
• Bruford, Alan.Gaelic folktales and medieval romances: a study of the early modern Irish romantic tales and their oral derivatives. Dublin, 1969.
• Campbell, J.F. (ed.).Leabhar na Féinne: heroic Gaelic ballads collected in Scotland chiefly from 1512 to 1871. London, 1872.PDF available from the Internet Archive
• John Lorne Campbell (1979),Highland Songs of the Forty-Five,Arno Press,New York City
• Clancy, Thomas Owen. "King-making and images of kingship in medieval Gaelic literature." InThe Stone of Destiny: artefact and icon, edited by R. Welander, D.J. Breeze and T.O. Clancy. Society of Antiquaries of Scotland Monograph Series 22. Edinburgh: Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, 2003. pp. 85–105.
• Campbell, John Lorne (1990, 1999)Songs Remembered in Exile: Traditional Gaelic Songs from Nova Scotia Recorded in Cape Breton and Antigonish County in 1937, with an Account of the Causes of the Highland Emigration, 1790–1835. Tunes mostly transcribed bySéamus Ennis; illustrations byMargaret Fay Shaw. Published byAberdeen University Press 1990, Reprinted in 1999 byBirlinn.
• Edited by Jo MacDonald (2015),Cuimhneachan: Bàrdachd a' Chiad Chogaidh/Remembrance: Gaelic Poetry of World War One, Acair Books,Stornoway,Isle of Lewis. Foreword by HRHPrince Charles,Duke of Rothesay
• MacLachlan, Ewen.Ewen MacLachlan's Gaelic Verse. Aberdeen University Studies 114. 2nd ed. Aberdeen: Dept. of Celtic, 1980 (1937).
• Newton, Michael (2001),We're Indians Sure Enough: The Legacy of the Scottish Highlanders in the United States, Saorsa Media.
• Newton, Michael (2015).Seanchaidh na Coille / Memory-Keeper of the Forest: Anthology of Scottish Gaelic Literature of Canada.Cape Breton University Press. Preface byDiana Gabaldon. ISBN 978-1-77206-016-4.
• Ó Baoill, Colm and Donald MacAulay.Scottish Gaelic vernacular verse to 1730: a checklist. Revised edition. Aberdeen: Department of Celtic, University of Aberdeen, 2001.
• Ó Baoill, Colm.Maighread nighean Lachlainn: song-maker of Mull. An edition and study of the extant corpus of her verse in praise of the Jacobite Maclean leaders of her time. Edinburgh: Scottish Gaelic Text Society, 2009.
• Ó Háinle, Cathal and Donald E. Meek.Unity in diversity: studies in Irish and Scottish Gaelic language, literature and history. Dublin, 2004.
• Rankin, Effie (2004),As a’ Bhràighe / Beyond the Braes: The Gaelic Songs of Allan the Ridge MacDonald (1794-1868),Cape Breton University Press,Sydney, Nova Scotia.
• Storey, John "Ùr-Sgeul: Ag Ùrachadh Litreachas is Cultar na Gàidhlig . . . Dè an Ath Cheum?" Edinburgh: Celtic and Scottish Studies, 2007PDF available from University of Edinburgh
• Storey, John "Contemporary Gaelic fiction: development, challenge and opportunity" inLainnir a’ Bhùirn' - The Gleaming Water: Essays on Modern Gaelic Literature, edited by Emma Dymock & Wilson McLeod. Edinburgh: Dunedin Academic Press, 2011.
• Edited by Natasha Sumner and Aidan Doyle (2020),North American Gaels: Speech, Song, and Story in the Diaspora,McGill–Queen's University Press.
• Derick S. Thomson (1987),The Companion to Gaelic Scotland, (Blackwell Reference 1987),ISBN 0-631-15578-3
• Watson, MorayAn Introduction to Gaelic Fiction. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2011[1]
• Watson, William J. (ed.).Bardachd Albannach: Scottish verse from the Book of the Dean of Lismore. Edinburgh: The Scottish Gaelic Texts Society, 1937.

• Digitised version ofLeabhar a Theagasc Ainminnin, 1741 atNational Library of Scotland
• Digitised version ofAis-Eiridh na Sean Chánoin Albannaich / The resurrection of the ancient Scottish language, 1751 atNational Library of Scotland
• Scottish Gaelic Texts Society
• Scottish literature,Celtic Literature Collective.
• The Spread of Scottish Printing, digitised items between 1508 and 1900
• Bibliography of Gaelic Arthurian literature
• Aithbhreac - An Claigeann aig Damien Hirst launch

• Willies, ghillies and horny Highlanders: Scottish Gaelic writing has a filthy past by Peter MacKay,University of St. Andrews,The Conversation, October 24, 2017.
• Gaelic Society of London rare books collection atUniversity College London

• Scottish Gaelic literature
• History of the Scottish Highlands
• Scottish diaspora

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