Editing Sorley MacLean (section)

===''Dàin do Eimhir''===
{{further|Dàin do Eimhir}}

In 1940, eight of MacLean's poems were printed in ''17 Poems for 6d'', along with Scots poems by Robert Garioch.{{r|Scottish Poetry |p=154}} The pamphlet sold better than expected and was reprinted a few weeks later; it received favourable reviews.{{r|publications}} While MacLean was in North Africa, he left his poetry with Douglas Young, who had promised to help publish it.<ref name="world" /> In November 1943, the poems were published as ''{{lang|gd|Dàin do Eimhir agus Dàin Eile}}'' ({{langx|en|Poems to Eimhir and Other Poems}}).{{efn-lr|''Dàin do Eimhir'' was published primarily in Gaelic, but included MacLean's prose translations of some poems in a smaller font.<ref name="publications" />{{r|thesis|p=57}}}} ''[[Dàin do Eimhir]]'' was a sequence of sixty numbered poems, with twelve missing;{{efn-lr|Some poems were omitted because MacLean doubted their quality; others were left out due to their personal content.{{r|displacement|p=5}} He asked Young to destroy the unpublished poems, but Young refused. All but one poem survived to be published in [[Christopher Whyte]]'s critical edition in 2002.<ref name=jstor>{{cite journal |last1=Begnal |first1=Michael S. |title=Gràdh, Grá, Grá |journal=The Poetry Ireland Review |year=2002 |issue=75 |pages=73–77 |jstor=25580090 }}</ref>{{rp|73}}}} of the other poems, the most significant was the long narrative poem ''An Cuilthionn''.<ref name="publications" />{{efn-lr|''An Cuilthionn'' was written between 1939 and 1940, never finished, but published anyway.<ref name="two" />}} The book marked a sharp break in style and substance of Gaelic poetry from earlier eras.<ref name=larach/> In his poetry, MacLean emphasized the struggle between love and duty, which was personified in the poet's difficulty in choosing between his infatuation with a female figure, Eimhir, and what he sees as his moral obligation to volunteer in the Spanish Civil War.<ref name=library/><ref name=larach/>

[[File:Main ridge of the cuillin in skye arp.jpg|thumb|left|upright=1.2|The [[Cuillin]] inspired MacLean's poetry]]

The book has been the subject of scholarly debate. Attempting to explain why MacLean's earlier poetry has had the greatest influence, [[Derick Thomson]] wrote that it is love poetry which is most timeless, while MacLean's political poetry has not aged as well.<ref name=larach/>{{efn-lr|Ronald Black disagreed with this analysis, citing a student of his who chose MacLean's little-known poem ''A' Ghort Mhòr'' ({{langx|en|[[Great Famine (Ireland)|The Great Famine]]}}) for a class presentation. Asked why, she replied, "it is relevant to today, rather than all that stuff about love".{{r|Black|p=74}}}} According to [[Maoilios Caimbeul]], "There is not, and I doubt there will ever be, a series of love poems" that would have as much influence on Gaelic literature.{{efn-lr|"Chan eil, agus tha teagamh agam nach bi, sreath de dhàin ghaoil ann an litreachas na Gàidhlig a thig an uisge-stiùrach nan dàn seo."{{r|MC|p=5}}}} [[Ronald Black (critic)|Ronald Black]] suggested that "duty [is not]... a comprehensible emotion nowadays" and therefore "the greatest universal in MacLean's verse is the depiction of that extraordinary psychosis which is called being in love".{{r|Black|p=63}} However, this type of commentary has been criticized as an attempt to depoliticize MacLean's work. Seamus Heaney argued that Eimhir was similar to [[Beatrice Portinari|Beatrice]] in [[Dante]]'s ''[[Divine Comedy]]'', in that Eimhir "resolves at a symbolic level tensions which would otherwise be uncontainable or wasteful".{{r|open|p=33-4|Heaney}} Scottish poet [[Iain Crichton Smith]] said, "there is a sense in which the Spanish Civil War does not form the background to these poems, but is the protagonist".{{r|open|p=31}}

MacLean's work was innovative and influential because it juxtaposed elements from Gaelic history and tradition with icons from mainstream European history. He described his poetry as "radiating from Skye and the West Highlands to the whole of Europe".{{r|contexts|p=4}}{{r|MC|p=7}} By this juxtaposition, he implicitly asserted the value of the Gaelic tradition and the right of Gaels to participate as equals in the broader cultural landscape.<ref name=library/> According to [[John MacInnes (Gaelic scholar)|John MacInnes]], MacLean put the much-denigrated Gaelic language and tradition in its proper place, which has a profound effect on Gaelic-speaking readers and is fundamental to their reading of his poetry.{{r|MacInnes|p=393}} ''An Cuilthionn'', the mountains of Skye are used as a [[synecdoche]] for rifts in European politics, and the suffering of the Gaels due to the Highland Clearances is compared to the suffering of European people under [[Francoism]] and other fascist regimes.<ref name=library/><ref name="two" /> MacLean frequently compared the injustice of the Highland Clearances with modern-day issues;{{r|Czech|p=133}} in his opinion, the greed of the wealthy and powerful was responsible for many tragedies and social problems.{{r|Czech|p=134}}

The book won him recognition as "the major force in modern Gaelic poetry", according to ''[[The Cambridge Companion to British Poetry]]''.{{r|Scottish Poetry|p=153}} Caimbeul writes that the poems "capture the uncertainty, pain, yearning, and the search for stability that are at the heart of Modernism".{{efn-lr|"Tha e a' ciallachadh gu bheil na Dàin seo a' glacadh a' mhì-chinnt, am pian, an sireadh, an t-iarraidh airson nì seasmhach a tha aig cridhe Nuadhachais".{{r|MC|p=7}}}} Summarizing the impact of the book, Professor [[Donald MacAulay]] wrote, "After the publication of this book Gaelic poetry could never be the same again."<ref name=world/>