- Hallaig
"Hallaig" is a poem by
Sorley MacLean . It was originally written inScots Gaelic and has also been translated into both English and Lowland Scots. A recent translation was made bySeamus Heaney , an Irish Nobel Prize winner.The poem is named after a deserted township located on the south-eastern corner of the
Hebridean island ofRaasay , the poet's birthplace. It is a reflection on the nature of time and the historical impact of theHighland Clearances , leaving an empty landscape populated only by the ghosts of the evicted and those forced to emigrate.The poem is notable for its deployment of imagery of nature, and in this respect is redolent of
Duncan Ban MacIntyre 's "Ben Doran ", particularly in its references to woodlands and deer."Hallaig" is incorporated in the lyrics of "
The Jacobite Rising ," anopera byPeter Maxwell-Davies , and can be heard as part of the song "Hallaig" onMartyn Bennett 's album "Bothy Culture".MacLean talked extensively about the poem in Timothy Neat's documentary for
RTE , "Hallaig: the Poetry and Landscape of Sorley MacLean" in 1984.External links
* [http://www.leabharmor.net/bardachd.php?id=63 Full text of the poem in Gaelic, with Sorley Maclean's own translation into English]
* [http://books.guardian.co.uk/departments/poetry/story/0,6000,850690,00.html Translation by Seamus Heaney]
* [http://www.whfp.com/1582/top2.html Article summarizing a lecture by Seamus Heaney on "Hallaig" and Maclean's writing]
* [http://www.airt.co.uk/html/hallaig.html Version of the poem in Scots] oscoor gbx|NG590384
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