Â鶹Éç

MacGill-Eain, S. (1985)

"Màiri Mhòr nan Òran" ann an Ris a' Bhruthaich: The Criticism and Prose Writings of Sorley MacLean, dd. 255-257

Màiri Mhòr had one foot in Eden, but it was her own robust Eden of pre-clearance Skye, 'going in winter to waulkings and weddings / with no lantern light but the (burning) end of the peat' or when she was 'foolish' going over the moorlands with the heather 'tearing her petticoats'. There is no remorse for the folly, which is not the Evangelical 'folly' of the unconverted, but the lost 'folly' of youth, which she would have again if she could. I can think of few poems of comparable length that have implicit in them more of human life than 'Nuair bha mi Og' ('When I was Young), the most famous of all Mary's songs, and one of the great Gaelic songs that are also great poems. It has nothing of the 'humiliation' that made her poetry 'live' and the Clearance motif is only vaguely implicit. There are many songs of sorrow in Gaelic but the sorrow and nostalgia of 'Nuair bha mi Og' is that of one who is still full of the world, joie de vivre and the pride of life. No poem of nostalgia has more of the 'objective correlative', more of a strange counterpoint of joy and sorrow, and the language has as much consistency as is possible in poetry that is in any was Dionysian (and all poetry is Dionysian) and not just laboured distillation in the top of the head.

Her sufferings in Inverness in 1872 were largely at the hands of English monoglots, and that may be one reason why she again and again talks as if the wrongs of Skye and the Highlands were the work of the English, but in one poem, 'Airgead-cinn Alasdair Bhàin' ('The Head-money of Alasdair Bàn') she says that all the responsibility did not lie with the English but with 'bad worthless landlords' who got into debt in London. I wonder if she vaguely felt that the clearances could not have been properly imposed on the Highlands without the backing of English force. Probably she implies that the anglicised landlords, chiefs among them, and their agents, were English in all but name. And, of course, English was the habitual language of the landlord class and their chief agents, and the landlords acceptable to crofters were, like MacPherson of Cluny and MacDonald of Skeabost, great friends of Gaelic. Màiri Mhòr was not politically acute except where her own people were concerned. I do not remember that she expressed any sympathy with the Lowland working class or the victims of colonial exploitation in any of her poetry, but one has to remember that about a third of her poetry was never published and is, as far as I know, completely lost, for I have never heard any fragment attributed to her that was not published in 1891.

Meek, D. E. (2003)

""Nuair a Chuimhnicheam an Cuilithionn": Ă€ite Samhlachail na Tìre is Cruth na Tìre ann am µţĂ °ů»ĺ˛ął¦łó»ĺ GhĂ idhlig na Naoidheamh linn Deug" ann an Cruth na Tìre, dd. 2-3

Bha Màiri mar gum biodh i a' leughadh cruth na tìre ann an dòigh shònraichte, dòigh a bha anns a' chiad àite a' toirt neart dhi fhèin, ach cuideachd dòigh a bha a' co-fhreagairt air an dòchas ùr a bha air tighinn chun na Gàidhealtachd an luibh aimhreit is strì an fhearainn. Bha leasachadh beatha is leasachadh fearainn a' bualadh air a' chèile anns an t-sealladh aig Màiri, agus, a rèir 's mar a bha i fhèin a' leughadh na tìre, thug i am mìneachadh sin dhuinne. Chan urrainn dhomhsa, uair sam bith, beanntan an Eilein Sgitheanaich fhaicinn gu na facail aig Màiri a chluinntinn nam cheann. Seo mar a thubhairt i ann an "Oran Beinn Lì" – beann nach fhaicear ach ainneamh ann an dealbhan gleansach a' chamara anns an là an-diugh:

Thuig Màiri gun dèanadh luchd nan dealbh anns an linn ri teachd Beinn Lì a chur suarach; ach chur ise air thoiseach a, a chionn 's gu robh i a' leughadh na tìre tor na tachartasan mòra seadhadh a bha a' brosnachadh leasachadh na Gàidhealtachd aig an àm. Eadar 1882 agus 1887. 'S e creutair gu math talmhaidh a bh' ann am Màiri, anns a h-uile dòigh, ach gu h-àraid nuair a bhiodh i a' beachdachadh air a dùthchas fhèin. Bha a dùthchas, gu dearbh, a' dol an aghaidh nan creag.

Moireach, M. (1934-36) & (1970)

"MĂ iri Nighean Iain BhĂ in" ann an Luach na Saorsa: Leabhar Latha, µţĂ °ů»ĺ˛ął¦łó»ĺ is Rosg, t.d. 131

Ach a thuilleadh air an taitneas a bheir a bàrdachd, mar bhàrdachd, dhuinn, tha aobhar eile ann a tha 'gar tàladh gu rannsachadh a h-òrain: is e sin, dìreach Màiri fhèin, agus an sealladh tha i a' toirt dhuinn air gach dual a bha 'na gnè – a mèinn 's a h-aingidhean is eadhoin na blaomaidhean sin anns a bheil i leigeil ris dhuinn an dlùth-dhàimh daonndail a tha eadarainn uile. Cia air bith an gean a bhiodh air a' chòmhlan ann an tachradh i a bhith, bha na h-aingidhean cho beò, faireachail, is gun taisbeanadh i an dearbh ghean, dubhachas, no subhachas – gu h-àraidh subhachas – ann an tomhas gu mòr tha chàch. Theagmhach nach robh an t-srian aig amannaibh cho teann is bu mhath, ach, co dhiùbh, is e an co-fhreagairt so, ealamh, teò-chrìdheach, do chuideachd is do smuaintean, aon de na buaidhean as motha tha toirt tlachd dhomh 'na bàrdachd. Chì sinn Màiri ann a sin dìreach mar a bha i, le fuil bhlàith a' ruith troimh a cuislibh, am math is an t-olc air a mheasgachadh mar ann an càch, is feumaidh mi aideachadh nach robh i na bu choimhlionta ann am foirbheachd, nach biodh idir an t-aon tàladh 'na leabhar dhomh.