Màiri Mhòr nan Òran
Mary MacPherson | |
---|---|
Native name | Màiri Mhòr nan Òran |
Born | Mary MacDonald 10 March 1821 Skeabost, Skye, Scotland |
Died | 8 November 1898 Portree, Skye, Scotland | (aged 77)
Occupation | Nurse and midwife, poet |
Language | Scottish Gaelic |
Education | Glasgow Royal Infirmary |
Literary movement | Highland Land League |
Spouse | Isaac MacPherson |
Mary MacPherson (née MacDonald), known as Màiri Mhòr nan Òran (English: Big Mary of the Songs) or simply Màiri Mhòr (10 March 1821 – 7 November 1898), was a Scottish Gaelic poet from the Isle of Skye, whose contribution to Scottish Gaelic literature is focused heavily upon the Highland Clearances and the Crofters War; the Highland Land League's campaigns of rent strikes and other forms of direct action. Although she could read her own work when it was written down, she could not write it down herself.[1] She retained her songs and poems in her memory and eventually dictated them to others, who wrote them down for publication.[2] She often referred to herself as Màiri Nighean Iain Bhàin (Mary, daughter of fair haired John), the name by which she would have been known in the Skye of her childhood.[3]
Life
Mary MacDonald was born at
On her release in 1872 Mairi Mhòr moved to Glasgow, aged about 50. Here she seems to have learned to read and write in English, and qualified with a nursing certificate and diploma in obstetrics from Glasgow Royal Infirmary.[5] In 1876 she moved to Greenock to work but often returned to Glasgow for cèilidhs and other gatherings of Skye people. Both Glasgow and Greenock had sizeable Gaelic-speaking communities at the time. It is thought that she probably sang at many of these cèilidhs as there is evidence of her frequently doing so after she retired to Skye in 1882. By this time she had acquired a reputation for her songs and her championing of the crofters in the increasingly heated debate over land rights. She sang at the first ever National Mòd in Oban in 1892 but did not win a medal.[8][9]
On returning to Skye she lived with a friend, Mrs MacRae of Os, until Lachlann MacDonald, laird of Skeabost provided her with a rent free cottage. She then became actively involved in the Crofters' War and the Highland land issue, which provided the themes of some of her best known songs. She is known to have been present at
In one of her songs of this period, ‘'Nuair chaidh na ceithir ùr oirre’’ Mairi describes a crossing of the Strome Ferry with Fraser-Mackintosh, Mackenzie (Clach na Cùdainn), his son and Kenneth MacDonald to gather support for the land struggle. ‘’Clach’’ tells her that the boat will sink if she gets on board with the rest as she weighs in at 17 stone (108 kg). Instead she is to wait behind and the boatman will return for her alone. She was 5 ft 9 inches tall (172.5cm) tall so the epithet mhòr can refer to her physique as well as to her status in Gaelic poetry.[10] Among other well known and frequently sung songs from her Land League period are ‘’Oran Beinn Li’’, ‘’Coinneamh nan Croitearan’’ and ‘’Eilean a’ Cheò’’
Like her contemporary Gaelic bard and activist, Mary Mackellar, Mairi Mhòr greatly admired and became friendly with Professor John Stuart Blackie. She was a skilled spinner and wool worker and made Blackie a tartan plaid. Later she devised a tartan which she called "The Blackie". Blackie gave her a beautifully crafted cromag (shepherd’s crook). She also presented Fraser-Mackintosh with a woollen suit. She had done the spinning and dying but not the weaving.[11]
Her last known address, at Beaumont Crescent, Portree, in the building now called the Rosedale Hotel, is commemorated today with a blue plaque.[12]
Màiri Mhòr died in Portree 1898 and was buried in Chapel Yard Cemetery in Inverness beside her husband. A gravestone was erected by Fraser-Mackintosh.[13]
Significance of her work
During the Highland Land League, song was a key mode of spreading information to local Gaelic speaking communities in Skye, many of whom were not literate in Gaelic. Furthermore her poetry now provides a significant body of evidence about the crofters' uprisings.[5]
Published work
- Gaelic Songs and Poems, by Mary MacPherson, 1891.[14]
Critiques of her work
Mairi's loyalty to ancient Highland tradition and her people shows in Eilean a' Cheò she tells of her hopes for her native Skye;
Gum bi ur crodh air bhuailtean , |
that your cattle will be penned |
Donald Meek quotes Sheriff Alexander Nicolson in his ‘’History of the Island of Skye’’ as saying that Màiri’s songs had little permanent value after the events they commemorated has passed. Nicholson felt that ”few of her productions are worthy of preservation…. her imagery was too fleeting and superficial” [16]
At the same time, however, Maclean had pointed criticism of Màiri Mhòr's repeated decision in her poetry to blame the
Further reading
- MacLean, Sorley (1975), Màiri Mhòr nan Òran, in Calgacus 1, Winter 1975, pp. 49 – 52, ISSN 0307-2029
References
- ^ a b Somhairle Mac Gill-eain, "Ris a' Bhruaithaich The Criticism and Prose Writing of Sorley MacLean" (Stornoway : Acair, 1985)251-2
- ^ Dòmhnall Eachainn Meek,“Màiri Mhòr nan Òran : Taghadh de a h-Òrain” (Dùn Eideann : Comann Litreachas Gàidhlig na h-Alba, 1998)51-56
- ^ Dòmhnall Eachainn Meek,“Màiri Mhòr nan Òran : Taghadh de a h-Òrain” (Dùn Eideann : Comann Litreachas Gàidhlig na h-Alba, 1998)31&186
- )
- ^ a b c d Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. 23 September 2004.
- ^ Mary MacPherson, DASG.ac.uk, Retrieved 29 January 2016
- ^ Dòmhnall Eachainn Meek, “Màiri Mhòr nan Òran : Taghadh de a h-Òrain” (Dùn Eideann : Comann Litreachas Gàidhlig na h-Alba, 1998)23-27
- ^ Dòmhnall Eachainn Meek,“Màiri Mhòr nan Òran : Taghadh de a h-Òrain” (Dùn Eideann : Comann Litreachas Gàidhlig na h-Alba, 1998)pp27-28 &30
- ^ Somhairle Mac Gill-eain, "Ris a' Bhruaithaich The Criticism and Prose Writing of Sorley MacLean" (Stornoway : Acair, 1985)251
- ^ Dòmhnall Eachainn Meek,“Màiri Mhòr nan Òran : Taghadh de a h-Òrain” (Dùn Eideann : Comann Litreachas Gàidhlig na h-Alba, 1998)19 &186-9
- ^ Dòmhnall Eachainn Meek,“Màiri Mhòr nan Òran : Taghadh de a h-Òrain” (Dùn Eideann : Comann Litreachas Gàidhlig na h-Alba, 1998) 19 & 29
- ^ Mary MacPherson, Waymarking.com, Retrieved 29 January 2016
- ^ Dòmhnall Eachainn Meek, “Màiri Mhòr nan Òran : Taghadh de a h-Òrain”(Dùn Eideann : Comann Litreachas Gàidhlig na h-Alba, 1998)30-31
- ^ "(1) Blair Collection > Dàin agus òrain Ghàidhlig Early Gaelic Book Collections National Library of Scotland". digital.nls.uk. Retrieved 19 October 2018.
- ^ Anne Lorne Gillies,Songs of Gaelic Scotland, (Edinburgh: Birlinn, 2005)272-3.
- ^ Dòmhnall Eachainn Meek,“Màiri Mhòr nan Òran : Taghadh de a h-Òrain” (Dùn Eideann : Comann Litreachas Gàidhlig na h-Alba, 1998)45-46
- ^ Somhairle Mac Gill-eain, "Ris a' Bhruaithaich The Criticism and Prose Writing of Sorley MacLean" (Stornoway : Acair, 1985)253&257
- ^ Marcus Tanner (2004), The Last of the Celts, Yale University Press, page 56.
External links
- Màiri Mhór nan Òran by Sorley MacLean
- Màiri Mhòr nan Oran by Saltire Society