Sorley Mclean

Anyone got annotated materials for higher English sorley Mclean??

You will find a very detailed and complete set of notes here, along with two other documents:-

a) A Dictionary of places and people referred to in the six poems.
b) A set of exam revision questions.

https://www.scottishsettexts.co.uk/author-sorley-maclean.html

Reply 2

bumblecam12

Thank you!! Know of anything online? X

Reply 3

jamesg2

There is one online resource I know of written by Emma Dymock it is an introduction to the six poems from ASLS:

http://www.arts.gla.ac.uk/scotlit/asls/pdfs/Sorley_MacLean_Teaching_Notes.pdf

Emma Dymock is one of the world authorities on Sorley MacLean. You will find her School's Conference video presentation on Sorley Maclean here:
http://www.arts.gla.ac.uk/scotlit/asls/SchConf2014.html

Both these documents are boad brush strokes of the content and themes of these six poems. The notes I highlighted are line by line textual annalysis over around 80 pages.

It is not my place to tell you what resource to purchase to assist your study nor am I intending to do so. But I will make one point. There is nothing that has been published that covers - in detail - these six poems. With regard to poets like Norman MacCaig - for whom I have also written notes - it is not too difficult to find sufficient resources to assist the studying of the poem. Sorley MacLean is very different. Often there is a Higher Sorley MacLean question on landscape. Sorley MacLean had an encyclopaedic knowledge of landscape - especially Rassay landscape. Sorley MacLean never introduced a landscape reference into his poetry unless it had a thematic purpose. Any landscape reference - and Hallaig and Screapadal are crammed full of them - contributed in two ways. Where that landscape was on Rassay AND what - for MacLean - did this reference contribute to the poetry and Maclean's poetic purpose. There are some references - like “The Church of Falsehood” - that no-one knew what it meant: not even Emma Dymock. The meaning of that reference Sorley Maclean's nephew gave me.

I have pointed you to the online resources I know to exist. Hopefully they will be sufficient for your needs. However if you want something more detailed I have pointed out where that kind of resource can be found.

Good luck with your studies. Sorley MacLean is a really challenging poet. He does not see it as his purpose to "sugar coat" his poetry. His poetry is made more difficult by being written in Gaelic. Yes he has translated his verse which gives you the dictionary meaning of his words - but the dictionary meaning is not everything in poetry. Some of the poems - especially the "Dain do Eimhir" poems - are very dense. "Shores" is probably the most challenging. Both these poems are easy to gloss over, but boy do the fight you when trying to understand their deeper purpose and meaning.

Anyway, good luck with your study. I had never read Sorley MacLean I began writing my notes on him. I came away from that task six months later realising I had been working on an extraordinary poet. I am looking forward to returning to him to write the notes for the SQA Refreshed List.