J. F. Campbell Collection > Selections from the Gaelic bards

ALEXANDER MACDONALD. O
Alexander Macdonald displays a great command of the Gaelic
language, and a vast deal of talent and energy. He is a vehement,
rai)id, and exciting singer, as a general rule ; but yet, he is by no
means deficient in tenderness and grace ; especially in his many
sweet and pastoral descriptions of Nature. He is the most warlike,
and much the fiercest of Highland poets, indeed, almost the only
one of them all, at least for three centuries back, to whom this
trait can with any truth whatever be ascribed.
Although his poems are few in number, only thirty-one
altogether, they exhibit more variety of excellence on the whole
than those, perhaps of any of his fellow-singers. While, although
not so smooth and equable as Duncan Ban Maclntyre, he is
equalled by no other when at his best.
The poe m which follows, is considered by m any Highlanders to ->6<V"^^
be the most important production in their language. No poem is GLufvy^toit/i^
ever spoken of in the same breath witli it, except the " Coire rt^iw^V' Vy
Cheathaich" or "Ben Dorain" of Duncan Ban; and, even these, /
are perhaps not always looked on, with quite the same pride;
though, being easier understood, and composed altogether in a
more elegant style, they probably impart fully as much pleasure,
both to hearers and readers. Yet, if all Gaelic poems were to be
destroyed, and one only excepted from the general ruin, I believe
the voices of the majority of Highlanders would fix on '"' The
Birlinn of Clan-Eanald," as that one. The reason of this %
preference, however, may be those very peculiarities of style and ^
structure, the tendency of which will be, perhaps, as much to
repel as to attract a stranger, at least, in the outset. I think,
however, no one can read tliis poem with attention and
intelligence, without deeming it, in every respect — as regards
expression, arrangement, conception — singularly original; with-
out finding in it much graphic painting — and feeling it to be
emphatically lively snd energetic. Such a reader will discover
many minute touches in the poem to please him, though they
might escape a more careless eye : — such for instance as the
incitonacnt to the rovrers to