Books and other items printed in Gaelic from 1871 to 1900 > Gaelic bards, and original poems

6
MODERN GAELIC BARDS.
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-Ilanald,”
as that one. The reasoh 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 this poem with attention and
intelligence, without deeming it, in every respect—as
regards expression, arrangement, conception-—singularly
original; without finding in it much graphic painting—
and feeling it to be emphatically lively and 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 incitement to the
rowers to
“ Wound the huge swell on the ocean meadow,
Heavy and deep.”
Or this other,
“ Let your fists’ broad r/rasp be whitening
In your rowing!”
Or how the effect of the cry “Suas oirr’!”.
‘'Hurls the Birlinn through the cold glens,
Loudly snoring.”
Or again when they are told in the Boat-song to
“Let the grey sea ever foaming,
Splash her forward pressing shoulders,
And the currents groan and mingle
Far behind her.”