The literature of the Highlanders : $b a history of Gaelic literature from the earliest times to the present dayMacNeill, Nigel
History
The literature of the Highlanders : $b a history of Gaelic literature from the earliest times to the present day
MacNeill, Nigel
Scottish Gaelic literature -- History and criticism
A good deal of Gaelic literature has been translated into English,
whilst the “Ossian” of Macpherson has been rendered into Latin and
into most of the European languages. Following is a list of the names
of those who have published anything of importance:—
Jerome Stone 1756
James Macpherson 1760
Rev. J. Wodrow 1771
Ewen Cameron 1777
John Clark 1778
Rev. Dr Smith 1780
Rev. Dr Ross ——
The MacCallums 1816
Mrs Grant ——
Patrick Macgregor 1840
Robert Munro 1843
Rev. Dr MacLauchlan 1862
J. F. Campbell, Esq. 1866
Rev. Thomas Pattison 1866
Rev. Dr Clerk 1870
Robert Buchanan 1872
C. S. Jerram, Esq. 1873
Professor J. S. Blackie 1876
The names of some others, such as Sinclair, the Whytes MacBean,
etc., will occur to the Gaelic reader. The works translated by these
writers would fill many volumes. The works of Macpherson, Dr Smith,
Dr MacLauchlan, J. F. Campbell, Thomas Pattison, Dr Clerk, and
Professor Blackie have received much attention, and are well-known.
Macpherson and Smith translate, on the supposition of translation,
very much in the style of Pope in his Homer with this difference,
that their paraphrastic renderings are only in prose. MacLauchlan,
Campbell, and Clerk have adopted a rigid literality of rendering
which the Ossianic controversy, among other reasons, compelled them
to follow. These writers give the original Gaelic along with the
English version. So does Jerram, whose _Dan an Deirg_ is scholarly
and accurate, very much in the style of Clerk’s _Ossian_. In the
_Gaelic Bards_ of Pattison the original is not given, the work
being intended for popular use among English readers. Pattison’s
translations are metrical and rhyming; and so are Blackie’s in his
admirable and interesting work, _The Language and Literature of the
Scottish Highlands_. Those to whom the Gaelic is a sealed language
have kindled the flame of patriotic enthusiasm by the healthy
mountain breezes which the perusal of these translations has brought
down.
GRAMMARS AND DICTIONARIES.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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