George Campbell Hay (Deòrsa Mac Iain Dheòrsa) - Collected Poems and Songs - (Hardcover)

About the Book

George Campbell Hay has been hailed as an important voice in Scottish literature and as a crucial figure in the renaissance of Gaelic poetry in the twentieth century.

Book Synopsis

George Campbell Hay (Deòrsa Mac Iain Dheòrsa) has been hailed as an important voice in Scottish literature and as a crucial figure in the renaissance of Gaelic poetry in the twentieth century. Yet with his collections long out of print, only a small proportion of his work has been available to the public.This book gathers together for the first time George Campbell Hay's complete original poems, in Gaelic, Scots, English, French, Italian and Norwegian. Volume I presents all of the poems chronologically, with accompanying English translations. Volume II provides annotations to each poem, including a full list of sources; a detailed biography, heavily reliant on Hay's own correspondence, which sheds new light on the social, political and literary context of his work; an outline of Hay's main poetic concerns, in theme and in form; and some of Hay's own musical settings.The publication of this long-awaited scholarly edition is a landmark in Scottish and Gaelic publishing. The volumes represent a notable addition to the canon of twentieth-century Scottish literature and should permit a full evaluation of Hay's significance.Published as a two-volume set in a deluxe edition in association with the Lorimer Memorial Trust.

Review Quotes

[Hay] is matchless as a poet of fishing and the sea.--James Robertson

A thing of beauty that will last for ever, an exuberant celebration of nature and of human life--Ronald Black

An immense achievement... long years' labour distilled and presented unobtrusively -- a model of scholarship lightly worn.--Thomas Owen Clancy

The editor seeks, through great erudition and sensitivity, to reveal Hay as a man of his times.--Meg Bateman

An irrepressible, inventive musicality ... his war poetry ... has a striking vision which overrides the partisan. The editor ... seeks, through great erudition and sensitivity, to reveal Hay as a man of his times.--Meg Bateman

George Campbell Hay's head was cracking open with literary and linguistic talent ... Wherever George went - Tarbert, Algeria, Tunisia, Bennett's Bar - he talked to ordinary folk, remembered what they said and felt, and made poetry of it ... A life that was blighted and made miserable by madness has produced a thing of beauty that will last for ever, an exuberant celebration of nature and of human life ... These two volumes turn tragedy into triumph. Congratulations to Michel Byrne, the Lorimer Trust and EUP.--Ronald Black

Hay must rank as THE Scottish poet of the sea ... still a vital voice, whose clarion call for humanity is needed now, as much as ever...An immense achievement ... long years' labour distilled and presented unobtrusively ... a model of scholarship lightly worn ... the hardback edition is beautifully produced and sumptuous, a privilege to own.--Thomas Owen Clancy

Magisterial, linguistically diverse and scholarly volumes ... Dr Byrne along with Edinburgh University is to be congratulated for producing them in the attractive format now available to us.--Neil R MacCallum

This sumptuous and long-awaited publication is of the highest literary importance, and will surely secure the reputation of George Campbell Hay (1915-84) as a poet of international stature. It is also a pleasure to see the magnificence of his poetry brought to full light in a correspondingly magnificent work of scholarship ... [Dr Byrne] has scrupulously and sensitively fulfilled the task ... The two volumes of the Collected Poems and Songs of George Campbell Hay are beautifully laid out and produced. Dr Byrne, the Lorimer Trust, and the members of the Celtic Department at Edinburgh University who assisted in its publication are all to be congratulated.--William Mahon

About the Author

Michel Byrne graduated in Celtic Studies from Edinburgh University. He is currently Lecturer in Scottish Gaelic in the Department of Celtic at the University of Glasgow.