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William Ross (poet)

September 28, 2023

William Ross (Scottish Gaelic: Uilleam Ros [ˈɯ.ʎam ˈros]; 1762–1790/91) was a Scottish writer of Romantic poetry in Scottish Gaelic from the Isle of Skye and a parish schoolmaster, who is often referred to as, "The Bard of Gairloch." According to Derick S. Thomson, "Ros is justly regarded as the leading poet of love of the eighteenth century."[1] Despite being widely viewed, however, as a, "love-lorn romantic who died of unrequited love", Ross was also very capable of poking fun at himself.[2] More than two hundred years after his death, Ross remains a highly important and admired figure in Scottish Gaelic literature.[3] Along with his iconic eulogy for the 1788 death of Prince Charles Edward Stuart, one of Ross' most famous songs is the lament, Cuachag nan Craobh ("Cuckoo of the Tree"),[4] the tune of which is now known throughout the Anglosphere as The Skye Boat Song, based on multiple sets of Scottish English lyrics composed a century later.

Life Edit

Ross was born at Broadford, Isle of Skye, as the son of a travelling peddler.[5] His mother was the daughter of John Mackay, Gaelic poet and bagpiper to the Tacksman of Clan Mackenzie of Gairloch and who, blind from the age of seven due to smallpox, is now known as "The Blind Piper" (Scottish Gaelic: Am Pìobaire Dall). Ross spent some time at Forres, Morayshire, where he gained an education at the local grammar school. Later the family moved to Gairloch in Wester Ross, which was his mother's birthplace.[3][6]

Travelling as a peddler with his father, Ross learned the many different dialects spoken throughout the western Scottish Highlands, which further helped develop his command of the Gaelic language.[7] An accomplished musician, he also sang well and played several musical instruments. He was appointed as both schoolmaster and catechist for the Church of Scotland parish at Gairloch,[8] which was, according to John Lorne Campbell, "a position he occupied with enthusiasm and skill until his death at the age of twenty-eight."[9]

Around 1780, William Ross met Mòr Ros (Lady Marion Ross), a member of the minor Scottish nobility, during a formal ball held at Stornoway, Isle of Lewis.[10] Their "short lived romance", according to Derick S. Thomson, "has become legendary and his finest love poetry (Feasgar Luain, Òran Cumhaidh, and Òran Eile) are concerned with her; their passionate subjectivity is quite unusual in Gaelic verse of the time."[11]

Mòr Ros rejected the impoverished poet's advances and, in 1782, she married an English sailor from Liverpool named Captain Samuel Clough.[12] William Ross was devastated and, according to the oral tradition, prayed for Mrs. Clough to one day feel the burning flames of unrequited love, allegedly with both tragic and unintended consequences.[13] According to the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, "legend has it that Ross died of love, but if he did it was a lengthy process".[3]

Despite the poet's many versifications of his loss and heartbreak over the marriage of Mòr Ros, he was also capable of poking fun at his own sorrow, as he did in the self-flyting poem Oran eadar am Bàrd agus Cailleach-mhilleadh-nan-dàn ("Exchange of Verses between the Poet and the Hag-who-spoils-poems"). In that poem, we also, according to Derick Thomson, "see [Ross] deflating his own romantic, poetic conceptions about the ideal loved-one."[14]

In his 1783 poem Moladh Gheàrrloch ("In Praise of Gairloch"), William Ross describes the Highland winter sport of shinty, which was traditionally played by the Gaels on St. Andrew's Day, Christmas Day, New Year's Day, Handsel Monday, and Candlemas. The Bard's account of the annual match played upon New Year's Day at ebb tide upon the Big Sand of Gairloch, is, according to Ronald Black, "as succinct a description as we have of the great festive shinty matches of the past."[15]

Ross' last song, Òran Eile, according to Derick Thomson, "is the finest distillation of the poet's love and despair, unsentimental, spare, with much realistic detail and with an underlying passion which shows in the imagery and word craft."[16]

Although still in his twenties, William Ross died of asthma and tuberculosis at Gairloch in either 1790 or 1791.[3][6][17] According to legend, on the night of his death, Mrs. Samuel Clough's dress accidentally caught fire from a candle she was holding inside her house in Liverpool, which resulted in her death as well.[18][19]

Works Edit

William Ross is said to have burned all his manuscripts, but his poems survived as oral poetry and were subsequently collected and written down from the dictation of those who had memorized them.[20]

Two volumes of Ross's Gaelic poems were published—Orain Ghae'lach (Inverness, 1830) and An dara clòbhualadh (Glasgow, 1834), edited by John Mackenzie.[6][21]

According to John Lorne Campbell, "Although he was well educated in Gaelic, Ross does not seem to have troubled to write down his compositions, of which some seem to have become lost. His poetry possessed a sensitivity and restraint uncommon among Highland bards, and unusual freedom from Anglicisms, but his themes are too often of but trivial interest."[22]

At the same time, his poetic range covered Scotch whisky, chasing girls, and an iconic lament over the death in exile of Prince Charles Edward Stuart in 1788.[3][23] According to John Lorne Campbell, Ross' Gaelic lament for the Prince, which begins "Soraidh bhuan do'n t-Suaithneas Bhàn", ("Farewell to the White Cockade"), "is at once the Prince's only true elegy and the last genuine Jacobite poem composed in Scotland."[24]

Other iconic 18th-century Gaelic poets, especially Alasdair mac Mhaighstir Alasdair of Lochaber and Iain mac Fhearchair of North Uist, are known to have been major influences.[3][25]

More recently, iconic Gaelic poet Fr. Allan MacDonald expressed admiration for William Ross in a diary entry for 22 February, 1898: "Took up W. Ross and read pieces. His vocabulary has not so many strange words as Rob Donn's Reay Country Gaelic... He makes you feel with him and for him. Pity for the language that he died so young." Later in the same diary entry, Fr. MacDonald described a conversation with an Eriskay seanchaidh, who alleged that the Bard of Gairloch only saw Mòr Ros in a dream and then pined away and died longing in vain to see her again while awake.[26]

During the 20th century, William Ross' poetry was a major influence upon Sorley MacLean, who remains one of the most important figures in Scottish Gaelic literature.[27] MacLean considered William Ross' last song, Òran Eile,[28] "one of the very greatest poems ever made in any language", in the British Isles and comparable to the best of William Shakespeare's 154 sonnets.[29]

See also Edit

Notes Edit

  1. ^ Derick S. Thomson (1987), Companion to Gaelic Scotland, page 253.
  2. ^ Derick S. Thomson (1993), Gaelic Poetry in the Eighteenth Century: A Bilingual Anthology, Association for Scottish Literary Studies, Aberdeen. Pages 161-167.
  3. ^ a b c d e f Thomson, Derick S. "Ross, William". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/24136. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  4. ^ Cuachag nan Craobh, Tobar an Dualchais
  5. ^ Ronald Black (2001), An Lasair: anthology of 18th century Scottish Gaelic verse, Birlinn Limited. Page 500.
  6. ^ a b c Lee, Sidney, ed. (1897). "Ross, William (1762-1790)" . Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 49. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
  7. ^ John Lorne Campbell (1979), Highland Songs of the Forty-Five, Arno Press. Page 278.
  8. ^ Derick S. Thomson (1987), Companion to Gaelic Scotland, page 252.
  9. ^ John Lorne Campbell (1979), Highland Songs of the Forty-Five, Arno Press. Page 278.
  10. ^ Derick S. Thomson (1993), Gaelic Poetry in the Eighteenth Century: A Bilingual Anthology, Association for Scottish Literary Studies, Aberdeen. Page 147.
  11. ^ Derick S. Thomson (1987), Companion to Gaelic Scotland, page 252.
  12. ^ Ronald Black (2001), An Lasair: anthology of 18th century Scottish Gaelic verse, Birlinn Limited. Page 500.
  13. ^ Edited by Ronald Black (2002), Eilein na h-Òige: The Poems of Fr. Allan MacDonald, Mungo Press, Glasgow. Page 46.
  14. ^ Derick S. Thomson (1993), Gaelic Poetry in the Eighteenth Century: A Bilingual Anthology, Association for Scottish Literary Studies, Aberdeen. Pages 161-167.
  15. ^ Ronald Black (2001), An Lasair: anthology of 18th century Scottish Gaelic verse, Birlinn Limited. Page 501.
  16. ^ Derick S. Thomson (1987), Companion to Gaelic Scotland, page 252.
  17. ^ John Lorne Campbell (1979), Highland Songs of the Forty-Five, Arno Press. Page 278.
  18. ^ Ronald Black (2001), An Lasair: anthology of 18th century Scottish Gaelic verse, Birlinn Limited. Pages 500-501.
  19. ^ Edited by Ronald Black (2002), Eilein na h-Òige: The Poems of Fr. Allan MacDonald, Mungo Press, Glasgow. Page 46.
  20. ^ Derick S. Thomson (1987), Companion to Gaelic Scotland, page 252.
  21. ^ Lee, Sidney, ed. (1893). "Mackenzie, John (1806-1848)" . Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 35. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
  22. ^ John Lorne Campbell (1979), Highland Songs of the Forty-Five, Arno Press. Page 278.
  23. ^ Derick S. Thomson (1987), Companion to Gaelic Scotland, page 252.
  24. ^ John Lorne Campbell (1979), Highland Songs of the Forty-Five, Arno Press. Page 279, 286-291.
  25. ^ Derick S. Thomson (1987), Companion to Gaelic Scotland, page 252.
  26. ^ Edited by Ronald Black (2002), Eilein na h-Òige: The Poems of Fr. Allan MacDonald, Mungo Press, Glasgow. Page 46.
  27. ^ Krause, Corinna (2007). Eadar Dà Chànan: Self-Translation, the Bilingual Edition and Modern Scottish Gaelic Poetry (PDF) (Thesis). The University of Edinburgh School of Celtic and Scottish Studies. p. 67.
  28. ^ "18mh – Beachdan: Uilleam Ros". Làrach nam Bàrd (in Scottish Gaelic). BBC Alba. Retrieved 13 July 2019.
  29. ^ MacLean, Sorley (1985). "Old Songs and New Poetry" (PDF). In Gilles, William (ed.). Ris a' Bhruthaich: The Criticism and Prose Writings of Sorley MacLean. Stornoway: Acair. pp. 111, 114.

Further reading Edit

  • Black, Ronald (2001). An Lasair: Anthology of 18th century Scottish Gaelic verse. Birlinn. ISBN 978-1-84158-092-0.
  • Clancy, Thomas Owen (2011). "Gaelic Literature and Scottish Romanticism". The Edinburgh Companion to Scottish Romanticism. Edinburgh University Press. pp. 49–60. ISBN 978-0-7486-3845-1.
  • Gillies, William (2007). ""No bonnier life than the sailor's": A Gaelic Poet Comments on the Fishing Industry in Wester Ross". Studies in Scottish Literature. 35 (1): 62–75. ISSN 0039-3770.
  • Gillies, William (2007), 'Merely a Bard? William Ross and Gaelic Poetry', in Aiste: Rannsachadh air Litreachas Gàidhlig: Studies in Gaelic Literature Vol. 1, pp. 123–69.
  • Thomson, Derick S., ed. (1993). Gaelic Poetry in the Eighteenth Century: A Bilingual Anthology. Association for Scottish Literary Studies. ISBN 978-0-948877-19-3.

External links Edit

Attribution

  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Lee, Sidney, ed. (1897). "Ross, William (1762-1790)". Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 49. London: Smith, Elder & Co.

September 28, 2023
william, ross, poet, william, ross, scottish, gaelic, uilleam, ˈɯ, ʎam, ˈros, 1762, 1790, scottish, writer, romantic, poetry, scottish, gaelic, from, isle, skye, parish, schoolmaster, often, referred, bard, gairloch, according, derick, thomson, justly, regarde. William Ross Scottish Gaelic Uilleam Ros ˈɯ ʎam ˈros 1762 1790 91 was a Scottish writer of Romantic poetry in Scottish Gaelic from the Isle of Skye and a parish schoolmaster who is often referred to as The Bard of Gairloch According to Derick S Thomson Ros is justly regarded as the leading poet of love of the eighteenth century 1 Despite being widely viewed however as a love lorn romantic who died of unrequited love Ross was also very capable of poking fun at himself 2 More than two hundred years after his death Ross remains a highly important and admired figure in Scottish Gaelic literature 3 Along with his iconic eulogy for the 1788 death of Prince Charles Edward Stuart one of Ross most famous songs is the lament Cuachag nan Craobh Cuckoo of the Tree 4 the tune of which is now known throughout the Anglosphere as The Skye Boat Song based on multiple sets of Scottish English lyrics composed a century later Contents 1 Life 2 Works 3 See also 4 Notes 5 Further reading 6 External linksLife EditRoss was born at Broadford Isle of Skye as the son of a travelling peddler 5 His mother was the daughter of John Mackay Gaelic poet and bagpiper to the Tacksman of Clan Mackenzie of Gairloch and who blind from the age of seven due to smallpox is now known as The Blind Piper Scottish Gaelic Am Piobaire Dall Ross spent some time at Forres Morayshire where he gained an education at the local grammar school Later the family moved to Gairloch in Wester Ross which was his mother s birthplace 3 6 Travelling as a peddler with his father Ross learned the many different dialects spoken throughout the western Scottish Highlands which further helped develop his command of the Gaelic language 7 An accomplished musician he also sang well and played several musical instruments He was appointed as both schoolmaster and catechist for the Church of Scotland parish at Gairloch 8 which was according to John Lorne Campbell a position he occupied with enthusiasm and skill until his death at the age of twenty eight 9 Around 1780 William Ross met Mor Ros Lady Marion Ross a member of the minor Scottish nobility during a formal ball held at Stornoway Isle of Lewis 10 Their short lived romance according to Derick S Thomson has become legendary and his finest love poetry Feasgar Luain Oran Cumhaidh and Oran Eile are concerned with her their passionate subjectivity is quite unusual in Gaelic verse of the time 11 Mor Ros rejected the impoverished poet s advances and in 1782 she married an English sailor from Liverpool named Captain Samuel Clough 12 William Ross was devastated and according to the oral tradition prayed for Mrs Clough to one day feel the burning flames of unrequited love allegedly with both tragic and unintended consequences 13 According to the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography legend has it that Ross died of love but if he did it was a lengthy process 3 Despite the poet s many versifications of his loss and heartbreak over the marriage of Mor Ros he was also capable of poking fun at his own sorrow as he did in the self flyting poem Oran eadar am Bard agus Cailleach mhilleadh nan dan Exchange of Verses between the Poet and the Hag who spoils poems In that poem we also according to Derick Thomson see Ross deflating his own romantic poetic conceptions about the ideal loved one 14 In his 1783 poem Moladh Ghearrloch In Praise of Gairloch William Ross describes the Highland winter sport of shinty which was traditionally played by the Gaels on St Andrew s Day Christmas Day New Year s Day Handsel Monday and Candlemas The Bard s account of the annual match played upon New Year s Day at ebb tide upon the Big Sand of Gairloch is according to Ronald Black as succinct a description as we have of the great festive shinty matches of the past 15 Ross last song Oran Eile according to Derick Thomson is the finest distillation of the poet s love and despair unsentimental spare with much realistic detail and with an underlying passion which shows in the imagery and word craft 16 Although still in his twenties William Ross died of asthma and tuberculosis at Gairloch in either 1790 or 1791 3 6 17 According to legend on the night of his death Mrs Samuel Clough s dress accidentally caught fire from a candle she was holding inside her house in Liverpool which resulted in her death as well 18 19 Works EditWilliam Ross is said to have burned all his manuscripts but his poems survived as oral poetry and were subsequently collected and written down from the dictation of those who had memorized them 20 Two volumes of Ross s Gaelic poems were published Orain Ghae lach Inverness 1830 and An dara clobhualadh Glasgow 1834 edited by John Mackenzie 6 21 According to John Lorne Campbell Although he was well educated in Gaelic Ross does not seem to have troubled to write down his compositions of which some seem to have become lost His poetry possessed a sensitivity and restraint uncommon among Highland bards and unusual freedom from Anglicisms but his themes are too often of but trivial interest 22 At the same time his poetic range covered Scotch whisky chasing girls and an iconic lament over the death in exile of Prince Charles Edward Stuart in 1788 3 23 According to John Lorne Campbell Ross Gaelic lament for the Prince which begins Soraidh bhuan do n t Suaithneas Bhan Farewell to the White Cockade is at once the Prince s only true elegy and the last genuine Jacobite poem composed in Scotland 24 Other iconic 18th century Gaelic poets especially Alasdair mac Mhaighstir Alasdair of Lochaber and Iain mac Fhearchair of North Uist are known to have been major influences 3 25 More recently iconic Gaelic poet Fr Allan MacDonald expressed admiration for William Ross in a diary entry for 22 February 1898 Took up W Ross and read pieces His vocabulary has not so many strange words as Rob Donn s Reay Country Gaelic He makes you feel with him and for him Pity for the language that he died so young Later in the same diary entry Fr MacDonald described a conversation with an Eriskay seanchaidh who alleged that the Bard of Gairloch only saw Mor Ros in a dream and then pined away and died longing in vain to see her again while awake 26 During the 20th century William Ross poetry was a major influence upon Sorley MacLean who remains one of the most important figures in Scottish Gaelic literature 27 MacLean considered William Ross last song Oran Eile 28 one of the very greatest poems ever made in any language in the British Isles and comparable to the best of William Shakespeare s 154 sonnets 29 See also EditPoetry of Scotland Romantic poetry Romanticism in ScotlandNotes Edit Derick S Thomson 1987 Companion to Gaelic Scotland page 253 Derick S Thomson 1993 Gaelic Poetry in the Eighteenth Century A Bilingual Anthology Association for Scottish Literary Studies Aberdeen Pages 161 167 a b c d e f Thomson Derick S Ross William Oxford Dictionary of National Biography online ed Oxford University Press doi 10 1093 ref odnb 24136 Subscription or UK public library membership required Cuachag nan Craobh Tobar an Dualchais Ronald Black 2001 An Lasair anthology of 18th century Scottish Gaelic verse Birlinn Limited Page 500 a b c Lee Sidney ed 1897 Ross William 1762 1790 Dictionary of National Biography Vol 49 London Smith Elder amp Co John Lorne Campbell 1979 Highland Songs of the Forty Five Arno Press Page 278 Derick S Thomson 1987 Companion to Gaelic Scotland page 252 John Lorne Campbell 1979 Highland Songs of the Forty Five Arno Press Page 278 Derick S Thomson 1993 Gaelic Poetry in the Eighteenth Century A Bilingual Anthology Association for Scottish Literary Studies Aberdeen Page 147 Derick S Thomson 1987 Companion to Gaelic Scotland page 252 Ronald Black 2001 An Lasair anthology of 18th century Scottish Gaelic verse Birlinn Limited Page 500 Edited by Ronald Black 2002 Eilein na h Oige The Poems of Fr Allan MacDonald Mungo Press Glasgow Page 46 Derick S Thomson 1993 Gaelic Poetry in the Eighteenth Century A Bilingual Anthology Association for Scottish Literary Studies Aberdeen Pages 161 167 Ronald Black 2001 An Lasair anthology of 18th century Scottish Gaelic verse Birlinn Limited Page 501 Derick S Thomson 1987 Companion to Gaelic Scotland page 252 John Lorne Campbell 1979 Highland Songs of the Forty Five Arno Press Page 278 Ronald Black 2001 An Lasair anthology of 18th century Scottish Gaelic verse Birlinn Limited Pages 500 501 Edited by Ronald Black 2002 Eilein na h Oige The Poems of Fr Allan MacDonald Mungo Press Glasgow Page 46 Derick S Thomson 1987 Companion to Gaelic Scotland page 252 Lee Sidney ed 1893 Mackenzie John 1806 1848 Dictionary of National Biography Vol 35 London Smith Elder amp Co John Lorne Campbell 1979 Highland Songs of the Forty Five Arno Press Page 278 Derick S Thomson 1987 Companion to Gaelic Scotland page 252 John Lorne Campbell 1979 Highland Songs of the Forty Five Arno Press Page 279 286 291 Derick S Thomson 1987 Companion to Gaelic Scotland page 252 Edited by Ronald Black 2002 Eilein na h Oige The Poems of Fr Allan MacDonald Mungo Press Glasgow Page 46 Krause Corinna 2007 Eadar Da Chanan Self Translation the Bilingual Edition and Modern Scottish Gaelic Poetry PDF Thesis The University of Edinburgh School of Celtic and Scottish Studies p 67 18mh Beachdan Uilleam Ros Larach nam Bard in Scottish Gaelic BBC Alba Retrieved 13 July 2019 MacLean Sorley 1985 Old Songs and New Poetry PDF In Gilles William ed Ris a Bhruthaich The Criticism and Prose Writings of Sorley MacLean Stornoway Acair pp 111 114 Further reading EditBlack Ronald 2001 An Lasair Anthology of 18th century Scottish Gaelic verse Birlinn ISBN 978 1 84158 092 0 Clancy Thomas Owen 2011 Gaelic Literature and Scottish Romanticism The Edinburgh Companion to Scottish Romanticism Edinburgh University Press pp 49 60 ISBN 978 0 7486 3845 1 Gillies William 2007 No bonnier life than the sailor s A Gaelic Poet Comments on the Fishing Industry in Wester Ross Studies in Scottish Literature 35 1 62 75 ISSN 0039 3770 Gillies William 2007 Merely a Bard William Ross and Gaelic Poetry in Aiste Rannsachadh air Litreachas Gaidhlig Studies in Gaelic Literature Vol 1 pp 123 69 Thomson Derick S ed 1993 Gaelic Poetry in the Eighteenth Century A Bilingual Anthology Association for Scottish Literary Studies ISBN 978 0 948877 19 3 External links EditAttribution nbsp This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain Lee Sidney ed 1897 Ross William 1762 1790 Dictionary of National Biography Vol 49 London Smith Elder amp Co Cuachag nan Craobh by William Ross a field recording digitized by Tobar an Dualchais Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title William Ross poet amp oldid 1154872071, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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