Editing Sorley MacLean (section)

{{Short description|Scottish poet (1911 – 1996)}}
{{good article}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2019}}
{{Infobox writer 
| name        = Sorley MacLean

| native_name = Somhairle MacGill-Eain{{efn-lr|name=patronymic}}{{efn-lr|name=pronunciation}}
| native_name_lang = gd
| image       = File:Somhairle MacGill-Eain.jpeg 
| imagesize   = 
| caption     = MacLean at Braes, Skye in 1986
| alt         = 
| pseudonym   = 
| birth_date  = {{birth date|1911|10|26|df=y}}
| birth_place = Òsgaig, [[Raasay]], Scotland
| death_date  = {{death date and age|df=yes|1996|11|24|1911|10|21}}
| death_place = [[Inverness]], Scotland
| resting_place = Stronuirinish Cemetery, [[Portree]]
| occupation  = [[Education in Scotland|English teacher]]<br />[[Head teacher]]
| nationality = 
| education   = Raasay Primary School<br/>[[Portree High School|Portree Secondary School]]
| alma_mater  = [[University of Edinburgh]]
| period      = 
| language         = [[Scottish Gaelic]]
| genre       = [[Scottish Gaelic literature|Gaelic poetry]]
| years_active     = 1932–c. 1980
| movement    =

| relatives   =
| signature   = 
| notableworks={{plainlist| ''[[Dàin do Eimhir]]''
* ''An Cuilthionn''
* ''[[Hallaig]]''}}
|awards= {{plainlist|[[Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry]]
* Nominated for [[Nobel Prize in Literature|Nobel Prize]]}}
| website     = {{URL|www.sorleymaclean.org/}} (Gaelic)<br/>{{URL|http://www.sorleymaclean.org/english/index.htm}} (English)
}}

'''Sorley MacLean''' ({{langx|gd|Somhairle MacGill-Eain}};{{efn-lr|[[Scottish Gaelic name#Identifying names|Gaelic patronymic]]: Somhairle mac Chaluim 'ic Chaluim 'ic Iain 'ic Tharmaid 'ic Iain 'ic Tharmaid.{{r|family|p=211}} |name=patronymic}}{{efn-lr|{{IPA|gd|ˈs̪o.ərlə maxˈkʲiʎɛhɛɲ}}|name=pronunciation}} 26 October 1911 – 24 November 1996) was a [[Scottish Gaelic]] poet, described by the [[Scottish Poetry Library]] as "one of the major Scottish poets of the modern era" because of his "mastery of his chosen medium and his engagement with the European poetic tradition and European politics".<ref name=library>{{cite web |title=Sorley MacLean |url=http://www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org.uk/poetry/poets/sorley-maclean |publisher=[[Scottish Poetry Library]] |access-date=17 August 2018  |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180817225519/http://www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org.uk/poetry/poets/sorley-maclean |archive-date=17 August 2018 |url-status=live }}</ref> Nobel Prize Laureate [[Seamus Heaney]] credited MacLean with saving [[Scottish Gaelic literature|Scottish Gaelic poetry]].<ref name=larach/>

He was raised in a [[Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland|strict Presbyterian]] family on the island of [[Raasay]], immersed in Gaelic culture and literature from birth, but abandoned religion for [[socialism]]. In the late 1930s, he befriended many [[Scottish Renaissance]] figures, such as [[Hugh MacDiarmid]] and [[Douglas Young (classicist)|Douglas Young]]. He was wounded three times while serving in the [[Royal Corps of Signals]] during the [[North African Campaign]]. MacLean published little after the war, due to his perfectionism. In 1956, he became head teacher at [[Plockton High School]], where he advocated for the use of the Gaelic language in formal education.

In his poetry, MacLean juxtaposed traditional Gaelic elements with mainstream European elements, frequently comparing the [[Highland Clearances]] with contemporary events, especially the [[Spanish Civil War]]. His work was a unique fusion of traditional and modern elements that has been credited with restoring Gaelic tradition to its proper place and reinvigorating and modernizing the Gaelic language. Although his most influential works, ''[[Dàin do Eimhir]]'' and ''An Cuilthionn'', were published in 1943, MacLean did not become well known until the 1970s, when his works were published in English translation. His later poem ''[[Hallaig]]'', published 1954, achieved "cult status"{{r|Czech|p=134}} outside Gaelic-speaking circles for its supernatural representation of a village depopulated in the Highland Clearances and came to represent all Scottish Gaelic poetry in the English-speaking imagination.