Iain Crichton Smith bust at South Gyle. Courtesy Wikipedia.
Iain Crichton Smith (Iain Mac a' Ghobhainn) OBE (1 January 1928 - 15 October 1998) was a Scottish poet and man of letters, who wrote in both English and Scottish Gaelic. A prolific author in both languages, he is known for his poetry, short stories, and novels.
Life
Youth and education
Crichton Smith was born in Glasgow, but at the age of 2 moved to the isle of Lewis, where he and his two brothers were brought up by their widowed mother in the small crofting town of Bayble (which also produced Derick Thomson). It was a Scottish Gaelic speaking community; he learned English as a 2nd language once he attended school.
He earned a degree in English from the University of Aberdeen.
Career
,After serving in the National Service Army Education Corps, Crichton Smith went on to become a teacher.
He taught in Clydebank, Dumbarton and Oban from 1952, retiring to become a full-time writer in 1977, although he already had many novels and poems published.
Writing
Friend and poet Edwin Morgan notes that unlike his contemporaries (such as Sorley Maclean and Derick Thomson), Crichton Smith was more prolific in English than in Gaelic, perhaps viewing his writing in what (from Crichton Smith's view) was an imposed non-native language as a challenge to English and American poets. However, Crichton Smith also produced much Gaelic poetry and prose, and also translated some of the work of Sorley Maclean from Gaelic to English, as well as some of his own poems originally composed in Gaelic. It should also be noted that much of his other English-language work is actually directly related to, or translated from, Gaelic equivalents.
Crichton Smith's work also reflects his dislike of dogma and authority, influenced by his upbringing in a close-knit, island presbyterian community, as well as his political and emotional thoughts and views of Scotland and the Scottish Highlands. Despite his upbringing, Crichton-Smith was an atheist. A number of his poems explore the subject of the Highland Clearances, and his best known novel Consider the Lilies (1968) is an account of the eviction of an elderly woman during such times.
Elderly women and alienated individuals are common themes in his work.
Poetry
Crichton Smith's poetry quite often had a character perhaps based on his mother. He also typically used natural images to convey emotion.
His poems include:
- Culloden and After (1961) - an attack on that period in British history, especially "Bonnie Charlie".
- Old Woman (1965)
- The Iolaire (date)
- The Man who Cried Wolf (1964)
Recognition
He was awarded the Order of the British Empire in 1980.
Publications
Poetry
- The Long River (1955)
- New Poets 1959 (by Iain Crichton Smith, Karen Gershon, & Christopher Leveson). London: Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1959.
- Bùrn is Aran (1960)
- Thistles and Roses (1961)
- Deer on the High Hills (1962)
- An Dubh is an Gorm (1963)
- Bìobuill is Sanasan Reice (1965)
- The Law and the Grace (1965)
- The Golden Lyric: an Essay on the Poetry of Hugh MacDiarmid (1967)
- At Helensburgh (1968)
- Three Regional Voices (by Iain Crichton Smith, Barry Tebb, & Michael Longley). London: Poet & Printer, 1968.
- Ben Dorain by Duncan Ban MacIntyre (1969)
- From Bourgeois Land (1969)
- Iain am Measg Nan Reultan (1970)
- Maighstirean is Ministearan (1970)
- Selected Poems (1970)
- Survival Without Error (1970)
- My Last Duchess (1971)
- Poems to Eimhir translated from Sorley MacLean (1971)
- Love Poems and Elegies (1972)
- Penguin Modern Poets 21 (with George Mackay Brown and Norman MacCaig). London: Penguin, 1972. [1]
- An-t-Adhar Ameireaganach (1973)
- The Black and the Red (1970)
- Rabhndan is Rudan (1973)
- Eadar Fealla-dha is Glaschu (1974)
- Orpheus, and other poems. Preston, UK: Akros, 1974.
- Goodbye Mr Dixon (1974)
- Hami Autumn (1974)
- The Notebooks of Robinson Crusoe (1975)
- The Permanent Island: Gaelic poems. Loanhead, Midlothian, UK: Macdonald, 1975.
- An t-Aonaran (1976)
- The Hermit and Other Stories (1977)
- An End to Autumn (1978)
- River, River (1978)
- On the Island (1979)
- Iain Crichton Smith. Glasgow: National Book League, 1979.
- Murdo (1981)
- Selected Poems 1955-1980. Loanhead, Midlothian, UK: Macdonald, 1981.
- The Search (1982)
- Mr Trill in Hades (1984)
- The Exiles (Carcanet Press, 1984)
- Selected Poems (edited by James MacGibbon). Manchester, UK: Carcanet, 1985.
- The Tenement (1985)
- A Life (Carcanet Press, 1986)
- Burn is Aran (1987)
- An t-Eilean agus an Caan (1987)
- In the Middle of the Wood (1987)
- Moments in Glasshouses (1987) editor
- A' Bheinn Oir (1989)
- Na Speuclairean Dubha (1989)
- The Dream (1989)
- Selected Poems (1990)
- Turas tro Shaoghal Falamh (1991)
- Na Guthan (1991)
- Collected Poems (1992)
- An Dannsa mu Dheireadh (1992)
- Thoughts of Murdo (1993)
- An Rathad gu Somalia (1994)
- Ends and Beginnings (Carcanet Press, 1994)
- The Human Face (Carcanet Press, 1996)
- Collected Poems. Manchester, UK: Carcanet, 1996.
- The Leaf and the Marble (Carcanet Press, 1998)
- Country For Old Men and My Canadian Uncle (Carcanet Press, 2000)
- Am Miseanaraidh (first published 2006)
- Iain Crichton Smith, Guardate i gigli, a cura di Silvia Campanini, EUT Edizioni Università di Trieste, 2009
- New Collected Poems (edited by Matthew McGuire). Manchester, UK: Carcanet, 2011.
- Deer on the High Hills (edited by John Greening). Manchester, UK: Carcanet, 2021.
Novels
- Consider the Lilies (with Isobel Murray). London: Gollancz, 1968; London: Weidenfield & Nicholson, 2018.
- The Last Summer. London: Gollancz, 1969; Edinburgh: Polygon, 2015.
- A Field Full of Folk: A novel. London: Gollancz, 1982; Edinburgh: Polygon, 2015.
- An Honourable Death. London: Macmillan, 1992.
Short fiction
- Listen to the Voice: Selected stories. Edinburgh: Canongate, 1993, 2010.
- After the Dance: Selected stories. Edinburgh: Polygon, 2017.
Non-fiction
- Towards the Human: Selected essays. Edinburgh: Macdonald, 1986.
Edited
- Modern Gaelic Verse (edited with Commun Gàidhealach). Thurso, UK: Caithness Books, 1966.
Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.[2]
Audio / video
- Iain Crichton Smith (casette). Bournemouth, UK: Canto, 1985.[2]
See also
External links
- Poems
- Iain Crichton Smith in the Scottish Poetry Library (5 poems)
- Audio / video
- Books
- About
- Iain Crichton Smith at BBC Two - Writing Scotland
- Obituary: Iain Crichton Smith, The Independent
- The Contribution of Iain Crichton Smith - An essay on Crichton Smith's poetry, by Edwin Morgan
| This page uses Creative Commons Licensed content from Wikipedia. (view article). (view authors). |
- ↑ George Mackay Brown 1921-1996, Poetry Foundation, Web, July 11, 2012.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Search results = au:Iain Crichton Smith, WorldCat, OCLC Online Computer Library Center Inc. Web, Nov. 23, 2021.