- Current section: Introduction
- Learning outcomes
- 1 Sorley MacLean
- 2 Sorley MacLean recorded
- Conclusion
- References
- Acknowledgements
from The Open University
Alternatively you can skip the navigation by pressing 'Enter'.
Get Started menu item
What's On menu item
TV
-
Monday 20th May
- 9:00am, Eden, Bang Goes The Theory s6e5
- 9:30am, Eden, Bang Goes The Theory s6e6
- 9:30am, Eden, Bang Goes The Theory s6e6
- 2:00pm, Eden, Bang Goes The Theory s6e5
- 2:30pm, Eden, Bang Goes The Theory s6e6
- 2:30pm, Eden, Bang Goes The Theory s6e6
- 7:00pm, Eden, Bang Goes The Theory s6e5
- 7:30pm, Eden, Bang Goes The Theory s6e6
- 7:30pm, Eden, Bang Goes The Theory s6e6
- 10:00pm, BBC Four, Timewatch: Last Day of WW1
Radio
- Monday 20th May
- Wednesday 22nd May
- Friday 24th May
- Sunday 26th May
-
Monday 20th May
The poetry of Sorley MacLean
Sorley Maclean (1911-1996) is regarded as one of the greatest Scottish poets...
Sorley Maclean (1911-1996) is regarded as one of the greatest Scottish poets of the twentieth century. This unit will introduce you to his poetry and give you an insight into the cultural, historical and political contexts that inform his work. MacLean wrote in Gaelic and the importance of the language to his work is also examined.
By the end of this unit, you should be able to:
- understand the power of Maclean's poetry in its original Gaelic;
- give examples of how such poetry engages with historical and cultural change.
- Duration: 10 hours
- Published on: Friday 24th June 2011
- Level: Advanced
- Posted under: Literature
Contents
The poetry of Sorley MacLean
Introduction

Sorley Maclean (1911–1998) is now regarded as one of the greatest Scottish poets of the twentieth century. However, until the 1970s, his verse was known by very few people. In that decade, publication of English translations of his work and the impact of his public readings established him in the eyes of poetry lovers in Scotland, Ireland and England, as well as further afield, as a major poet.
This material is from our archive and is an adapted extract from Literature in the modern world (A319) which is no longer taught by The Open University. If you want to study formally with us, you may wish to explore other courses we offer in this subject area [Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open it in a new tab. (Hide tip)] .
Archive content
This is an extract from an Open University course which is no longer available to new students. If you found this interesting you could explore more free Literature course units or view the range of currently available OU Literature courses.
Other pages You might like

Try: Ethics in real life
Ethical standards play a key role in the conduct of individuals and societies. This...

Try: Reading
Reading is an essential skill for all of us and developing our skills in reading is a...

Study: Creative writing
This practical creative writing course identifies your strengths and interests, and helps...

Try: Art history: early modern
The world of the early modern period (C10th - C16th) was one of religious obsession,...

Try: History of reading tutorial 1: Finding...
How do we know what people read in the past, and how they read it? This tutorial, the...

Study: Reading and studying literature
This course will introduce you to the study of English literature by looking at a...

Try: Start writing fiction
This album provides the budding author with everything they need to know about...

Try: Making sense of art history
In this unit you’ll explore art history. Look around you, it’s likely that wherever...

Try: Perceptions of English literature
To what extent has the definition of English literature changed over the last 50 years?...
Try: Sam Selvon, The Lonely Londoners
This unit concentrates on Sam Selvon’s twentieth-century novel, The Lonely Londoners....

Try: Art history: modern and contemporary
Baffled by modern art and architecture? You’re not alone! This collection gives new...

Try: Approaching prose fiction
Do you want to get more out of your reading? This unit is designed to develop the...
Comments
Be the first to post a comment
Copyright & revisions
Copyright information
- Creative-Commons: The Open University is proud to release this free course under a Creative Commons licence. However, any third-party materials featured within it are used with permission and are not ours to give away. These materials are not subject to the Creative Commons licence. See terms and conditions. Full details can be found in the Acknowledgements section.
Feeds
If you enjoyed this, why not follow a feed to find out when we have new things like it? Choose an RSS feed from the list below. (Don't know what to do with RSS feeds?)
Remember, you can also make your own, personal feed by combining tags from around OpenLearn.
Alternative Formats
Tags, Ratings and Social Bookmarking
Page Tags
Sign in or create a free account to add tags to your personal tag cloud using:
Have you tried our free courses?
Free stuff to your door
Living with Poverty
OU TV & Radio
-
Bang Goes The Theory s6e5Eden
Tuesday 1:00 -
Bang Goes The Theory s6e7Eden
Tuesday 1:00 -
Bang Goes The Theory s6e6Eden
Tuesday 1:25 -
Bang Goes The Theory s6e6Eden
Tuesday 1:25 -
Bang Goes The Theory s6e8Eden
Tuesday 1:25
Views
Votes
Comments
Tags
- climate change (373)
- business (277)
- diaries (194)
- bottom line (169)
- food (168)
- Rough Science (162)
- BBC Two (145)
- internet (145)
- BBC Radio 4 (140)
- BBC (133)
- Scotland (121)
- points for debate (120)
- listings (120)
- Bang goes the Theory (116)
- children (116)
- Creative Climate (116)
- English Civil War (115)
- astronomy (108)
- Thinking Allowed (105)
- religion (98)
- marketing (94)
- 20th century (94)
- Charles I (93)
- communication (92)
- evolution (91)
- sustainability (89)
- research (88)
- architecture (85)
- energy (83)
- Charles Darwin (78)
OpenLearn Links
Copyrighted imageCredit: Background image Lucian Milasan | Dreamstime.com 

