Place names in Scottish Gaelic literature: The case of Sorley MacLean’s poetry

Abstract

This note discusses the functions of place names in Scottish Gaelic literature, focusing on the poetry of Sorley MacLean, the most important and influential twentieth-century Gaelic poet. It is demonstrated that the usage of place names fulfills a number of different functions, including the aesthetic and invocative ones. MacLean’s poetry shows how place names provide literary means of binding nature with culture.