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Màiri nighean Alasdair Ruaidh (c.1615 – c.1707), also known as Mary Macleod, was a Scottish Gaelic poet.

Life

Born at Rowdil, Harris, she was a daughter of Red Alasdair, and through him connected with the chiefs of the Macleods. In one of her poems, she claims to have nursed five lairds of the Macleods and two lairds of Applecross. Most of her life was spent at Dunvegan, Skye, in the Macleod of Macleod household, although tradition mentions she once lived in Eriskay. At one time, however, she was exiled by her chief to Mull for being too profuse in her praise of his relative, Sir Norman Macleod of Bernera. She was afterwards recalled to Dunvegan and died there in 1674.

Works

Only a few of her poems, mostly laudations of the Macleods, have been preserved.

Macleod is widely regarded as one of the stalwarts of the new school of poetry that was emerging in the 17th century, which eventually replaced the classical Gaelic bards.

The 1893 Encyclopædia Britannica states: "Macleod’s poetry is celebrated for its simple, natural rhythms. Her poems were full of the imagery that was customary in the verse of the bardic poets. Macleod's poems were mostly exalted tales of the heroic deeds of the Macleod family, woven with her strong love for her family... A handful of her poems remains today. Of those that survive, the elegies are the best, poignant yet fresh in their style."

Folklore

MacLeod is also referenced in Scottish folklore as composing her poetry neither indoors nor outdoors and that she would croon from the threshold.

Citations

1. Thomson, Derick S. "Màiri nighean Alasdair Ruaidh". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/17675. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
2. "B' fheudar don bhana-bhàrd Màiri nighean Alasdair Ruaidh tei..." Tobar an Dualchais. Retrieved 1 September 2023.
3. ^ MacDonald 1893.
4. Thomson, Derick S. (2004). "Oxford Dictionary of National Biography". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 1 (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/17675. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
5. edited (1995). Watson, Roderick (ed.). The poetry of Scotland: Gaelic, Scots, and English, 1380-1980. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. pp. 230–235. ISBN 978-0748606078. {{cite book}}: |last= has generic name (help)
6. ^ "Mary Macleod". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 26 October 2013.
7. "Sgeul mu Mhàiri nighean Alasdair Ruaidh". Tobar an Dualchais. University of Edinburgh. Retrieved 4 June 2018.
8. "Crònan Màiri Nighean Alasdair Ruaidh (Hill-iù-an hill-eò-an)". Tobar an Dualchais. University of Edinburgh. Retrieved 4 June 2018.
9. "Hill iù-an hill eò-an". Tobar an Dualchais. University of Edinburgh. Retrieved 4 June 2018.

References

Primary Sources

• Màiri nighean Alasdair Ruaidh (2014). Ó Baoill, Colm (ed.). Màiri nighean Alasdair Ruaidh: Song-maker of Skye and Berneray. Edinburgh: Scottish Gaelic Texts Society. ISBN 9780903586061.

Attribution

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: MacDonald, James Ramsay (1893). "Macleod, Mary". In Lee, Sidney (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 35. London: Smith, Elder & Co.

• Scottish women poets
• 17th-century Scottish women writers
• 17th-century Scottish poets
• 17th-century Scottish Gaelic poets
• 17th-century Scottish people
• 18th-century Scottish people
• People from Harris, Outer Hebrides
• Clan Macleod