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    Tosgairean na Bàrdachd
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  • Poetry Commissions: Walter Scott 250
    Coimiseanan Bàrdachd: Walter Scott 250
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Poetry Commissions: Walter Scott 250
Coimiseanan Bàrdachd: Walter Scott 250

  
            
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English
The theme of our 2021 Ambassadors’ commissions is Sir Walter Scott, as we commemorate 250 years from his birth. In addition to wonderful new writing and recordings by the chosen poets, we present two new Gaelic translations by Ian MacDonald of Scott’s poems 'Lochinvar' and “Proud Maisie”. Scott’s biographer Stuart Kelly reflected that his work was '…full of specific place names: to a degree, he invented the idea of a poetry of place rather than a locus classicus. His poetry was swift, dangerous, uneven, sometimes ragged, suffused with a sense of the gothic and yet rooted in Augustan cadences.' You can read more about Scott’s life and poetry at this link.
Gaelic
'S e Walter Scott cuspair nan coimiseanan do Thosgairean na Bàrdachd againn ann an 2021, fhad 's a chomharraicheas sinn 250 o rugadh e. A bharrachd air an sàr sgrìobhadh ùr is clàraidhean aig na bàird roghnaichte, the sinn a' cumail romhaibh dà eadar-theangachadh don Ghàidhlig le Iain MacDhòmhnaill den na dàin 'Lochinvar" is "Proud Maisie'. B' e beatha-eachdraidhe Scott, Stuart Kelly, a bheachdaich gun robh a chuid obrach '...làn ainmean-àite sònraichte: gu ìre, b' ann leis-san a bha beachd air bàrdachd de dh'àite seach locus classicus. Bha a chuid bàrdachd sgiobalta, cunnartach, corrach is, uaireannan, robach, làn de shamhail na gotaich ach freumhaichte ann an sreathan Augustanach.' Faodaidh sibh tuilleadh de bheatha is bàrdachd Scott a leughadh tron cheangal seo.

chosen by Sheena Blackhall

Dumbiedikes

Hoo mony trees tae prent a thoosan buiks? Hoo mony buiks tae pulp a thoosan trees? Hoo mony trees tae launch a thoosan boats?
read James Robertson's poem

Sir Walter Scott

Fain wud ah hae pentit ye in a roch licht, scunnert at aa yer on-cairry, that biggin up o tartan lore, sic a fause freen tae Scotland’s story,
read Sheila Templeton's poem

Wattie Presents

Oh aye, when Peter opent thae Pearly Gates fir me, A wis weel ready, ma gammy leg wis playin up something awfy An A goat a wee bit doolally, tae be honest.
read Liz Niven's poem

Drover

England’s sweet meadows feed mony beasts, sae dinnae be fechtin ower whar they feast.
read Shane Strachan's poem

NECTABANUS

Kobolds, goblins; - bogles; Whitever yez want ti cry uz: see, we hae bonny gee-gaws fir yez!
read Tom Hubbard's poem

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chosen by Tom Murray

Monument

hungry for my turn to see the improbable sweep of Edinburgh city tiny from above laid out between hills and water,
read Katy Ewing's poem

Gathering

That night, a grand shepherd’s welcome – devilled duck, run brandy, old songs. Work thou within, we’ll work without. He listens until full.
read Craig Aitchison's poem

On Coming Late to Waverley

Flora and Donald, Rose and Cosmo, Fergus MacIvor Vich Ian Vohr. They live between the pages of events, of ideals and causes
read Jane Pearn's poem

Kirkpatrick’s Hope

The tide was in, a breeze in his face. He wouldn’t change that, not for any, other, place.
read Daniel Gillespie's poem

The View

A chanting stills my drift and a star eyed forget-me-not tempts me to the glittering water.
read Ruth Gilchrist's poem

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chosen by Martin Malone

Tales Of A Grandfather

Clouds pass abeen, haar inatween, The chisel cuts awa. An aal chiel an a younger een Ye’ve files been there anaa.
read Alistair Lawrie's poem

A further unsuccessful water cure was attempted at Prestonpans in summer 1777*

This is the wave will break the spell, this is the weed will coil my calf, this is the waters’ warp and weft, this is the song of the healing swell.
read Lydia Harris' poem

Namesake

On Ellen Isle, there’s your Lady of the Lake on a beach of pebbles bright as snow, lifting her head at some imagined sound. Soon the sun will set, the loch become a burnished sheet of living gold.
read Sharon Black's poem

Going Ancestral

You, half-understanding, gripping an over-buttoned remote, sitting by a pile of reminder notes
read Seth Crook's poem

three days

Our dance like someone else and she was a flow of swirling red curls swallowed deep in vodka
read Peter Ratter's poem

Podcasts

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chosen by Martin MacIntyre

Lochinbar agus msaa

Gaisgeach gun teagamh Agus mheall e iad uile aig Talla Netherby Gu h-àraidh am fleasgach bochd, ad a’ snìomh na làimh, Duine gun fheum a sheas le coltas an amadain
read Marion Morrison’s poem

Romansachd

An t-allt a’ sruthadh fhathast, a’ bleith is a’ briseadh chreagan gun abhsadh a’ lìonadh linneachan dorch, bagarach.
read Seonaidh Charity's poem

Chuala sinn losgadh

Air àrd-ùrlar fiodha tha fear marbh, sìnte, seann phàipear a chraiceann, dùinte, sìtheil a shùilean,
read David Eyre’s poem

Lochinvar

Tha Lochinvar òg ’s e air nochdadh bhon iar, Is gun aon each nas fheàrr aig neach feadh nan Crìoch; ’S gun aige ball-airm ach deagh chlaidheamh a-mhàin, E marcachd gun armachd ’s na aonar a-ghnàth;
Ian MacDonald’s translation

Proud Maisie

“Cò nì leaba mo phòsaidh – Abair, eòinein, gu stuama? “An rèiligear liath A chladhaicheas uaighean.
Ian MacDonald’s translation

Breathes there the Man with Soul so dead

Come an worship at the altarO thon skeelie screiver WalterTeller o hairt grippin talesSome write tadpoles, he wrote whales Marmion, Guy ManneringThe Antiquary, KenilworthWriter’s block wisnae his problemNiver had o wirds a dearth Antiques Roadshow filmed a programmeThere, at...
read Sheena Blackhall’s poem
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