Instruct: Given a question, retrieve passages that answer the question.
Query: Where did Sorley MacLean go to school?
He was educated at Raasay Primary School and Portree Secondary School.[10][3] In 1929, he left home to attend the University of Edinburgh.[3] For economic reasons, he chose to study English instead of Celtic.[lower-roman 5][8]:16[11] He disliked the head of the English department, Herbert Grierson, who favoured different poets than MacLean; MacLean felt that Grierson imposed his aesthetic preferences on the department. MacLean's academic work has been described as merely "dutiful".[21]:2 While at Edinburgh, MacLean also took classes in the Celtic department, then under William J. Watson.[11] He was involved in left-wing politics, literary circles, and the university shinty team.[12][20] MacLean later described an occasion in which he had demonstrated against Oswald Mosley and the British Union of Fascists.[18] According to Celtic scholar Emma Dymock, MacLean's education at Edinburgh broadened his horizons and the city itself was significant in his life.[12] While in Edinburgh, he observed urban poverty, slums, and overcrowding, especially severe due to the Great Depression.[16]:9 After his graduation in 1933 with a first-class degree, rather than pursuing postgraduate studies[8]:16[11] he remained in Edinburgh and spent a year at Moray House Teachers' Training College, where he met Hugh MacDiarmid.[20]
on Hallaig and MacLean's writing. full-length documentary at the Scottish Screen Archive. .
In 1956, MacLean was offered the position of head teacher of Plockton High School in Wester Ross, not far from where his paternal grandmother's family had lived. It was a difficult assignment as the remote location was not attractive to teacher candidates, and MacLean frequently had to teach himself due to vacancies.[27] While at Plockton, he promoted the use of Scottish Gaelic in formal education and campaigned for a Highers exam for learners of Gaelic.[4]:127 Before 1968, there was no separate exam for Gaelic learners, who had to compete with native speakers if they took Gaelic Highers. MacLean felt that this unfair policy discouraged many students from studying Gaelic, although he encouraged his students to take the exam even if they were not native speakers.[5]:34[lower-roman 8] In 1966, he presented a paper to the Gaelic Society of Inverness outlining the practical issues in Gaelic education. MacLean pointed out that in continental Europe, it was not uncommon to study three or four languages in school. According to MacLean, Scottish children would benefit from studying three languages in school alongside English, and "surely it is not expecting too much of Gaelic patriotism to demand that Gaelic should be one of the three?"[27][lower-roman 9] MacLean set high academic expectations for his students[18] and also promoted shinty; in 1965, the Plockton team won the cup for Ross and Cromarty.[27]
Hugh MacDiarmid wrote a letter to MacLean in 1977, a year before his death, stating that he and MacLean were the best Scottish poets of the twentieth century.[2] MacDiarmid and MacLean influenced each other's work and maintained an extensive correspondence which has been published.[51] Douglas Young wrote that "the best poetry written in our generation in the British Isles has been in Scottish Gaelic, by Sorley MacLean."[52]:229 John MacInnes called him a "magisterial writer" who "[pushed] Gaelic to its limits". He said that it is "truly astonishing" that Gaelic, so long minoritized, could have produced a writer like MacLean, who could not express what he had to say in any other language: "Somhairle MacGill-Eain needed Gaelic, and Gaelic needed Somhairle MacGill-Eain".[35]:417 According to Iain Crichton Smith, translator of MacLean's poetry, Dàin do Eimhir was "the greatest Gaelic book of this century", an assessment with which Christopher Whyte agreed.[36]:67 According to Maoilios Caimbeul, MacLean was the best Scottish Gaelic poet of all time.[32]:1 Smith compared the calibre of MacLean's love poetry to that of Catallus and William Butler Yeats. Nobel Prize Laureate Seamus Heaney said that MacLean had "saved Gaelic poetry... for all time".[3]
From the early 1970s, MacLean was in demand internationally as a reader of his own poetry. He would start a reading of a poem by describing the images, then read the poem first in Gaelic and again in English, emphasizing that the translations were not to be read as poems in of themselves.[36]:72 His readings were described as deeply moving even by listeners who did not speak Gaelic;[8]:17 according to Seamus Heaney, "MacLean's voice had a certain bardic weirdness that sounded both stricken and enraptured".[43] Gaelic poet George Campbell Hay wrote in a review that MacLean "is gifted with what the Welsh call Hwyl, the power of elevated declamation, and his declamation is full of feeling."[16]:1 These readings helped establish his international reputation as a poet.[8]:30 MacLean's poetry was also translated into German, and he was invited to poetry readings in Germany and Austria.[36]:255
There is at present no SCA competition for pupils over the age of 16. This is major omission. The MacBean Cup was formerly the cup for whole school competition. The Sorley MacLean Quaich between Portree High School and Plockton High School is one competition that tries to fill the gap. The Homecoming Scottish Schools Challenge Shield was also created to fill this gap and is also not run by the SCA.
In 1934, he returned to Skye to teach English at Portree High School.[3][12] After the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War in 1936, he considered volunteering to fight in the International Brigades; according to his daughter, he would have gone if not for family responsibilities.[3] At the time, his mother was seriously ill and his father's business was failing.[22] In January 1938, MacLean accepted a teaching position at Tobermory High School on Mull, where he stayed until December.[22][23]:145 The year he spent on Mull had a profound effect on him, because Mull was still devastated from nineteenth-century clearances in which many MacLeans had been evicted.[4]:125-6[23]:145 MacLean later said, "I believe Mull had much to do with my poetry: its physical beauty, so different from Skye’s, with the terrible imprint of the clearances on it, made it almost intolerable for a Gael." He believed that fascism was likely to emerge victorious in Europe, and was further dismayed by the continuing decline of the Gaelic language.[22][5]:29
Maclean's four brothers were the famous Gaelic poet and scholar, Sorley MacLean ["Somhairle MacGill-Eain"] (1911–1996), a schoolmaster and classicist, John Maclean (1910–1970), and two general practitioners, Dr. Alasdair Maclean (1918–1999), and Dr. Norman Maclean (c.1917-c.1980). Alasdair was also a historian. Ishabel and Mary, his sisters, were also schoolteachers.
A controversy erupted in 2000, when John MacLeod, chief of Clan MacLeod, put the Cullin on the market in order to finance the repair of Dunvegan Castle. His real estate agency, Savills, used excerpts from An Cuilthionn to advertise the property. Many people found this to be an inappropriate use of MacLean's work. Savills apologized unreservedly, which was accepted by Renee MacLean.[58][59]
MacLean's many friends and visitors commented on his prodigious knowledge and deep interest in genealogy and local history.[29][18] He continued to participate in left-wing politics, eventually joining the Scottish Labour Party.[18] During his later years, he published few poems due to his "concern with quality and authenticity over quantity";[29][27] his family responsibilities and career left him little spare time to write.[21]:5 MacLean said that he had burned his poetry instead of publishing it because of his "long years of grinding school-teaching and [his] addiction to an impossible lyric ideal".[20][2]
"Symbols of Survival The Art of Will Maclean", Duncan Macmillan, Forward Sorley Maclean, Mainstream, 1992 and 2002
Crichton Smith was brought up in a Gaelic-speaking community, learning English as a second language once he attended school. 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 English language work is actually directly related to, or translated from, Gaelic equivalents.
In 1977, Canongate Books published Reothairt is Contraigh: Taghadh de Dhàin 1932-72 (English: Spring tide and Neap tide: Selected Poems 1932-72). MacLean changed the ordering of the poems in Dàin do Eimhir, altering many poems and omitting others. In the original version of An Cuilthionn, MacLean had called upon the Red Army to liberate Scotland.[lower-roman 20] This passage was expunged, among other alterations and omissions that led the Scottish Poetry Library to describe the 1977 version as having been "bowdlerized". MacLean said that he would only consent to publishing the parts of his older work that he found "tolerable".[2] The critical acclaim and fame that MacLean achieved was almost entirely from critics that did not understand his poetry in the original Gaelic.[36]:172 In 1989, a further compilation of his poetry, O Choille gu Bearradh / From Wood to Ridge: Collected Poems in Gaelic and English won him lasting critical acclaim. Complete annotated editions of his work have since been published.[2]
MacLean talked extensively about the poem in Timothy Neat's documentary for RTÉ, "Hallaig: the Poetry and Landscape of Sorley MacLean" in 1984.
While acknowledging the literary merit of MacLean's work, Whyte suggested that it was unfortunate that in the 1980s it stood in for all Scottish Gaelic poetry in the Anglophone world. According to Whyte, MacLean's poetry is "comparatively unGaelic, elitist rather than populist, and permeable only with difficulty to the community which uses the language in its day to day existence".[36]:67-68 MacInnes concedes that MacLean does not cater to his readers; however, in his opinion it would be incorrect to call the poetry elitist because of its "artistic sincerity", speaking "with affective directness and a simple passionate intensity".[35]:417 Compounding the difficulty is that the traditional medium of Gaelic poetry is song, and many fluent speakers do not have strong reading skills.[36]:66-7[32]:3 In an effort to make MacLean's work more accessible to Scottish Gaelic speakers, the Sorley MacLean Trust commissioned several musicians[lower-roman 25] to set some of MacLean's poems to music.[54][55][32]:2
Gillies' musical upbringing was wide-ranging. Her maternal grandparents were professional classical violinists, and Gillies learned piano from an early age. While a pupil at Oban High School she was inspired by many of her teachers, especially her English teacher, the poet Iain Crichton Smith, and John Maclean, the Rector (Headmaster) of the school, a native of the Island of Raasay, classical scholar and brother of poet Sorley Maclean, from whom she learned a large number of Gaelic songs and to whom she dedicated her seminal book "Songs of Gaelic Scotland" (Birlinn, Edinburgh, 2005).
The School of Scottish Studies (, ) was founded in 1951 by Professor William Lindsay Renwick and is affiliated to the University of Edinburgh. It holds an archive of over 9000 field recordings of traditional music, song and other lore, housed in George Square, Edinburgh. The collection was begun by Calum Maclean - brother of the poet, Sorley MacLean - and the poet, writer and folklorist, Hamish Henderson, both of whom collaborated with American folklorist Alan Lomax, who is credited as being a catalyst and inspiration for the work of the school.
After attending Gearradh na Monadh school, Campbell left Uist for secondary school in Oban, where he developed a keen interest in literature under the expert guidance and encouragement of his English teacher, the late Iain Crichton Smith. The University of Edinburgh beckoned, where he obtained an Honours degree in History and Politics, and continued his literary education through the encouragement of the late Sorley MacLean, who was writer-in-residence in Edinburgh at the time.
Nevertheless, MacLean read widely and was influenced by poets from a variety of styles and eras. Of contemporary poets, Hugh MacDiarmid, Ezra Pound,[29] and William Butler Yeats had the greatest impact.[21]:3 After reading A Drunk Man Looks at the Thistle by MacDiarmid, MacLean decided to try his hand at extended narrative poetry, resulting in the unfinished An Cuilthionn.[23]:145 He was also influenced by the Metaphysical school. However, he "had nothing but contempt" for the popular left-wing poets of the 1930s, such as W. H. Auden or Stephen Spender, and sometimes regarded poetry as a useless aesthetic hobby.[21]:4
Maclean was born in Òsgaig, Isle of Raasay, Scotland, into a family of five boys and two girls. His father was Malcolm MacLean (1880–1951), who was a tailor. His mother, Kirsty (1886–1974), was the daughter of Sorley Mor Nicolson of Braes, Skye, and his wife, Ishabel. 
In the Gaelic-speaking world, MacLean's influence has been pervasive and persistent. Poet Aonghas MacNeacail started writing in English, because "My education gave me to believe that Gaelic literature was dead"; he credited MacLean with convincing him otherwise and inspiring him to write in Gaelic. The Gaelic rock band Runrig once invited MacLean to come onstage for a poetry reading.[48] However, MacLean had less impact on rural Gaelic-speaking communities. Novelist Angus Peter Campbell wrote that he preferred the work of local Uist bards to MacLean, and he believed that other Uist people felt the same.[36]:68 Australian poet Les Murray has acknowledged MacLean's influence on his work.[21]:5
Sorley MacLean was born at Òsgaig on the island of Raasay on 26 October 1911; Scottish Gaelic was his first language. Before he went to school at the age of six, he spoke very little English.[5]:23[6]:194 He was the second of five sons born to Malcolm (1880–1951) and Christina MacLean (1886–1974).[7] The family owend a small croft and ran a tailoring business,[8]:16 but they later gave up the croft to move to a better house, which proved detrimental to their finances when the Great Depression took a high toll on the tailoring business.[9]:10 His brothers were John Maclean (1910–1970), a schoolteacher and later rector of Oban High School, who was also a piper;[7][5]:27 Calum Maclean (1915–1960), a noted folklorist and ethnographer; and Alasdair (1918–1999) and Norman (c.1917–c.1980), who became general practitioners. Sorley's two younger sisters, Isobel and Mary, were also schoolteachers.[10][7][11] His patronymic was Somhairle mac Chaluim 'ic Chaluim 'ic Iain 'ic Tharmaid 'ic Iain 'ic Tharmaid; he could not trace his genealogy with certainty to the eighth generation.[1]:211
MacLean's poetry frequently used Gaelic themes and references, such as place names, trees, and sea symbolism. A knowledge of that tradition would bring additional interpretations and appreciation to a reading of MacLean's poetry.[35]:407-8 Another important symbol in his work is the face, which represents romantic love.[42]:63
Because of his socialist convictions, Sorley MacLean wanted to fight in the Spanish Civil War, but was prevented by family circumstances. In 1937, MacLean, then working as an English teacher at Portree High School, met and fell in love with Nessa O’Shea, an Irish woman whom he believed to be romantically involved with a friend; MacLean did not approach her and she later married someone else. She inspired the poem "An Roghainn" (Dàin do Eimhir XXII) in which the narrator chooses between a love interest and going to fight in Spain. Later, he went to teach on Mull, where the devastation from nineteenth-century clearances—in which many MacLeans had been evicted—had a profound effect on him. MacLean later said that "I believe Mull had much to do with my poetry: its physical beauty, so different from Skye’s, with the terrible imprint of the clearances on it, made it almost intolerable for a Gael." This period of his life has been described as "an immensely creative anguish", because it led to the writing of the Eimhir cycle and "An Cuilthionn". He wrote most of the poetry that would become "Dàin do Eimhir" while teaching at Boroughmuir High School in Edinburgh, and in Hawick between 1939 and 1941.
He was raised in a strict Presbyterian family on the island of Raasay, immersed in Gaelic culture and literature from birth, but abandoned religion for socialism. In the late 1930s, he befriended many Scottish Renaissance figures, such as Hugh MacDiarmid and Douglas Young. He was wounded three times while serving with the British Army during the Second World War. MacLean published little after the war, due to his perfectionism. In 1956, he became head teacher at Plockton High School, where he advocated for the use of the Gaelic language in formal education.