Dòmhnall Ruadh Chorùna
Donald MacDonald known as Dòmhnall Ruadh Chorùna (Red Donald of Coruna) (9 July 1887 Claddach Baleshare, North Uist, Scotland – 13 August 1967, Lochmaddy, Scotland) was a North Uist stonemason, a veteran of the First World War, and a legendary war poet in the Scottish Gaelic language.
He is best known for the song An Eala Bhàn ("The White Swan") which he composed during the Battle of the Somme and addressed to Magaidh NicLeòid, his sweetheart at the time of the war. In recent years, it has been recorded by artists as diverse as Calum Kennedy, Donnie Munro, Capercaillie, and Julie Fowlis.
Early life
He was born on North Uist in 1887. His mother, Flòraidh Fhionnghuala Dòmhnall, worked as a domestic servant. His father Dòmhnall worked as a merchant seaman. When the poet was young, he was often told stories about the experiences of his maternal great-grandparents during the Napoleonic Wars. According to the family's oral tradition, the bard's great-grandmother, Mór Campbell of Skye, had given a last drink of water to Sir John Moore moments before his death at the Battle of Corunna in 1809.[1]
He briefly attended a district school at Carinish, but, due to the Education Acts, only English was taught in the schools. As a result, the bard would never learn to read or write in his native language. He began composing poetry at the age of 13. His mother was reportedly impressed with his abilities and made him promise never to use his poetry for personal attacks. This was a promise he always honored. This, and the introspection caused by his experiences in World War I, set him apart from other Scottish Gaelic poets.
World War I
According to Fred MacAulay,
"Dòmhnall Ruadh was in the Militia before the War and would therefore not have had to wait too long before going across to France. There, a murderous, merciless, pitiless world awaited him, as he himself relates... but I believe that, at least up to this point, some of the old philosophy survived which enobled war and in some strange way glorified it. I am certain too that, for that generation, these sentiments died forever in the trenches of France. All this is to be found in Dòmhnall Ruadh's poetry. There is vanity and pride, charity and love, simplicity and youthful innocence, valor and the nobility of long ago, and they are all interspersed with lament and sorrow for the dead and the maimed. One cannot help being aware of this and being touched in some measure by the emotions in a situation which is difficult to comprehend in today's brash and ever changing world. He is sorely pressed, his heart bruised at the brutality of his position, anguished and sometimes with little hope; at other times, his poetry is resolute and strong, then changes to regret and sorrow, questioning man's function and purpose in the situation and occasionally turning to God and Creed for succor when there is not other solution... He was in the 7th Batallion [sic?] of the Cameron Highlanders and was badly wounded on the Somme in the autumn of 1916. Invalided back to England, he later returned to France with the West Riding Field Regiment, as he was not longer fit for infantry duties. But whatever regulations said, he continued to wear the Cameron badge on his cap..."[2]
Later life and publication
According to Ronald Black,
"The years following the War were filled with emptiness, economically as well as personally. There was little living to be had in Uist other than from the poacher's gun. In 1922, however, he married Annie MacDonald (Anna Ruairidh 'ic Nèill, 1890-1970), and they had two children, Mary and Malcolm, both of whom died in 1965. Dòmhnall Ruadh had become a stonemason and went on to build more than thirty houses in different parts of Uist. Experiencing a degree of prosperity for the first time in his life after the Second World War, the Voice of the Trenches, as we may call him, became a prolific poet once more, but subsequently suffered a great deal from illness. He died at Lochmaddy on 13 August 1967. Fortunately, at the instigation of Fred MacAulay of the BBC, most of Dòmhnall Ruadh's poems and songs had been written down from his dictation shortly before his death by John Alick MacPherson, who was at that time a teacher at Paible. They were first published by Gairm Publications in 1969 in an all-Gaelic edition prepared by MacPherson, Dòmhnall Ruadh Chorùna. This edition contains 12 poems and songs from 1914-1920, 17 from 1920-1945, and 28 from 1945-1966, 57 items in all, although the later poems are, on average, much shorter than the earlier ones. It was followed in 1995 by an illustrated bilingual edition, again titled Dòmhnall Ruadh Chorùna, this time edited by MacAuley himself and published by Comann Eachdraidh Uibhist a-Tuath. Thanks to the excellent memory of poet's cousin, Maggie Boyd (Mrs. John MacQuarrie, who died in 1994), to whom Dòmhnall liked to sing each new composition as soon as it was made, the new edition contains 61 items along with extra fragments."[3]
Legacy
The South Uist poet Dòmhnall Iain MacDòmhall wrote the following elegy for him:
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References
- ↑ Dòmhnall Ruadh Choruna Comann Eachdraidh Uibhist a Tuath, 1995. Pages 18-19.
- ↑ Dòmhnall Ruadh Choruna, Cumann Eachdraidh Uibhist a Tuath, 1995. Page xxxiv.
- ↑ An Tuil, page 740.
- ↑ ibid, page 740.
Further reading
- Ronald Black, An Tuil: Anthology of 20th Century Scottish Gaelic Verse, Polygon Press, 1999.
- Fred MacAulay (editor), Dòmhnall Ruadh Chorùna, Comann Eachdraidh Uibhist a Tuath, 1995.
External links
Video
- Julie Fowlis sings "The White Swan" on YouTube (In Gaelic)
- At an improvised Highland Ceilidh on YouTube
- "The White Swan" as performed by Calum Kennedy on YouTube (In Gaelic)