Hallaig (G2)

Publication Instance Details #2618

Publication Overview

Translation	Is Multilingual	Explicit Irish Context?	Ekphrasis	Has Paratext?	Reference to News, Media or Technology
Yes	No	No	No	Yes	No

Details

Human Rights Issues	HR & Colonisation/Colonial Legacies Displacement/Forced Migration Indigenous Rights (incl. culture & language)
Languages	Irish
Original Language	Gaelic (Scots)
Original Poem	Hallaig
Original Author	Somhairle MacGill-Eain
Genre	Short Lyric
Medium	Print Collection
Paratext Text	Leagan Gaeilge ar an Dán le Somhairle mac Gill-Eain
Notes	This poem describes the aftermath of the minoritization and displacement of the Gaelic peoples of the Scottish islands. After the 19th Century, the island's population began to fall rapidly, and the level of Gaelic spoken in the island has continued to decline into the 21st Century. Describing his own provenance in the area of Hallaig, a township on Raasey Island in the Hebrides, the speaker memorializes the many departed generations who have come and left before him. The speaker casts his mind back to the people who once eked out a living in Hallaig - the working men and the girls travelling about the island on their errands. The deer, appearing in the poem and in the paratext, is likely a symbol of the island itself, since the name 'Raasey', was thought to refer to the 'Roe Deer'. As one of the last of Raasey island, the speaker pledges that the deer's blood will not flow, as long as he himself lives.