Iain mac Ailein facts for kids

Iain mac Ailein, also known as John MacLean (born January 8, 1787, in Caolas, Tiree; died January 26, 1848, in Addington Forks, Antigonish County, Nova Scotia), was a very important poet. He wrote in both Scottish Gaelic and Canadian Gaelic. Before he moved with his family to Nova Scotia in 1819, MacLean was the main poet (called the Chief Bard) for the 15th leader of Clan MacLean of Coll.

After arriving in the New World, MacLean kept writing many poems. One of his most famous and popular poems about moving to a new country is Òran do dh' Aimearaga ("A Song to America"). It is also known as A' Choille Ghruamach ("The Gloomy Forest"). A scholar named Robert Dunbar called MacLean "perhaps the most important of all the poets who emigrated" during the main period of Gaelic people moving overseas, which was between 1730 and 1860.

Life Story of John MacLean

Family Background

John MacLean's family had a long history. Even though he wasn't a noble, he could trace his family back to a famous warrior named Eachann Ruadh nan Cath. This ancestor was the 6th leader of Clan Maclean of Duart and died in a big battle in 1411.

Also, his mother's great-grandfather, Neil Lamont, was the main poet for the leader of Clan MacLean of Coll. On his father's side, MacLean was related to another well-known poet from Tiree, Gilleasbuig Làidir MacGilleain.

Growing Up and Early Career

Iain mac Ailein was born on January 8, 1787, in a place called Caolas. This was on the island of Tiree in Scotland. He was the third son of Allan MacLean and Margaret MacFadyen.

When he was young, MacLean worked as a shoemaker and a small merchant. His grandson, a minister named Rev. Alexander MacLean Sinclair, later wrote that MacLean was also a seanchai (a storyteller or historian). He had an amazing memory and knew a lot about the Highland clans and their poets.

MacLean also knew many other great Scottish Gaelic poems by heart. These included Birlinn Chloinne Raghnaill ("The War Galley of Clanranald") by Alasdair Mac Mhaighstir Alasdair and Moladh Beinn Dòrain ("In Praise of Ben Doran") by Duncan Ban MacIntyre.

His grandson, Rev. Alexander MacLean Sinclair, said that MacLean was very talented but not good at making money. He loved poetry more than his work. He was a good poet but not a very good shoemaker or farmer. He also loved being with people and visiting friends.

On July 19, 1808, Iain Mac Ailein married Isabella Black in Glasgow.

In 1810, during the Napoleonic Wars, Iain mac Ailein was forced to join the army (this is called conscription). He really disliked military life. So, he paid someone £40 to take his place. He was officially discharged from the army on January 17, 1811.

In 1818, Iain mac Ailein published a book of poems called Orain nuadh Ghaedhlach ("New Gaelic Songs"). He published it in Edinburgh. He dedicated the book to his boss, Alexander, the 15th leader of Clan MacLean of Coll. His book had 22 of his own poems and 34 by other famous Gaelic poets. Some of these poems, by Alexander MacKinnon and Mary Macleod, can only be found in his book today.

One of MacLean's main sources for his book was a handwritten collection of Gaelic poems. A doctor named Hector Maclean had made this collection between 1738 and 1768. The doctor's daughter gave this manuscript to Iain mac Ailein. It had 104 extra pages, including fourteen of MacLean's own poems. This important manuscript is now kept in the Nova Scotia Archives.

Life in the New World

It's not fully known why John MacLean decided to move. He was one of the last professional poets who had support from a clan chief. This meant he had a good life compared to other farmers in the Highlands.

We do know that he used his published book as a guarantee to get passage for his family to the New World. In August 1819, the MacLean family sailed from Tobermory on the Isle of Mull. They were on a ship called Economy. They arrived in Pictou, Nova Scotia around October 1, 1819.

The MacLean family stayed in Pictou for only a week. Then they traveled by boat to Merigomish. They first settled on a farm at Barney's River in Pictou County. In the summer of 1820, Iain Mac Ailein cleared the land, planted potatoes, and built a small log cabin. He called his new home Baile-Chnoic ("Hill Farm"). While living there, he wrote his famous poem Òran do dh' Aimearaga ("A Song to America"), also known as A’ Choille Ghruamach ("The Gloomy Forest"). In this poem, he complained about how hard pioneer life was.

According to Marcus Tanner, MacLean "complained about almost everything in Nova Scotia" in the poem. It was meant to warn people thinking of moving that Nova Scotia was not as easy as they might think.

Effie Rankin said that A' Choille Ghruamach gives a very detailed picture of pioneer life in Gaelic. In this sad poem, John MacLean talks about how hard it was in the Canadian wilderness. He describes the terrible cold winters, the equally hot summers, and the huge, never-ending forest.

Rev. MacLean Sinclair later wrote that when the poet sent his song about America back to Tiree, his friends were very worried. They offered to send money for him to come back. MacLean of Coll, his old friend, even wrote him a kind letter asking him to return and offering him free land. Sinclair felt it was a very truthful poem, but it might have stopped many people from moving.

However, Michael Newton noted that while A' Choille Ghruamach showed disappointment, MacLean's later songs about the happy Gaelic communities in Nova Scotia became very popular.

For example, in 1826, Iain mac Ailein wrote Òran a' Bhàil Ghàidhealaich ("The Song of the Gaelic Ball"). He wrote and first performed this song at a gathering in Merigomish where only Gaelic speakers were invited. This song is still very popular among Gaelic speakers in both Scotland and Nova Scotia. It is often known by its first line, Bithibh Aotrom 's Togaibh Fonn ("Be Light-hearted and Raise a Tune").

In 1827, Iain Mac Ailein received a beautiful drinking horn as a gift from William Forbes. He wrote a poem called An Adharc ("The Drinking Horn") to celebrate this gift. He later gave the horn to his close friend, Father Colin Grant.

During an election in Pictou in September 1830, Iain mac Ailein wrote a song called Don Phàrlamaid Ùir ("To the New Parliament"). He helped encourage other Nova Scotia Gaels to vote. Michael Newton explained that this election showed the disagreement between two government groups: the elected Colonial Assembly and the Crown-appointed Council. Both groups were mostly controlled by a small group of English settlers and Loyalists who came to Nova Scotia after the American Revolutionary War. When insulting comments were made about Highlanders during the campaign, MacLean felt he had to use his poetry to call for unity among his people.

Rev. Sinclair said that MacLean didn't get involved in the election until he heard a candidate insult the Highlanders. Then he worked all night to write this song. He sang it the next day to thousands of people. It had a very exciting effect and was like an "incitement to battle."

In January 1831, the MacLean family moved to a new farm at Glenbard, near Addington Forks, Antigonish County, Nova Scotia.

After he heard that his former patron (the Laird of Coll) had died in 1835, Iain mac Ailein wrote a sad poem called Marbhann do dh'Alastair Mac-Gilleain, Tighearna Chola ("An Elegy for Alexander MacLean, the Laird of Coll").

Also in 1835, Iain mac Ailein published twenty of his religious poems in Gaelic in Glasgow. The book was called Laoidhean Spioradail le Iain MacGilleain ("Spiritual Songs by John MacLean"). Although his grandson, Rev. Sinclair, later said these poems were printed incorrectly, this has been proven wrong. A manuscript in MacLean's own handwriting, now at the National Library of Scotland, shows that the Glasgow publisher printed his poems very accurately.

After the Disruption of 1843 (a split in the church), Iain mac Ailein and his family joined the Nova Scotia branch of the Free Church of Scotland. Many other Presbyterian Gaels in Nova Scotia, like those in Scotland, made the same choice.

Even though Presbyterianism in Nova Scotia was less strict than in Scotland, Iain mac Ailein became very good friends with Father Colin P. Grant. Father Grant was a Roman Catholic priest at St. Margaret of Scotland Church in Arisaig. Their friendship was so close that Iain mac Ailein wrote a Canadian Gaelic poem praising Father Grant.

Iain mac Ailein died in Addington Forks, Nova Scotia on January 28, 1848. He was the first person buried in the Glen Bard Cemetery, where his grandson, Rev. Sinclair, is also buried.

After Iain mac Ailein's death, another poet from Antigonish County, John MacGillivray, wrote a sad poem for him. He said:

Chaill sinn tuilleadh 's do bhàrdachd,

Ged a that sinn 'ga h-ionndrainn,

Chaill sinn t' fhiorachadh sàr ghasd.

"We have lost more than your poetry,

Though we certainly miss that,

We have also lost your most excellent knowledge "

John MacLean's Lasting Impact

In the Highlands and Islands of Scotland, MacLean is often called Bàrd Thighearna Chola ("The Bard to the Laird of Coll") or Iain mac Ailein ("John, son of Allan"). In Nova Scotia, people know him in Canadian Gaelic as Am Bàrd MacGilleain ("The Bard MacLean") and Bàrd Abhainn Bhàrnaidh ("The Bard of Barney's River"). This last name comes from where his family first settled at Barney's River Station.

Many of the Bard MacLean's songs were very popular when he was alive. A good number of them are still sung today by Gaelic singers and storytellers on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean.

The Gaels of Tiree have always had many talented songwriters and poets. But some people believe that MacLean is the greatest of all the Tiree bards.

When he was a professor at St. Francis Xavier University in Antigonish, an American linguist named Kenneth E. Nilsen (1941-2012) would take his students every year to visit Iain mac Ailein's grave at Glen Bard. Nilsen's excitement for the language helped a lot with the ongoing effort to keep Canadian Gaelic alive.

How His Poems Were Published and Changed

In 1856, John Boyd, also known as Iain Boide, published eleven of Iain mac Ailein's poems. Boyd was the founder and editor of a newspaper in Antigonish called The Casket. His book was titled Orain Ghaelach Le Iain Mac Illeathain, Bard Thighearn Chola ("Gaelic Songs by John MacLean, Poet to the Laird of Coll"). According to Robert Dunbar, Boyd's versions were much closer to Iain mac Ailein's original handwritten poems than the later collections edited by MacLean's grandson, Rev. Alexander MacLean Sinclair.

Rev. Sinclair's versions of the poems were widely shared and reprinted. For a long time, they were seen as the correct versions. However, Robert Dunbar says that Rev. Sinclair "took considerable liberties" and his versions often "differ dramatically" from his grandfather's original writings. One exception is the poem Am Gàidheal am-measg nan Gall ("The Gael among the Lowlanders"). For this poem, MacLean's original manuscript and the version his grandson published are almost the same.

Other poems were purposely left out of print by Rev. Sinclair. For example, Iain mac Ailein's poem praising Father Colin Grant of St. Margaret's Roman Catholic Church in Arisaig was not included in Rev. Sinclair's book, Clarsach na Coille ("The Harp of the Forest"). This poem still exists in handwritten form and was published in John Boyd's collection.

Rev. Sinclair also changed parts of his grandfather's poetry. When Iain mac Ailein moved to Nova Scotia in 1819, he brought with him a very rare early copy of Alasdair Mac Mhaighstir Alasdair's important 1751 poetry book, Ais-eridh na Sean Chánoin Albannaich ("The Resurrection of the Old Scottish Language"). In 1915, Rev. Sinclair gave his grandfather's copy of the book to St. Francis Xavier University in Antigonish, Nova Scotia. In a letter to the University's leader, Rev. Hugh P. MacPherson, Rev. Sinclair apologized for cutting out pages 152 to 161. He explained that the Gaelic poems on those missing pages were "abominably filthy."

Robert Dunbar says that Rev. Sinclair's changed and heavily rewritten versions of his grandfather's poems were considered correct for a long time. They even influenced the versions of poems collected from oral tradition. Dunbar explains that this was understandable because people without access to the original writings would have trusted Rev. Sinclair due to his family connection to the poet. However, in 2020, Dunbar announced that his own corrected edition of Iain mac Ailein's 44 surviving non-religious poems would soon be published by the Scottish Gaelic Texts Society.