Gaelic literature: Gaelic in the Modern World

A sharp decline in technique and content was evident in the 19th cent. Some excellent writers of prose, however, were Dr. Norman Macleod and Donald Mackechnie. In the 20th cent. the best-known poets were Somalirle Maclean, George Campbell Hay, and Derick Thomson. A popular satirist and newspaper columnist was Flann O'Brien (Myles Na Gopaleen), whose novels, particularly At Swim Two Birds (tr. 1956), were popular in translation. In general Scottish Gaels have preserved their language and literary activity better abroad (for instance, in Nova Scotia) than the Irish, but at home Scots Gaelic is disappearing faster than Irish. Most of the monuments of Gaelic literature have been translated into English, as by Lady Gregory, Eleanor Hull, Tom Peete Cross, and (for Scotland) James MacGregor.

Sections in this article:

• Introduction
• Gaelic in the Modern World
• Modern Scots Gaelic
• Late Middle Irish and Modern Irish
• Middle Irish
• Old Irish
• Bibliography

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