Product Description

The Carmina Gadelica is the most comprehensive collection of poems and prayers from the Gaelic tradition of oral poetry. Gathered by Alexander Carmichael, in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland, 'from Arran to Caithness, from Perth to St. Kilda'. The poems had been handed down through the generations in a living oral tradition. This tradition and the way of life which sustained it have now disappeared but these poems and prayers live on to remind us of the faith of the unknown poets who composed them. Previously only available as a bilingual text in six volumes, this one-volume edition in English only is an important contribution to the wider awareness of Celtic literature. John MacInnes' introduction puts the poems in the context of the life and folklore of the Gaelic community.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #282712 in Books
• Published on: 1992-09
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 684 pages

Review
'This is a beautiful book ... to have for quiet moments and to use for teaching.' --Yoga Scotland, Jan 2007

About the Author
Alexander Carmichael was born in 1832 on the island of Lismore. His work as a civil servant took him all over the Scottish Highlands and the Hebrides. During his travels he recorded these poems and prayers. Two volumes of the collection appeared before his death in 1912. The remaining volumes appeared later, edited by his daughter and grandson.

Customer Reviews

A rare glimpse of the old Celtic Church lyricism.
The earliest traditions of the Celtic Church are oral and intimately acquainted with the exquisite everyday beauty of Earth. This expression is captured in a treasury of song lyrics that is Alexander Carmichael's Carmina Gadelica. In 1900 under this title, he published his first collection of hymns heard while he travelled the highlands and islands of Scotland. Regretting he was unable to aurally record what he heard, he writes that the Hebridian hymn music "...had a distinct individuality, in some respects resembling and in many respects differing from the old Gregorian chants of the Church...[a] peculiar and beautiful music." This book contains his original treasury of hymn words in the Gaelic language with a side-by-side English translation. It ably captures what we nowadays think of as Earth Song yet is a fresh vibrant sound of creation from the earliest British Church. A second volume containing more lyrics was published in 1941 and is combined in this edition. Carmina Gadelica is a rare glimpse of the old Celtic Church's lyricism.