Books & Poetry

Before newspapers, broadcasts or social media, a skilled Gaelic poet could carry a chief’s reputation across glens, islands and generations. These were not gentle verses for private reading. They were public performances, finely engineered, politically powerful and far more entertaining than the word poetry might suggest.

For Catrine, the sea holds the fear of another loss. For her son, it offers a future. Neil Gunn’s 'The Silver Darlings' brings a familiar Highland coast vividly to life.

A medieval poet could earn a fur-lined cloak, collect an old family debt or save his own neck before breakfast. Offend the wrong one and you might be mocked, shamed or, according to Gaelic tradition, covered in boils. Welcome to the wonderfully dangerous business of praise.

Norse poets could turn a ship into a horse of the wave, a snake into a heather-fish and a sword into a serpent of wounds. Their praise poetry is a verbal puzzle box filled with kings, battles, ravens, boasting and blood. Open it, and the Viking world comes roaring out.