"Ceol mor anns a' chuimhne" (big music in the memory): Derick Thomson's engagement with Hugh MacDiarmid
Abstract
n this paper, my aim is to explore the long-term engagement with Hugh MacDiarmid on part of the poet, scholar, journalist, and Gaelic-language champion Derick Thomson / Ruaraidh MacThomais (1921-2012). Thomson's sustained interest in MacDiarmid is evidenced by a number of reviews of publications by and about MacDiarmid that appeared in the Gaelic quarterly Gairm, by Thomson's translations from Scots into Gaelic, and by references in Thomson's essays and poems, including one written in response to MacDiarmid's demise and funeral.
Arguably, these are not only manifestations of Thomson's interest in the promotion and development of Scots, which in his view should complement Gaelic revitalisation efforts as part of the drive for Scottish political and cultural independence, but also of deeper personal affinity and regard. Drawing on previously untranslated Gaelic material, the paper thus seeks to bring forward a lesser-known connection between MacDiarmid and the twentieth-century Gaelic world, apart from his well-known earlier association with Sorley MacLean / Somhairle MacGill-Eain.