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MAIRI MHOR NAN ORAN (1821 – 1898)

Màiri was born in March 1821 at Skeabost in the Isle of Skye, the daughter of John MacDonald, Iain Bàn, a crofter. When she was about eight the family, following an abortive attempt to emigrate to Canada, settled in Glasgow; returning to Skye some twelve years later.

Màiri left the island about 1844 and went to Inverness where she married Isaac MacPherson in 1847. After her husband’s death in 1871 she earned her living as a nurse. It was during this period that she was accused of theft and imprisoned. She always protested her innocence and her bitterness at the injustice which she had suffered left a deep impression upon her. Indeed, she maintained that it first gave life to her poetry.

Upon her release from prison in 1872 she went to Glasgow, where she underwent formal training as a nurse before going on to become a district nurse in Greenock. During her time in the Lowlands she returned frequently

to Skye and finally settled there for good in 1882. The Laird of Skeabost, Lachlan MacDonald, gave her a small house rent free. But she did not return to a quiet life, for during her time in the Lowlands she had become deeply involved in the Land Agitation movement and she continued to attend meetings in the islands and on the mainland. She also accompanied Charles Fraser Mackintosh on several trips on behalf of the movement.

She kept in frequent touch with Gaels in the Highlands and Lowlands, attending and singing at ceilidhs, even taking part in the first Mod in 1892, though she did not win a prize. She died in Portree on the 8th November 1898.

Màiri Mhór nan Oran was the most prolific of the nineteenth century Gaelic poets. Her work may be divided as follows: (1) songs about her personal humiliation; (2) songs about Highland affairs, particularly the land agitation; (3) songs about Skye; (4) festive songs; (4) eulogies, elegies and official poetry.

There is a close affinity between her personal songs and those about conditions in the Highlands. Out of her own suffering came a fellow feeling for the sufferings of her countrymen, and indeed the two came together in

‘Luchd na Beurla’. Her songs about the Highlands are very different from others of the time. Though they contain frequent poetic weaknesses, most of them show a strength of mind and understanding, not to mention feeling, which was rare in her day. She did not adopt the romantic style of Niall MacLeòid and his followers and her poetry has a realism lacking in that of her contemporaries.

In composing, Màiri used one of the oldest methods – she put new words to existing tunes and sometimes used existing words, particularly at the end of a line when seeking rhyme or aicill. All of her songs, with the exception of two, were composed upon Gaelic tunes. This sets her apart from Niall MacLeòid. However, many of the songs which she used were those popular in Lowland ceilidhs in the second half of the nineteenth century, and a goodly number of her models are to be found in An t-Oranaiche (Mac-na-Ceardadh 1879).

(The information for the above account is for the most part from Domhnall Eachann Meek’s account of the life and work of Mary MacPherson, Màiri Mhór nan Oran, in his Màiri Mhór nan Oran (Glaschu: Gairm, 1977)