Depiction of landscape in Scottish literature.
Various Scottish writers in their work of literature, have used landscape to express how they envisage Scotland. The Scottish literature is often defined by the viewpoints that are formed within the boundaries or without the boundaries of Scotland. Through literature, writers have been able to paint a definition of Scottish history. Writers have used literature to depict the mountainous landscapes of Scotland, the Scottish lochs of seawater and freshwater. Through literature, the populated cities and scattered houses have depicted as well as the natural and the ancient world. The depiction of landscapes in literature, by Scottish writers to some extent is also symbolic. Mountain ranges have been a representation of hope or a place of natural beauty. However, a warning is given that when analyzing landscape in Scottish literature, we have an obligation of first deepening our understanding of how complex historically, Scotland is and that is the only time we will have the capacity of enjoying the Scottish literature”[1]. In the paper, therefore, we are going to elucidate how Edwin Muir in Scottish journey, George McKay Brown, in Orkney Tapestry and Lain Crichton Smith in Real people in a real place depict the landscape in these works of literature.
Edwin Muir-Scottish Journey.
One of the Scottish writers who has been very articulate in depicting landscape in his work of literature is Edwin Muir in his work, ‘the Scottish journey’. Muir was born in Orkney at a place called Deerness in May 1887 and he was a born of a father who was a farmer. The loss of his father’s farm prompted them to move from Orkney to Glasgow, a place where he lost almost the entire family”[2]
It is a book that gives a record of a journey as described by Muir and it is not just a sketch of buildings and sceneries. The description of the journey by Muir serves the purpose of giving the reader an impression of contemporary Scotland and not the historical Scotland or Scotland that is depicted to tourists. A review by the Guardian states that the Poet Edwin Muir, undertook this journey and his main aim was to define and investigate what set Scotland apart. In the process of describing his journey, Muir gives as a picture of what contemporary Scotland looks like.”[3] Having arrived from Hampstead, Muir feels that he had a feeling that he was both a Scottish insider and outsider and therefore he was not in a good position to give a proper definition of Scottishness. therefore, he undertook the journey or a tour of Scotland so that he could find examples of nationhood and what made Scotland different. For instance, Muir describes the Old Town which was a town that was marked with a network of slums that was reeking. Like any other slum area, it is a region that is marred with crime and desperation and this is well represented by the areas of Canongate, the Lawn market and the glass market[4]
Muir’s journey starts in Edinburgh and is the first impression of the city seems to concur with Poet Sydney Goodsir’s description of the place as being an ’empty capital’. Muir also found the town of Edinburgh to be an empty capital of the past. Muir is very articulate on how he uses landscape in his work of literature to depict his vision of his country Scotland. When he makes the journey to Edinburgh, he is reminded of the first trip that he made to that place, accompanied by his mother.”[5] His memory recalls a large building and a statue of a naked woman. He recalls how two boys were sniggering on a black thumbprint that was on the breast on this naked statue and at that moment, he forms a picture in his mind that humans are blemishes to the city of monuments[6]
Muir’s vision of Scotland is presented by the division that he witnesses when he gets to the city of Edinburgh. Before the construction of the new town, the people of Edinburgh shared almost everything including the bars, the same tenement spaces as well as drinking together in at the howffs in the old town. However, as the population continued to increase, Edinburgh became overcrowded and therefore those who could afford to move did so and left the Old Town to Wither and die. The division in Scotland is illustrated by what Muir sees at Canongate. One glimpse at this place and he declares a moldering ruin that is obnoxious. The place has inhabitants that are mainly unemployed or unemployable which is a sharp contrast of the people that can be found on Princes Street. Indeed, it is not possible to find those who grace Princes Street on the streets of Canongate nor will you find those crowds of Canongate gracing Princes Streets. This division paints the picture of Edinburg as being a respectable bourgeois. The encounter that Muir has in Edinburgh is that a barrier exists between the rich and the poor that is almost physical. There was a no man’s land between Leith Walk and Princes Street[7]
The people of Edinburgh and by extension those of Scotland are clustered in various ways. For instance, Muir examines that there is evidence of the working class as depicted by the prostitutes that can be found on Princes Street. Also, one can see streetwalkers in Edinburgh and as Muir explains, these people form the most desperate Kind that can be found in the city of Edinburgh. The desperation is illustrated by the fact that city fathers can’t afford the luxuries that are in the city in form of saunas and massage parlors and therefore they turn a blind eye to these things[8]
Iain Crichton Smith-Real People, and Real Places.
Iain Crichton Smith was born in1928 in the city of Glasgow but moved to Lewis when he was two years old where he was raised with his brothers by his mother. He Schooled in Nicholson Institute in Stornoway and later went to Aberdeen University, where he obtained a degree in English. He was a teacher up until 1977 when he became a full-time writer. He is a holder of various honorary degrees from Universities of Glasgow, Aberdeen, and Dundee. He is a renowned writer who has done a lot on poetry, fiction and prose literature.”[9]
Towards the human is a work of literature that is a mixture of many genres. It is an autobiography, work on literary theory, a reflection on society and even a criticism of society. The essay of Real People in a Real Place was written by Crichton in 1982 and it mainly focuses on the contradictions that are found inside a culture. Crichton postulates that the problem with many works of literature that are done about islanders is that they are done by writers from outside the island and therefore, no matter the research and speculation done by these writers, they may not be able to feel these contradictions. Through this assay, Crichton has been able to depict his vision of Scotland. About growing up on an island, Crichton examines, is to grow in a world that special world. However, Crichton reiterates that many of the works of literature that have been done about growing in an Island, appear to be unreal and Edenic. Other works suggest that an Island is a representation of a child who is lost in the real world. Crichton laments that these books even invent for the islander a language that no one has ever spoken. These authors find it very easy to assign the Islander a very misty and beautiful world which more often than not is unreal and even the people who inhabit these islands appear to be unreal too. This is the anomaly the Crichton wants to correct. He feels that these works of literature normally never take the islander seriously since he is normally depicted as a child without lust for earthly possessions as the mainlanders are normally depicted.”[10]
It is clear that Crichton uses the Island as a metaphor to highlight the difference and the discrimination that is witnessed between the Islanders and the outsiders to represent those who have been neglected in Scotland and those who neglect. He thus reiterates that writers are that reason why haze and falsity are Imposed on the Islanders by both the outsiders and even exiles.”[11] However, Crichton alludes that behind this haze and falsity, lies brokenness that will not give the writers the confidence that others have. In this case, therefore, Crichton Smith tries to challenge the myth of the islander. The tourists believe that the abode of the islander is beyond the real world and therefore, to challenge this myth, Crichton says that the Islander is not a Celt that and even if he were to be a Celt, he is not meant to be vague or impractical or poetical as many outsiders perceive the Islanders to be. The outsiders have consistently admired and patronized the natives and they have come to the point of accepting that it is nice to be poetic since many writers depict the Islanders as being nice.”[12]
The people who are neglected in society as represented by the Islanders have been depicted to be in a world of exile that is marred with disorientation. The depiction here is that the government must sympathize and help these people. However, Crichton advises that the Island that is confident is supposed to have its language as well as value and therefore it should be significant to the state at all times.”[13] Crichton challenges those who view Scotland from outside as represented by the view of the outsiders on the Islanders. Even the tourists who are mean by all standards have a sense of superiority over the Islanders. The differences in society become clear in the way the Tourist regards the Islander and in the way the Islander regards the tourist. The islander views the tourist as one who lives superficially and regards life on what he sees, while on the other hand while the tourist seems to hold the same opinion, know that the world is more real and practical.”[14]
George Mackay Brown 1921-96- An Orkney Tapestry.
He was born in Stromness in the year 1921 on the Mainland of Orkney and was of a tailor and a postman. He schooled in the prestigious Stromness Academy and he began his literal work of writing poetry in the year 1941 and at the same time, he wrote articles for Orkney Herald. He obtained an English degree from the University of Edinburgh. Writing became his fulltime career in 1954 and his first work of literature was a collection of poetry in his book ‘The Storm’, that was published in 1954. He received several accolades for his work in literature including several honorary degrees.”[15]
Brown also used his work of literature to depict the vision he has of Scotland, especially his homeland of Orkney. Scholars argue that the text can be read in two ways, one as a real existing place where Brown lived, and the other as a place in Brown’s imagination. In the text, he captures enough scenes and images of Orkney that have the capacity of capturing the imagination of anyone reading the text. Brown constantly uses sudden changes of subject in the text so that reading this piece of literature becomes interesting.”[16]
This book by Brown depicts the picture of Orkney and by extension Scotland by recounting the events and imaginings that have made the inhabitants of Orkney who they are. For instance, we see brown painting a picture of women who sat with their looms weaving colored yarns of wool while sitting in the earl’s hall. This clearly paints the preoccupation of the women of Orkney during their free time. The description of religious monuments is also very vivid as depicted by the description of the St Magnus Cathedral, Kirkwall. Brown describes that the Cathedral stood at the center on the islands while appearing to be splashed red which signified martyrdom and also a signified a representation of years and generations that it had served. In this representation, it is clear for one to have a picture of the religious activities of the people of Orkney as well and the religious history of Orkney.”[17]
Reading the text, one can’t help but have a mental picture of this place in Scotland that is called Orkney. For instance, we see Brown painting a picture of the German warships that were docking at Scapa which he says were flowing orkadian dialect poems that had been composed by Scott-Moncrieff. Brown also paints a vivid picture of St Ola and the Stromness Harbour showing that as a person enters this harbor one can’t help but hear shutting engines and the ships and boats are gliding towards the pier, the waiting faces at the shore, as well as the gulls.”[18]
The semiotic feature that is depicted in the Orkney Tapestry seems to have even a greater purpose and it is that of inspiring the reader to have a connection or a reconnection with the imagery and cultural history of this place to the extent that they may reconsider their own Identity. The Work of Brown also acts as a guide book which has a focus that is historiographic in that one can have a very clear depiction of the history of Orkney. The history in the text is chronologically organized, in that by taking amorphous happenings of the past and then selecting and organizing them in a chronological way which is constant and understandable makes one have a clear picture of the events and the places that are being explained.”[19] For instance, the capturing of history can be found in the text through the description of the second world war in the instance where the Germans attack suddenly. From the passage, which is written in the simple present tense, one can see the immediacy of the bombing that happened at that particular time. This is captured by the words of a fellow poet:
Bombs fall everywhere; in the little hamlet of Bridge-of-Waithe was killed the first civilian, standing in his doorway. Ann Scott-Moncrieff wrote a poem about that night. … They were
Flying doon the twa lochs
Following the sheen o’ the water
— Dost thoo mind? Ah, that time o’night —
And they winned at last to the brig1.”[20]
As discussed earlier, the depiction of Orkney by Brown is done in such a way that it is a representation of both the real and the imagined picture of this place. For instance, Brown gives the Islands a face of a place that has typical local people through the use of distinct voices that brown depicts using the dramatic and poetic narrative style. There is a passage in the text that describes the types of characters that can be found in Orkney. The depiction of these characters is done using brief fragmentary glimpses of Orkney that can actually be collaborated by history.
The description of the people of Orkney is captured by this passage from the text: The first Orkney peoples can only be seen darkly, a few figures on a moorland against the sky, between twilight and night. They are beyond the reach of legend even. Archeologists describe a Mediterranean folk who committed themselves to the sea. They steered their boats through the Straits and northwards, keeping close inland (for they could not trust such frail vessels far out, with their precious cargo of tribal symbols and secrets, stock, seed, nubile girls), all the way up the coastline of Spain and France. […] Beyond the savage bulk of Cape Wrath there was empty ocean, until in a summer dawn they saw the Orkneys like sleeping whales. There they made landfall.”[21]
Conclusion
From the discussion, it is clear that the authors have endeavored to use depictions of landscape to expression of their vision of Scotland. The writers of this work of literature have used their work to depict a place with beautiful scenery with vibrant tourism. History has also been depicted through these texts, since we can see war and other descriptions that shape the history of Scotland. When one reads through these texts, it is like one is being given a tour of Scotland. The issues of discrimination and segregation seems to be elegantly articulated and as always, the line between the rich and the poor is evident. Various literary styles have been used by the authors in the process of expressing their vision and view of Scotland, There are those that have used poetry, narration, essay and even a hybrid of various styles in the effort to bring out their picture of how Scotland or a particular place in Scotland was during the time of their coming up with their pieces of literature.
[1] Richardson, Craig. “Contemporary Scottish art and the landscape of abandonment.” Visual Culture in Britain 11, no. 3 (2010): 391-405.
[2] https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/profiles/4HHt9n1GbmSMW9csMltjDnN/edwin-muir
[3] Stegmaier, Edmund. “Edwin Muir’s” Scottish Journey” and the Question of Violence.” Scottish Studies Review 19, no. 2 (1992): 50
[4] https://www.theguardian.com/theobserver/1999/apr/11/featuresreview.review8
[5] Muir, Edwin. Scottish journey. Mainstream Publishing, 1996.
[6] the guardian.(n 4)
[7] the guardian.(n 4)
[8] Ibid
[9] https://www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org.uk/poet/iain-crichton-smith/
[10] Crichton Smith, Iain. “Towards the Human.” Edinburgh: MacDonald P (1986)
[11] Ibid
[12] Crichton (n 10)
[13] Richardson, Craig. “Contemporary Scottish art and the landscape of abandonment.” Visual Culture in Britain 11, no. 3 (2010): 391-405.
[14] Richardson (n 13)
[15] https://www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org.uk/poet/george-mackay-brown/
[16] Murray, Rowena, and Brian Murray. Interrogation of silence: the writings of George Mackay Brown. Murray, 2004.
[17] Brown, George Mackay. An Orkney Tapestry. Quartet Books, 1973.
[18] Ibd
[19] Leleń, Halszka. “Experimenting with Historiographic Narrative and Guidebook Style in An Orkney Tapestry by George Mackay Brown.” Roczniki Humanistyczne 67, no. 11 (2019): 95-108.
[20] Brown (n 13)
[21] Brown (n 17)