Iain Crichton Smith

Iain Smith (Gaelic: Iain Mac a' Ghobhainn; 1 January 1928 – 15 October 1998), commonly known under his adopted name Iain Crichton Smith, was a Scottish poet and novelist who wrote in both English and Scottish Gaelic.

Biography Crichton Smith was born in Glasgow to Christina (née Campbell) and John Smith, who had moved there from the Isle of Lewis for work. There his father died of tuberculosis and in 1930 the family moved back to Lewis, where he and his two brothers were brought up by their mother in the small crofting town of Bayble (which also produced the poets Derick Thomson and Anne Frater). Educated at the University of Aberdeen, Crichton Smith took a degree in English, and, after completing his national service in the Army Educational Corps, went on to become a teacher. He taught in Clydebank, Dumbarton and Oban from 1952, retiring to become a full-time writer in 1977, although he already had many novels and poems published.

Overview of work Crichton Smith was brought up in a Scottish Gaelic-speaking community, learning English as a second language once he attended school. Friend and poet Edwin Morgan notes that unlike his contemporaries (such as Sorley Maclean and Derick Thomson), Crichton Smith was more prolific in English than in Gaelic, perhaps viewing his writing in what, from Crichton Smith's view, was an imposed non-native language as a challenge to English and American poets. However, Crichton Smith also produced much Gaelic poetry and prose, and also translated some of the work of Maclean from Gaelic to English, as well as some of his own poems originally composed in Gaelic. Much of his English language work is actually directly related to, or translated from, Gaelic equivalents.

Crichton Smith's work also reflects his dislike of dogma and authority, influenced by his upbringing in a close-knit, island Presbyterian community, as well as his political and emotional thoughts and views of Scotland and the Highlands. Despite his upbringing, Crichton Smith was an atheist. A number of his poems explore the subject of the Highland Clearances, and his best-known novel, Consider the Lilies (1968), is an account of the eviction of an elderly woman during such times.