’Here is a poetry collection with the richness and subtlety of a good malt. It can deliver a kick, but what remains is a runic, timeless savouring of finely distilled flavour.’ – The Herald
’MacNeacail has his own voice and his own view of the world, something every poet hopes to acquire and every reviewer hopes to identify…every one of his lines is sensuous, poetic and emotive.’ – Scottish Review of Books
Hymn to a Young Demon is a heady burst of fresh air, with poems in both Gaelic and the poet’s own English versions.
It is a book which falls eloquently in two parts – ‘the gift of anger’ and ‘the other turning’ – articulated by the
furious energy and irrepressible zest for life that readers of Aonghas MacNeacail’s work will instantly recognise.
The collection’s scope ranges from the western isles of Scotland to the battlefields of Europe and the collapse of
the Iron Curtain, from explosive battles with church and state to the intimate, mature poems of love and
friendship, and the powerful resolution of the final poem, ‘the stone’. With an uncanny sense of prophecy, these
poems show how time and again human struggles and achievements are repeated across time and place. An
assured and vigorous voice at the height of his power, Aonghas MacNeacail’s style sweeps to new heights.
Aonghas Macneacail was born in Uig on Skye in 1942. He is a poet, journalist, researcher, broadcaster, scriptwriter and filmmaker. He has published collections of poems in both Gaelic and English and his writing has appeared in literary journals in Scotland and internationally. He has had poetry broadcast on radio, television, has given readings throughout Scotland and has toured extensively abroad.
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