Transparencies

by Meg Bateman

A wonderful book of poems.

Genres: Poetry, Scotland

128 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 1, 2013

About the author

Vivienne Margaret 'Meg' Bateman (born 1959) is a Scottish academic, poet and short story writer. She is best known for her works written in Scottish Gaelic; however, she has also published work in English.

Bateman studied Celtic at the University of Aberdeen, learning Gaelic there and while living on South Uist, and completed a PhD in medieval Scottish Gaelic language religious poetry. She taught Scottish Gaelic at the University of Aberdeen between 1991 and 1998 before moving to Skye to teach at the Gaelic college, Sabhal Mòr Ostaig. She has also taught Scottish Gaelic at the University of Edinburgh and is an Honorary Senior Lecturer at the University of St. Andrews.

Bateman's first collection of poems, Òrain Ghaoil (Love Songs) was published in 1990 and her second, Aotromachd agus dàin eile (Lightness) was published in 1997. Both her first and second collections focus on human relationships and the idealised idea of love. Her third collection, Soirbheas (Air Wind) was published in 2007.

In 2011, Bateman's first published Scottish Gaelic short story, entitled Chanadh gun d'chur i às dha, appeared in the short story collection Saorsa published by CLÀR.

Her collection Transparencies was published in 2013 and featured her first published work to have both Scottish Gaelic and English poems.

Her Scottish Gaelic poetry has appeared in several anthologies, including Other Tongues (1990) and Twenty of the Best (1990). She has translated poems from Gaelic into English for An Anthology of Scottish Women Poets (1991) and The Harp's Cry (1993). She also features in Dream States: The New Scottish Poets (1997).

Reviews

[Ellen · Rating 5 out of 5]

a lot of hype & high expectations built in the two years it took for me to find a copy…. absolutely worth it what a beautiful collection!!
would give it an extra star for the Will Maclean mention but it was already a 5/5 😌

[Raven · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another wonderful contribution from Bateman -- my favorites were "Crannghail", with its lyrical waves and breadth of allusion, "Eileanach", which was touching and sad both, evoking the difficulty of watching generational change while keeping that connection of like to like, and "Light, Line, and Shade", which made me go searching up images of the paintings, most of which I had never seen before, to see them before and after I read the poems about them. (I was particularly charmed by "but it's Scotland's favorite, I'll look again" about the Dali. I too have taken a second look at something I didn't particularly like because someone I loved liked it.)

[Miriam · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this collection of poetry. For some of the poems, I didn't have the frame of reference to really understand what they were written about, but that does not mean I didn't enjoy them, if only for the wonderful sound they make when read aloud. Other poems really spoke to me, especially "Language". The poetry in this collection was incredible at conjuring up beautiful visions in the mind's eye, such as the wonderful nature evoked in "The Year's Flowers".

[Michael Poage · Rating 5 out of 5]

Meg Bateman is a contemporary Scottish and Gaelic poet. Her poems are wonderful and powerful. She interweaves the Scottish/Gaelic place names with the beautiful and heartbreaking ways of the world. Ms. Bateman has a full grasp of language and invites the reader into a new and mysterious world.