Hymn to a Young Demon

"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.