Abstract

An examination of two Scottish Gaelic song-poems from the mid-nineteenth century literature of emigration/immigration produced in the British North American colony of Prince Edward Island with special attention to the rhetorics and narratives of the pro and contra sides of the debate regarding the merits of emigration from the Scottish Highlands to the New World. The author presents a close reading of the original texts in Scottish Gaelic with their being placed in the broader context of Canadian (pre and post 1867 Confederation) migrant writing from the Gaelic diasporic communties of the Maritime Provinces.