Lallans, also called Scots, is spoken in Scotland. Lallans is
the Scots word for 'lowlands', where the language has traditionally been
mostly used (Highlanders traditionally speak Scottish Gaelic).
Tom Scott is one of the many Scottish writers who have used Lallans in a Scottish renaissance. His “The sons o the Son” is a literary rather than folkloric poem. Scott uses the sonnet form and such words as “atomic”, “atoll” and “answerabilitie”. Yet the rich possibilities of the Scots lexis are evidenced by words that we instinctively feel we would like to have in modern standard English: for example, “eftarcome” (meaning “just deserts” or “come-uppance”) and “skailins” (“what is spilt or scattered”). The poem also compresses an astonishing amount of complex theology and spiritual imagery into few words. The octet introduces the theme of Christ as scapegoat, only to dismiss this notion to insist that his sacrifice does not absolve us automatically from the consequences of our own actions. Then the sestet moves into a dense interweaving of the bread and wine of the eucharist with the parable of the sower, to arrive at a fresh insight into the nature of poetic making – that poetry too transforms or “threshes” us.
The poem also compresses an astonishing amount of complex theology and spiritual imagery into few words. The octet introduces the theme of Christ as scapegoat, only to dismiss this notion to insist that his sacrifice does not absolve us automatically from the consequences of our own actions. Then the sestet moves into a dense interweaving of the bread and wine of the eucharist with the parable of the sower, to arrive at a fresh insight into the nature of poetic making – that poetry too transforms or “threshes” us.
(From TLS)
The sons o the Son
It isnae, Lord, that by your death my saul
Is spared the eftarcome o my ill-daeins:
That ane can dee for all for aa is an auld illusion
Leads till the sin o sins, til scapegoatism:
But rethar that by your exemple, we
Can ilk tak up the cross o our guilt tae –
New atolls risan frae the atomic sea;
New rocks, new peaks o answerabilitie.
Yet ye were the hairst o our first time’s lang sawin,
Thressed intil breid and wine for the cure o sauls,
For life aye feeds on life, and we’re but the skailins.
Yet, tho we won in your gret image, Lord,
The words o the Word at yon great reapin seedet,
We tae are thressed, in the wine and breid o poems.
TOM SCOTT (1954)
Tom Scott is one of the many Scottish writers who have used Lallans in a Scottish renaissance. His “The sons o the Son” is a literary rather than folkloric poem. Scott uses the sonnet form and such words as “atomic”, “atoll” and “answerabilitie”. Yet the rich possibilities of the Scots lexis are evidenced by words that we instinctively feel we would like to have in modern standard English: for example, “eftarcome” (meaning “just deserts” or “come-uppance”) and “skailins” (“what is spilt or scattered”). The poem also compresses an astonishing amount of complex theology and spiritual imagery into few words. The octet introduces the theme of Christ as scapegoat, only to dismiss this notion to insist that his sacrifice does not absolve us automatically from the consequences of our own actions. Then the sestet moves into a dense interweaving of the bread and wine of the eucharist with the parable of the sower, to arrive at a fresh insight into the nature of poetic making – that poetry too transforms or “threshes” us.
The poem also compresses an astonishing amount of complex theology and spiritual imagery into few words. The octet introduces the theme of Christ as scapegoat, only to dismiss this notion to insist that his sacrifice does not absolve us automatically from the consequences of our own actions. Then the sestet moves into a dense interweaving of the bread and wine of the eucharist with the parable of the sower, to arrive at a fresh insight into the nature of poetic making – that poetry too transforms or “threshes” us.
(From TLS)
The sons o the Son
It isnae, Lord, that by your death my saul
Is spared the eftarcome o my ill-daeins:
That ane can dee for all for aa is an auld illusion
Leads till the sin o sins, til scapegoatism:
But rethar that by your exemple, we
Can ilk tak up the cross o our guilt tae –
New atolls risan frae the atomic sea;
New rocks, new peaks o answerabilitie.
Yet ye were the hairst o our first time’s lang sawin,
Thressed intil breid and wine for the cure o sauls,
For life aye feeds on life, and we’re but the skailins.
Yet, tho we won in your gret image, Lord,
The words o the Word at yon great reapin seedet,
We tae are thressed, in the wine and breid o poems.
TOM SCOTT (1954)
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