Abstract
This paper investigates patterns of existentialism in selected poems of Iain Crichton Smith (1928-1998), one of the most important Scottish writers in the second half of the twentieth century. Themes of exile, mortality, and isolation, which are central to European existentialists, are also strongly present in the works of Crichton Smith, who employs philosophical elements to further enhance the dark features in his writing. While the poet's works have a certain affinity with those of Soren Kierkegaard, the paper attempts to demonstrate how the poems of Crichton Smith go beyond the notions explored by Kierkegaard, offering a wider perspective, free from authority and dogma. Furthermore, although the writing of Crichton Smith often places his own selfhood in the center, this paper insists that through elements of existentialism the poems address broad and universal topics such as migration and World War II, thus connecting the Hebrides to both European and global events.
While commenting on what is happening elsewhere in the world (e.g. the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki), the poet simultaneously introduces his private thoughts and experiences, enclosing one within the other. This continuous interweaving of the public and the personal creates a complex, multi-layered structure where uneasy themes of finitude and isolation are employed both as a bond with the outside and as a means of communication with readers. Lastly, given the poet's bilingualism and constant balancing between English and Gaelic, this paper additionally explores features of existentialism in connection with the poet's doubleness of perception.