The Carmina Gadelica is the most comprehensive collection of poems & prayers from the Gaelic tradition of oral poetry Gathered by Alexander Carmichael in the Highlands & Islands of Scotland 'from Arran to Caithness from Perth to St Kilda' The poems had been handed down through the generations in a living oral tradition This tradition & the way of life which sustained it have now disappeared but these poems & prayers live on to remind us of the faith of the unknown poets who composed them Previously only available as a bilingual text in six volumes this one-volume edition in English only is an important contribution to the wider awareness of Celtic literature John Mac Innes' introduction puts the poems in the context of the life & folklore of the Gaelic community