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We will begin by exploring some general ideas about place, mapping and place-naming, and how some other indigenous cultures use toponymy in poetry and song. Then we will concentrate on three well-known Scottish authors: Duncan Bàn MacIntyre - Donnchadh Bàn Mac an t-Saoir, Sorley MacLean – Somhairle MacGill-Eain and Neil Gunn. After an overview of how their work relates to the Gaelic landscape, there will be a closer focus on three key pieces, which have a strong relationship with place and journeys, narrated in the landscape.

They are: a song, Praise of Beinn Dorain - Moladh Beinn Dòbhrain by Duncan Bàn MacIntyre, composed in Gaelic in the middle of the 18th century; a poem, Hallaig by Sorley MacLean written in Gaelic in 1954; and a novel, Highland River written in English by Neil Gunn in 1937. Before looking at these works, some older and sometimes anonymous Gaelic poetry and Fenian legend will be examined to see how themes from earlier times have influenced the work of the selected authors. Song of the Owl – Òran na Comhachaig by Donald Mackinlay of the Verses – Dòmhnall mac Fhionnlaigh nan Dàn, which immediately predates Moladh Beinn Dòbhrain, will be looked at in detail as a precursor to Macintyre’s great song of praise.