MacilleBhàin, C. (Samhradh 1987)

"Cruth is Pearsantachd am bàrdachd Uilleam MhicDhunlèibhe", Gairm, 139, t.d. 168

Thug MacDhunlèibhe dà uair taing ann an òran airson clò a thìodhlaicteadh dhà. Gheibh sin san dara fear dhiubh, "Gleann dà Ruadhail a' bharraich", a' sgrìobh am bàrd airson càirdean Còmhallach, dealbh beothail den cheàrn sin:

Bho làmh-sgrìobhainn ann an taigh-tasgaidh am Port Charlotte, Ile.

Tha "Fios thun a' Bhàird", a dheachd MacDhunlèibhe an dèidh gibht de chlò fhaighinn o mhnaoi Dhonnchaidh Blàir, nas iomraitich a-measg òrain. The e ga cheiltinn fhèin a-rithist – mas fios thun a' bhàird e, feumaidh neach eile bhith bruidhinn:

Ma dh'fhaoidte gur e Donnchadh fhèin, a dh'fhàg an tuathanas sa' bhliadhna a chaidh an t-òran fhoillseachadh mar broadsheet, tha seòladh am fios ("Cha robh mo roinn diubh 'n dè le càch"). Ag innse dhuinn le teòmachd gun choimeas buaidhean an eilein san d' rugadh e, tha MacDhunlèibhe a' dlùth-leantainn Mac Mhaighstir Alasdair, ach tha ciall shònraicht aig an tuairisgeul. Mar is coiliont an dealbh, 's ann as motha am bròn. Tha sin a' mosgladh, is an t-òran a' dol air adhart, nach eil iomradh air gnìomhachas dhaoine, agus tha an rann "Mar a dh'iarramaid gu lèir" a' gabhail thuige fhèin fuaim goirt. Is am bàrd ag aithris gu bheil an saoghal ga riaghladh le òrdughan neo-chaochlaideach ("le reachd bith-bhuan", "dùilean stèidh na cruitheachd"), thig tionndadh an òrain gu lèir ("Tha Ile 'n diugh gun daoine") mar bhinn gun tilleadh. Tha an dorchadas air tuiteam "mar gum b' ann a' caoidh na bha" (a' caoidh agus a chaoidh), deireadh an latha, ach deireadh sgeòil is sluaigh cuideachd.

MacLean, S. (1985)

"Clach Air a' Chàrn - Uilleam Mac Dhùn-Léibhe" ann an Ris a' Bhruthaich: The Criticism and Prose Writings of Sorley MacLean, dd. 156-161

Ged nach robh Uilleam Mac Dhùn-Lèibhe air rann a dhèanamh riamh, bhiodh a shaothair air sgàth na h-Albainn mìorbhailteach. Gun ach sgoil thruagh na òige, agus a' strì ro obair fhada làitheil, dh' ionnsaich e Greugais, Laideann Fraingeis agus eadhon Eabhra feuch am biodh am barrachd tuigse aige air eachdraidh an t-saoghail gus an cuireadh e an cèill glòir a dhùthcha agus gun an seasadh e a còir. Bha a pheann gun sguir anns na pàipearan-naidheachd is eag agairt cliù is math a dhùthcha.

Ged nach robh e riamh na sgoilear coimhlionta no 'na fheallsanach – agus ciamar a b' urrainn gum biodh – thug e oidhirp shònraichte air bàrdachd na Gàidhlig a leudachadh agus a leasachadh le dòighean agus cuspairean ùra, agus ged nach deach leis mar bu trice, dh' fhàg e iomadh rann coimhlionta, iomadh rann mìorbhuileach, gu h-àraidh nuair a lasadh an fhearg uasal agus am bròn uasal a mhac-meanmna.

Meek, D. E., 'Making History: William Livingston and the Creation of Blàr Shundail'

A Land that Lies Westward: Language and Culture in Islay and Argyll (Birlinn, Edinburgh, 2009), air a dheasachadh le J. Derrick McClure, John M. Kirk agus Margaret Storrie, tdd. 149-72, 197-218.

The centrality of war to Livingston's world-view deserves to be noted, as it is quietly pervasive beyond the poems overtly concerned with military engagement. The Gaels, in Livingston's eyes, were, and are, a people under threat, and his verse reflects their never-ending battle to free themselves from oppression. This polarised understanding of Gaelic existence, consisting fundamentally of a struggle between the 'native' and the 'invader'. Empowers the retrospective vision elaborated with fine lyricism in 'Eirinn a' Gul' ('Ireland Weeping'), celebrating former Gaelic victories at the Yellow Ford and the Moyry Pass, and lamenting the lack of leadership in contemporary Ireland. It is also apparent in 'Fios chun a' Bhàird'' ('A message for the Poet'), with its attack on 'gamhlas Ghall' ('the ill-will of Foreigners'), which has caused the expulsion of many of the Islay people, through clearance and emigration, and its proud reference to 'feachd na h-Alb'' ('the army of Scotland'), in which the MacDonalds of Islay had a place of honour on the right wing. Likewise, his poem 'Cuimhneachan Bhraid-Alba' ('Memorial of Breadalbane'), concerned with the laying waste of Breadalbane by migration and landlord oppression, contains numerous references to significant battles in Scottish history.

In all of this, Livingston is, of course, tapping into a world-view with an ancient history in its own right, which can be seen clearly in the Irish sagas, for example, and in such texts as 'Cogadh Gaidheal re Gallaibh' ('The fight of the Gaels with the Foreigners'), as well as in the Fenian ballads. Livingston's overall concern was to harness the dualistic (native v. invader) dynamism of the medieval Gaelic world for poetic purposes, in such a way as to give meaning to Gaelic history in his own day – a history, as he saw it, rooted in an ongoing conflict which aimed to defend and preserve the traditional values of the Gaels. According to Livingston's paradigm, these values could be seen to best advantage in the heat of battle, as battles acted as energy-centres which gathered, encouraged and released the finest human qualities, and particularly those of the Scottish Gaels. Military encounters also allowed him, as a poet, to display the full panoply of his verbal powers, in scenes describing landscape, tactics, combat, pageantry, seafaring, and collective strength, in addition to individual acts of bravery. Triumph and death. In this too, he was part of an ancient tradition, going back at least as far as the Greek and Latin classical writers.