Irish Poetry 101: The Self-Study Course - [2] A Bibliography of Real World [Non-Electronic] Texts
K. E. Dennis
No. 3, about locating these non-electronic versions. No. 4 is a case
study of an old Irish text.
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“Irish poetry,” here, primarily means an filíocht as Gaeilge – poetry in
the Irish language. However, I refer to sources on Irish poetry in
English thru out.
Below is an annotated bibliography, just a few books that augment their
presentation of the Irish poetry texts w/ notes on the verse forms &
other aspects of style & structure. Following these are some other
vols., primarily critical & historical works, on Irish poetry in
English, too.
I’m working yet on a summary of the subject, to be No. 4, “Irish Poetry
101: Some Verse Forms,” intended to be a simple summary of some of the
characteristics of metre, rhyme, & other structural elements in
traditional Irish poetry. But ‘simple’ is not the word for the current
state of that working document, & I have no idea when I’ll have done w/
it.
Two caveats:
1 - This list of works is biased toward N. American publications,
because that’s what I have access to @ present. A follow-up from
someone in Ireland or Britain listing similar works {waving hands
wildly, trying to catch Tony Dermody’s attn} would be grand.
2- Some of these books might be difficult to find, due to their pub.
dates &/or their being univ. press publications [prone to small print
runs]. In post 3, I've assembled some info on how they - & others -
might be tracked down on either side the Great Pond.
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The Golden Treasury of Irish Poetry: A.D. 600 – 1200
Edited & translated, David Green & Frank O’Connor
1967, Macmillan
Unfortunately, I haven’t yet laid my hands on a copy of this vol., but I
gather from the notes in Lehmann [below] that it includes the Irish
originals of numerous poems not featured in the anthologies that
follow. If anyone is familiar w/ this book, a brief description would
be welcome.
Medieval Irish Lyrics
Selected & translated, James Carney
1967, Univ. of California Press
Good introductory review of the poetic forms, apparently a bit dated
now, but easy to read & w/ examples that clarify his points. There are
97 original Irish poems [including some written in Latin], w/ English
verse translations. Despite the title, the poems date from the 7th thru
the 17th c.
Early Irish Lyrics: Eighth to Twelfth Century
Edited & translated, Gerard Murphy
1956, Oxford – The Clarendon Press
58 Irish poems reproduced w/ prose English translations, & extensive
notes @ the back on each [as well as footnotes clarifying some of the
obscure Old & Middle Irish words w/ modern Irish equivalents]. It
contains 5 poems attributed to Colm Cille [including those that were
discussed here some while back [ see
http://www.enteract.com/~abardubh/poetry/poem128.html]; 5 by Suibne
Geilt [Mad Sweeney, inspiration for Seamus Heaney, among others
[http://www.enteract.com/~abardubh/poetry/poem02.html], & 10 excerpted
from the Finn Cycle.
Early Irish Verse
Translated & edited, Ruth P. M. Lehmann
1982, Univ. of Texas Press
This is a valuable companion to the anthologies noted above, as it has
*2* English translations – a literal prose version, & a verse rendition
- for each of the 101 poems featured [including some which may be as
late as 13th-15th c]. Each poem is footnoted w/ the metre, rhyme
scheme, & where relevant, the occurrence of alliteration, assonance,
&/or consonance in the Irish verses. Alas: those orig’ls themselves
are not included, as Lehmann instead refers the reader to the
collections above [& some others], identifying the source text(s) for
each poem in the endnotes.
Still, if you’re not yet ready to start looking closely @ the language
usage itself, but want a good comprehensive intro to the patterns &
structures of the trad’l Irish forms [as well as range of subjects of
the old poetry] this is, IMHO, probably the single most useful volume on
the list.
An Duanaire 1600 – 1900: Poems of the Dispossessed
Edited, Seán Ó Tuama & translated, Thomas Kinsella
1981, The Dolmen Press [w/ Bord na Gaeilge]
This bilingual collection of 100 poems covers the range from classic
formal poetry to folk verses [& folk curses]. The intro contains little
on the verse forms themselves, but notes the rise of the new accentual
metre, & the increasing incidence of socio-political commentary in such
forms as the aisling [‘vision’ poems], during this profoundly important
transitional period as the bardic order ended & English became
increasingly dominant.
An Crann Faoi Bláth / The Flowering Tree
Editors, Declan Kibard & Gabriel Fitzmaurice
1991, Wolfhound Press
This superb collection of some 94 poems in Irish by 28 20th c. poets is
not to be missed. The vol. includes no notations of poetic structure or
metre, but the poems themselves repay examination, & the translations
are clear [if not necessarily always artistically successful].
[Note: among the references below, see Modern Irish Poetry, ed. by
Patrick Crotty, for additional works of the poets in this vol.]
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As a resource for locating further works by modern poets in Irish, I can
recommend the following website, as mentioned in post No. 1:
A Preliminary Bibliography Of Modern Gaelic Literature In
Translation
http://www.library.ucg.ie/bibltran/
A substantial set of biblios for a raft of writers [not just poets],
helpful for tracking down texts, both bilingual & not. However, there
are no web links to any texts: this site simply helps identify authors &
works for which you may wish to hunt.
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While I was exploring, I found a *very* interesting book on the history
of Irish verse written in English, one I consider the best example of
such a work that I’ve seen in quite a time:
Out of What Began: A History of Irish Poetry in English
Gregory A. Schirmer
1998, Cornell Univ. Press
From Swift & other 17th c. poets [thus eliding almost 5 c., of which
more below], thru the present. Schirmer gives considerable attn to the
sociopolitical forces that affected the [predominantly Anglo-Irish]
poets of each generation as they negotiated their sometimes fraught
relationships to Gaelic Irish culture & literature, & to their own
political & historical traditions. He discusses how translation of
Irish verse into English has influenced [or not] the evolution of poetic
forms in the latter language. He also does a good job of including
women who have contributed to poetry in Ireland in the mainstream of his
discussion, rather than displaying the common tendency to write as if
women only began to play a significant role in Irish poetry in the 20th
c.
OTOH, for a thorough intro to some modern Irish women writing poetry,
see these following two:
Women Creating Women : Contemporary Irish Women Poets
Patricia Boyle Haberstroh
1996, Syracuse University Press
Haberstroh profiles many of the major figures in the modern resurgence
of female poets in Ireland, & discusses particular works of each to
explicate their individual styles. I should note that almost all the
poets featured in this vol. have written exclusively in English,
although Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill is profiled beautifully.
The White Page /An Bhileog Bhan: Twentieth Century Irish Women
Poets
Ed., Joan Mc Breen
1999, Salmon Poetry
Another vol. I haven’t yet laid hands upon, but that is tantalizingly
described as a truly encyclopaedic work: this is an anthology of female
poets who have published at least one collection in the 20th c., w/ bios
& bibliographies for each. It includes poets born in the ROI & NI, “as
well as poets of Irish ancestry & non-nationals who have been resident
and writing in Ireland for long periods. “ I mentioned the Salmon
Poetry site in post 1: http://www.salmonpoetry.com/
~~~~~~
Schirmer’s history does *not* give attn to one important strand in the
dvlpmnt of Irish poetry: the influence on northern writers, since the
17th c., of a folk tradition of poetry in Scots [later, Ulster Scots].
For a sense of this, turn to:
Northern Voices: Poets From Ulster
Terence Brown
1975, Rowman & Littlefield
Brown’s discussion suffers, IMHO, from his condescending attitude toward
the small no. of female poets he includes in this work. Further, he
passes all too quickly over the folk poetry of the region, perhaps
because so much has *not* been in English. But I found this worth the
read, if only for the versifying linen workers.
& another quibble: there *was* Irish poetry written in English btwn 1167
& the 17th c., as I hinted above. For a fascinating glimpse of this
long period during which, as it were, the tables were turned as to the
dominance of the 2 National Languages, I draw your attn to:
Irish Poetry From the English Invasion to 1798
Russell K. Alspach
1959, Univ. of Pennsylvania Press
As we know from the histories of the early colonial period, over time
the Old English, as they came to call themselves, became Gaelicized in
both culture & language, & any contemporary commentary on the state of
the Irish & English languages would most likely have predicted that the
latter was inexorably doomed to disappear in Ireland. Alspach rescues
from relative oblivion the tantalizingly small body of work in English
from this long period of cultural interchange, & draws critical attn to
those early phases in which 2 very different verse traditions
cross-fertilised to produce the vigorous hybrid form that is Irish
poetry in English.
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Unsurprisingly, there are a host of good anthologies on the broad sweep
of Irish poetry – tho the Irish-language works included in them are only
in English translation. Just a small sample:
1,000 Years of Irish Poetry
Ed., Kathleen Hoagland
1999 [Reissue edition], Konecky & Konecky;
This is the vol. Kate Hockersmith mentioned here in s.c.i.; the original
edition [IIRC, dating to the 1950s or earlier] was huge, & even if it
hasn’t been updated, this would be a good general intro.
As for the next 2: I wonder a bit why poets of this calibre couldn’t
convince these respective presses to include the Irish originals of
verses included in translation, but otherwise these are both fine
anthologies.
The New Oxford Book of Irish Verse
Ed., Thomas Kinsella
1989, Oxford Univ Press
The Penguin Book of Irish Verse
Ed., Brendan Kennelly
1970, 1981, Penguin Books
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For modern [specifically 20th c.] Irish poetry, two first-rate
anthologies are available. [Note: there is considerable overlap in the
poets & some in the poems featured in these volumes.]
Contemporary Irish Poetry
Edited, Anthony Bradley
1980, University of California Press
This features over 450 poems by 49 poets, but unfortunately, those
originally composed in Irish are reproduced here only in translation.
Modern Irish Poetry
Edited, Patrick Crotty
1995, Blackstaff Press
238 poems by 47 poets, most in English, but including verses in Irish by
Máirtín Ó Direáin, Seán Ó Ríordáin, Máire Mhac an tSaoi, Biddy
Jenkinson, Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill, & Cathal Ó Searcaigh.
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respectfully submitted,
|K.E. Dennis den...@mail.montclair.edu
|My employer is not responsible for my opinions,
|regardless of how sensible they are.