Filíocht Ghrá na Gaeilge/Love Poems in Irish

by Ciarán Mac Murchaidh, Anna Nielsen (Illustrator), Cairan Mac Murchaidh

Spanning over a thousand years of poetry and song in the Irish language, this anthology celebrates the power of love. Here it is in all its aspects—the heady rush of first love; its capacity for fun and levity; sorrow, heartbreak and unrequited love; and the thin line between love and hate. Editor Ciaran Mac Murchaidh brilliantly places this literature within its historical context, injecting new life into classic texts. The passion of the poets themselves is always to the fore as they travel love's twisted highways. Anna Nielsen's illustrations add a playful new dimension.

Genres: Poetry, Irish Literature, Classics

283 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 2010

Reviews

[Mohammed Abdikhader Firdhiye · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are many lesser poets important for the Irish language, history in this anthology but then there is many bardic poets of high quality from 1200-1700s that are timeless love poetry, experimenting , inventing poetry styles like the great Arabic poets of the same time period i have read.

I wish I had studied Gaelic before because the English translation doesn’t capture the rhyme, metre of the original language.

[CAG_1337 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good collection, very representative. Covers a wide range of Gaelic love poetry, though I might have picked one of two others from certain authors as being better examples. Louis de Paor's 'Rain' and 'Love Poem' are two such poems I thought would have been better inclusions in the contemporary section, along with a long list of others by Máire Mhac an tSaoi.