An Duanaire, 1600-1900: Poems of the Dispossessed

by Seán Ó Tuama (Editor), Thomas Kinsella (Translator)

Book by

Genres: Poetry, Ireland, Irish Literature

382 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1981

About the author

Seán Ó Tuama, poet, dramatist, and critic, grew up in Gurranebraher and studied at University College Cork. He later became Professor of Modern Irish Literature at UCC, as well as a visiting professor at Harvard, Oxford, and the University of Toronto. His poetry is collected in Faoileán na Beatha (1962, An Chlóchomar Tta.) and Death in the Land of Youth: New and Selected Poems of Seán Ó Tuama (1997, Cork University Press). He also wrote five plays, including Gunna Cam agus Slabhra Óir. Dráma Véarsaíochta Thrí Ghníomh (1978 Sáirséal agus Dill). His most notable academic works are An Grá in Amhráin na nDaoine (1960, An Chlóchomhar Tta., 1960), An Grá i bhFilíocht na nUaisle (1988) and An Duanaire - Poems of the Dispossessed, in collaboration with Thomas Kinsella (1981). He also published a book of literary essays and an anthology of 20th century Irish poetry.

(Source: http://www.munsterlit.ie)

Reviews

[Ann · Rating 5 out of 5]

An irreplaceable book. This anthology demonstrates the nature and quality of the Irish poetic tradition from the collapse of the Gaelic order to the emergence of English as the dominant vernacular of the Irish people (in the 19th Century; around the time of the Great Famine). It's a dual-language text. And while I don't read Irish, the two version seem at least to resemble each other on the page. The book is an act of "repossession" by Irish scholars Sean O Tuama and Thomas Kinsella. The edition is scrupulously edited and introduced.

The high poets are gone
and I mourn for the world's waning,
the sons of those learned masters
emptied of sharp response.

I mourn for their fading books,
reams of no earnest stupidity,
lost--unjustly abandoned--
begotten by drinkers of wisdom.

One of the most interesting ideas the editors address is that verse was used at the time these poems were written as prose may be used today. These are the forefathers of Joyce, Yeats, Heaney, Longley, McGuckian, et al.

[Mael Brigde · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is rare indeed that I sit down and read a big book of poetry from start to finish, or even a small one, for that matter. But I didn’t want to get involved with any other books until I was finished this one because it is just so good and I didn’t want to let my attention wander and my experience of the book be diluted. It’s a wonderful bilingual overview of the changing place of the poet in Ireland, and the changing styles of poetry, with many insights provided as the poems are presented. A very important book.