An Duanaire 1600 - 1900: Poems of the Dispossessed
Selected by Sean O’Tuama, Translated by Thomas Kinsella
Whatever qualms people might have concerning translations from as phonetically rhythmic a language as Irish to the less resonant
English can be assuaged by this wonderful book. The presence of Thomas Kinsella offers assurance of a poetic sensibility and textual
fidelity to the task of translating these hundred poems.
Arranged by Sean O’Tuama into three sections - folk poetry, classic middle period verse and later 19th century poetry, they range
from the schoolroom familiarity of Aogan O’Rathaille and Antoine O’Raifteiri to popular ballads such as Roisin Dubh and Donal Og
to obscure anonymous early story-telling poems. Unsurprisingly, since these poems were written during the most turbulent times in
Irish history the themes are mainly socio-political though love-poetry and religious poetry also occur.
The format - parallel texts in Irish and English on opposite pages - makes whatever cross checking is necessary extremely easy. The
temptation to create ‘new’ poems out of the translations is avoided so that rhyming is ignored though rhythm is maintained and
literary accuracy realised. Illustrations, explanatory notes and lists of place names and persons add even more interest to this
important work.
Fran Hegarty,
Sligo County Library.
Return to Irish Classics