Ancient Irish Poetry

by Kuno Meyer (Translator)

This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery.

Genres: Poetry, Ireland

58 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 1, 1998

About the author

Dr. Kuno Meyer, Ph.D. (University of Leipzig, 1884) was a scholar of Celtic philology and literature; lecturer in Teutonic languages at University College, Liverpool, England; and Todd Professor in the Celtic Languages at the Royal Irish Academy, later serving as Professor of Celtic Philology at Friedrich Wilhelm University, Berlin. During WWI, he lectured widely in the U.S., causing controversy for his pro-German views. Dublin councilman W.T. Cosgrave called Meyer, "the greatest Celtic authority since the death of Whitley Stokes."

Reviews

[ren]

yeah, this just wasn't my thing

[Kristyn]

This collection ranges from the fanciful, the amusing, the violent, the sorrowful, and the beautiful. If you are curious about ancient Irish poetry, translated/collected at the turn of the last century, you might find this interesting. I particularly liked the funnier ones, like "From the Vision of Mac Conglinne," with lines like
"The fort we reached was beautiful,
With works of custards thick,
Beyond the lake.
Fresh butter was the bridge in front,
The rubble dyke was fair white wheat, Bacon the palisade."
This dream where everything is made of food is not what you'd expect when you hear ancient Irish poetry.
I'd like to find more recent translations though.

[Loki]

Interesting collection. I wish the originals were printed alongside, and perhaps a little more information on their origin. Still, I'm glad to own this book!

[Autumn Kearney]

It's poetry. It's Irish. You can't lose with either. :)

[Carly Krewitsky]

I would have liked it more if there were more love poems and nature poems. There were only two love poems. There were a lot of miscellaneous poems. The religious poems were interesting. Most of the poems came from the 9th and 10th centuries.

[w gall]

Upped my rating from 3 to 4 because of the inclusion of Christian prayers and hymns of St. Patrick and others. The nature poems I also enjoyed. The pagan poems reflect a culture focused on war; these I view negatively. And they comprise over half of the poems.