An Duanaire 1600 - 1900: Poems of the Dispossessed

by Danta (Editor), Thomas Kinsella (Contributor), Séamas Dall Mac Cuarta

This is a reprint, with a new cover design, of the anthology which became an immediate best seller when it was published in 1981 and of which the critics wrote, ‘An act of creativity that is wholly successful and an act of reclamation that helps to explain our present cultural and historical confusion.’ (Brian Friel) . . . ‘a magnificient book. I cannot think of any venture in Irish publishing of recent years so high in its ideals and achievement, so deep in its scholarship and enthusiasm, so broad in its range and appeal.’ (Paul Muldoon, The Irish Times) . . . ‘a large and worthwhile undertaking, diligently and often triumphantly carried out . . . invaluable to every student of Irish literature; and, with its inclusion of so much unfamiliar material, instructive and absorbing to everyone else.’ (Patricia Craig, The New York Review of Books).

The primary purpose of An Duanaire is to demonstrate the nature and quality of the Irish poetic tradition during the troubled centuries from the collapse of the Gaelic order to the emergence of English as the dominant vernacular of the Irish people. Thomas Kinsella’s English translations, all new, aim at a close fidelity to the content of the originals, while suggesting something of the poetic quality, and the basic rhythms, of the original Irish poems.

Daoine a bhfuil Nua-Ghaeilge éigin acu is mó a bhainfidh leas as an saothar seo. Is é atá sna haistriúcháin ná téacsanna a léifí bonn ar bhonn leis na buntéacsanna, agus a bheadh ina gcabhair dóibh siúd ar mhaith leo tuiscint níos cruinne a fháil ar an dánta Gaeilge . . . ‘Mar ghníomh creidimh I bhfilíocht Ghaeilge na tréimhse sin ina bhfuil ár scoilteacha cultúir lonnaithe, agus i leanúnachas traidisiún na filíochta Gaeilge, is cloch mhíle an-tábhachtach An Duanaire.’ (Liam Ó Muirthile, Innti 6).

‘An Duanaire is a re-education in our poetry, a recuperative event. The range is great, in time and substance . . . Seán Ó Tuama and Thomas Kinsella have given a book of great worth and importance, one that could mark an epoch . . . a whole thing that is, as the best judges have always believed poetry should be, dulce et utile.’ (Seamus Heaney, The Sunday Tribune).

Genres: Poetry, Ireland, Irish Literature

382 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1981

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.