Patrick Crotty
* * *
THE PENGUIN BOOK OF IRISH POETRY
Edited by PATRICK CROTTY
with a Preface by SEAMUS HEANEY
Contents
Preface
Introduction
I: WRITING OUT OF DOORS:
EARLIEST TIMES TO 1200 THE ARRIVAL OF CHRISTIANITY
ANONYMOUS
Adze-head
I Invoke the Seven Daughters
The Deer’s Cry
from The Calendar of Oengus
The Downfall of Heathendom
Patrick’s Blessing on Munster
Writing Out of Doors
MONASTICISM
ANONYMOUS
The Hermit’s Song (Marbán to Guaire)
The Priest Rediscovers His Psalm-Book
Straying Thoughts
Myself and Pangur
Celibacy
EARL ROGNVALD OF ORKNEY (d.1158)
Irish Monks on a Rocky Island
DEVOTIONAL POEMS
ANONYMOUS
Eve
The Massacre of the Innocents
BLATHMAC, SON OF CÚ BRETTAN (fl. 750)
from To Mary and Her Son
‘May I have from you my three petitions …’
ANONYMOUS
from The Metrical Translation of the Gospel of St Thomas
Jesus and the Sparrows
St Ite’s Song
St Brigit’s Housewarming
CORMAC, KING BISHOP OF CASHEL (837–903)
The Heavenly Pilot
POEMS RELATING TO COLUM CILLE (COLUMBA) (521–593/7)
DALLÁN FORGAILL (d.598)
from Amra Colm Cille (Lament for Colum Cille)
I: ‘Not newsless is Níall’s land …’
II: ‘By the grace of God Colum rose to exalted companionship …’
V: ‘He ran the course which runs past hatred to right action …’
COLUM CILLE (attrib.)
The Maker on High
Colum Cille’s Exile
He Sets His Back on Ireland
He Remembers Derry
‘My hand is weary with writing’
BECCÁN THE HERMIT (d.677)
Last Verses in Praise of Colum Cille
EPIGRAMS
ANONYMOUS
The Blackbird of Belfast Lough
Bee
Parsimony
An Ill Wind
The King of Connacht
Sunset
‘He is my love’
WORLD AND OTHERWORLD
ANONYMOUS
Storm at Sea
Summer Has Come
Gaze North-East
Winter
World Gone Wrong
from The Voyage of Bran, Son of Febal, to the Land of the Living
The Sea-God’s Address to Bran
The Voyage of Maeldune
from The Vision of Mac Conglinne
‘A vision that appeared to me …’
IRELAND’S WOMEN, AND HER MEN
ANONYMOUS
Créide’s Lament for Dínerteach
The Lament of Baoi, the Nun of Beare Island
Liadan
The Wooing of Etain
Advice to Lovers
Speak No Evil
HEROES
ANONYMOUS
from Táin Bó Cuailnge
Fedelm’s Vision of Cúchulainn
The Morrígan’s Chant to the Brown Bull
Cuchulainn’s Appeal to Ferdiad
Cú Chulainn’s Lament over Fer Diad
POEMS OF THE FIANNA
The Praise of Fionn
Largesse
The Blackbird of Derrycairn
Scél Lem Dúib
Lullaby and Reply
Caoilte Laments the Passing of the Fianna
DALLÁN MAC MÓIRE (fl. c.900)
from The Song of the Sword of Cerball
‘Slicing, shuttling sword of Cerball …’
ANONYMOUS
from Buile Shuibhne (The Frenzy of Sweeney) (12th century)
First Year in the Wilderness
‘Lynchseachan, you are a bother …’
Suibne in the Trees
‘I once thought that the quiet speech …’
from Njal’s Saga
A Vision of the Battle of Clontarf, 1014
Hostfinn’s News to Earl Gilli
WISDOM
ANONYMOUS
from The Instructions of King Cormac mac Airt
from The Triads of Ireland
Negative Capability
LATIN POEMS BY CLERICS
‘HIBERNICUS EXUL’ (fl. late 8th century)
from Poet and Muse
‘But tell me, great nurse of the venerable bards …’
Teaching Methods
COLMAN (fl. 9th century)
St Brigit and the Sunbeam
JOHANNES SCOTTUS ÉRIUGENA (c.815–c.877)
from ‘Homer sang once of his Greeks and his Trojans’
‘Homer sang once of his Greeks and his Trojans …’
SEDULIUS SCOTTUS (fl. 840–60)
Safe Arrival
He Complains to Bishop Hartgar of Thirst
The Hospital
BISHOP PATRICK (d.1084)
Prologue to the Book of Saintly Patrick the Bishop
II: THERE IS NO LAND ON
EARTH ITS PEER: 1201–1600 ANONYMOUS
from The Song of Dermot and the Earl (early 13th century)
Dermot and the Wife of O’Rourke
The Complaint of O’Rourke
Dermot before Henry II
Richard, Earl of Pembroke at Waterford
MUIREADHACH ALBANACH Ó DÁLAIGH (fl. early 13th century)
A Poem Addressed to the Blessed Virgin
Praise of a Dagger
On Cutting His Hair before Going on Crusade
On the Death of His Wife
GIOLLA BRIGHDE MAC CON MIDHE (?1210–?72)
The Harp that Ransomed
A Response to a Threat against Poetry
Childless
ANONYMOUS (c.1265)
A Norman French Poem from the Kildare Manuscript
from The Entrenchment of New Ross A Working Week
ANONYMOUS (late 13th century)
Lament for the Children
ANONYMOUS MIDDLE ENGLISH (early 14th century)
Icham of Irlaunde
ANONYMOUS
Four Hiberno-English Poems from the Kildare Manuscript (early 14th century)
The Land of Cockayne
Hey!
Christ on the Cross
Age
GEARÓID IARLA MAC GEARAILT (1338–98)
Dispraise of Women
Praise of Women
Prayer for His Dead Wife
GOFRAIDH FIONN Ó DÁLAIGH (d.1387)
from Praise of Maurice Fitz Maurice, Earl of Desmond
The Earl Compared to Lugh
Under Sorrow’s Sign
CEARBHALL Ó DÁLAIGH (late 14th century?)
Lover and Echo
DÁNTA GRÁ (LOVE POEMS)
ANONYMOUS
A History of Love
Women
Aoibhinn, a leabhráin, do thriall
The Dispraise of Absalom
‘O woman, shapely as the swan’
Swift Love
Piece Making
Death and the Maiden
He Praises His Wife when She Had Gone from Him
A Jealous Man
TWO EPIGRAMS
ANONYMOUS
Jealousy
At Mass
TADHG ÓG Ó HUIGÍNN (d.1448)
A School of Poetry Closes
ANONYMOUS
<
br /> Complaints of Gormlaith (15th century or earlier)
The Empty Fort
The Ragged Dress
At Niall’s Grave
3 × 30, 9 × 9
Gormlaith’s Last Complaint
LOCHLAINN ÓG Ó DÁLAIGH (fl. mid-16th century)
Praise for the Young O’Briens
RICHARD STANIHURST (1547–1618)
Upon thee death of thee right honourable Lord Girald fitz Girald L. Baron of Offalye
TADHG DALL Ó HUIGÍNN (1550–91)
Enniskillen
DIARMAID Ó BRIAIN (late 16th century?)
The Shannon
GARRET (‘GIRALD’) FITZGERALD, BARON OF OFFALY (1559?–80)
A Penitent Sonnet
LAOISEACH MAC AN BHAIRD (fl. late 16th century)
Brothers
The Felling of a Sacred Tree
A Man of Experience
ANONYMOUS
The Scholar
The Curse
III: CIVILIZATIONS: 1601–1800 EOCHAIDH Ó HEODHASA (c.1565–1612)
O’Hussey’s Ode to the Maguire
Poem in the Guise of Cú Chonnacht Óg Mág Uidhir to Brighid Chill Dara
The New Poetry
ANONYMOUS
On the Death of a Poet
GIOLLA BRIGHDE (BONAVENTURA) Ó HEODHASA (c.1570–1614)
In Memoriam Richard Nugent
RICHARD NUGENT (fl. 1604)
To His Cousin Master Richard Nugent of Dunower
FEARGHAL ÓG MAC AN BHAIRD (fl. late 16th/early 17th century)
A Letter of Complaint
EOGHAN RUA MAC AN BHAIRD (c.1570–c.1630)
On Receiving a Letter from Aodh Ó Domhnaill, aetate 7
SÉATHRÚN CÉITINN (c.1580–c.1650)
Dear Woman, with Your Wiles
How Sweet the Tongue of the Gael
No Sleep is Mine
BRIGHID CHILL DARA (1589–1682)
Response to Eochaidh Ó hEodhasa’s Poem
RICHARD BELLINGS (c.1598–1677)
The Description of a Tempest
ANONYMOUS
Verse Prophecy about the Irish
SIR EDMUND BUTLER (fl. 1648)
‘Arise, distracted land’
WILLIAM SMITH (d.1655)
To Ireland
PÁDRAIGÍN HAICÉAD (c.1600–54)
from Dirge on the Death of Éamon Mac Piarais Buitléir, 1640
‘Stand aside you band of keeners …’
‘The sun, departing west and setting …’
TWO LATIN POEMS OF CONFEDERATE IRELAND
WALTER LAWLESS (fl. 1640s)
To the most noble Lord, James Marquis of Ormonde
ANONYMOUS
Elegy for Richard Lynch, d. Salamanca 1679
ROGER BOYLE, EARL OF ORRERY (1621–79)
Lines Written on the Gates of Bandon Bridge
ANONYMOUS
Response Written on the Gates of Bandon Bridge
FAITHFULL TEATE (1621–?)
from Love
‘Methinks men’s trading with the world might stop …’
‘PHILO-PHILIPPA’ (fl. 1663)
from To the Excellent Orinda
‘Let the male poets their male Phoebus choose …’
DÁIBHÍ Ó BRUADAIR (c.1623–98)
A Glass of Beer
Adoramus Te, Christe
Éire
‘To them the state …’
‘To see the art of poetry lost …’
WENTWORTH DILLON, EARL OF ROSCOMMON (1637–85)
from An Essay on Translated Verse
‘Words in One Language Elegantly used …’
TADHG Ó RUAIRC (fl. 1684)
A Game of Cards and Dice
AINDRIAS MAC CRUITÍN (c.1650–c.1738)
Praise of the Quim
SÉAMAS DALL MAC CUARTA (c.1650–1733)
The Drowned Blackbird
NAHUM TATE (1652–1715)
Upon the Sight of an Anatomy
JONATHAN SWIFT (1667–1745)
Verses Said to be Written on the Union
A Description of the Morning
from Cadenus and Vanessa ‘Cadenus many things had writ …’
Mary the Cook-Maid’s Letter to Dr Sheridan
A Satirical Elegy on the Death of a Late Famous General
Stella at Woodpark
Verses Occasioned by the Sudden Drying Up of St Patrick’s Well near Trinity College, Dublin
from To Dr Delany, on the Libels Writ against Him ‘When Jove was, from his teeming head …’
from On His Own Deafness ‘Deaf, giddy, odious to my friends …’
from A Character, Panegyric, and Description of the Legion Club
‘As I stroll the city, oft I …’
An Epigram on Scolding
AODHAGÁN Ó RATHAILLE (c.1670–1729)
On a Gift of Shoes
The Glamoured
A Grey Eye Weeping
The Ruin that Befell the Great Families of Ireland
He Curses the Wave at the Western Ocean’s Edge
THOMAS PARNELL (1679–1718)
Song
A Night-Piece on Death
LAURENCE WHYTE (c.1683–c.1753)
A Dissertation on Italian and Irish Musick, with some Panegyrick on Carrallan Our Late Irish Orpheus
THOMAS SHERIDAN (1687–1738)
To the Dean, When in England, in 1726
JAMES WARD (1691–1736)
The Smock Race at Finglas
PEADAR Ó DOIRNÍN (c.1700–c.1769)
The Mother’s Lament for Her Child
MATTHEW PILKINGTON (1701–74)
from The Progress of Music in Ireland ‘Music henceforward more Domestic grew …’
WILLIAM DUNKIN (c.1709–65)
The Poet’s Prayer
from An Epistle to Robert Nugent, Esquire, with a Picture of Doctor Swift
‘Ah! where is now the supple train …’
DONNCHADH RUA MAC CON MARA (1715–1810)
Epitaph for Tadgh Gaedhealach Ó Súilleabháin
DOROTHEA DUBOIS (1728–74)
The Amazonian Gift
JOHN CUNNINGHAM (1729–73)
The Ant and Caterpillar: A Fable
OLIVER GOLDSMITH (1730–74)
The Deserted Village
from Retaliation
‘Of old, when Scarron his companions invited …’
EOGHAN RUA Ó SÚILLEABHÁIN (c.1748–84)
Poet to Blacksmith
A Magic Mist
Rodney’s Glory
BRIAN MERRIMAN (c.1749–1805)
Cúirt an Mheán-Oíche (The Midnight Court)
WILLIAM DRENNAN (1754–1820)
The Wake of William Orr
PAT O’KELLY (1754–c.1812)
The Litany for Doneraile
SAMUEL THOMSON (1766–1816)
To a Hedge-Hog
THOMAS DERMODY (1775–1802)
Tam to Rab: An Odaic Epistle
The Simile
The Poet’s Inventory
ROBERT EMMET (1778–1803)
Arbour Hill
IV: SONG TO 1800 OLD IRISH
DALLÁN FORGAILL (attrib.)
Be Thou My Vision
ULTÁN OF ARDBRACCAN (fl. c.660)
Hymn to St Brigit
LATIN
COLUMBANUS (c.543–615)
Hymn to the Trinity
Rowing Song
ANONYMOUS
The Good Rule of Bangor
CÚ CHUIMNE OF IONA (fl. c.740)
Hymn to the Virgin Mary
MIDDLE IRISH
MAELÍSA Ó BROLCHÁIN (c.970–1038) Deus Meus
IRISH
ANONYMOUS
Donal Óg
The Stars Stand Up in the Air
From the Cold Sod that’s o’er You
Dear Dark Head
Cashel of Munster
My Grief on the Sea
TOMÁS Ó FLANNGHAILE (fl. mid-17th century)
The County of May
o
ANONYMOUS
Shaun O’Dwyer of the Glen
Patrick Sarsfield, Lord Lucan
Mairgréad ni Chealleadh
The Dirge of O’Sullivan Bear
The Convict of Clonmel
SEÁN Ó NEACHTAIN (c.1650–1729)
Proposal to Úna Ní Bhroin
ÚNA NÍ BHROIN (d.c.1706)
Reply to Seán Ó Neachtain’s Proposal
TOIRDHEALBHACH Ó CEARBHALLÁIN (1670–1738)
Mabel Kelly
Peggy Browne
CATHAL BUÍ MAC GIOLLA GHUNNA (c.1680–1756)
The Yellow Bittern
PEADAR Ó DOIRNÍN
The Green Hill of Cian, Son of Cáinte
DONNCHADH RUA MAC CON MARA
The Fair Hills of Ireland
ART MAC CUMHAIGH (c.1738–73)
The Churchyard of Creggan
EOGHAN RUA Ó SÚILLEABHÁIN
The Volatile Kerryman
ENGLISH
NAHUM TATE
While Shepherds Watched their Flocks by Night
OLIVER GOLDSMITH
from She Stoops to Conquer
Song (‘Let schoolmasters puzzle their brain …’)
JOHN O’KEEFFE (1747–1833)
Amo, Amas , I Love a Lass
JOHN PHILPOTT CURRAN (1750–1817)
The Deserter’s Meditation
RICHARD ALFRED MILLIKEN (1767–1815)
The Groves of Blarney
ANONYMOUS
The Boyne Water
Shule Aroon
My Love is Like the Sun
The Blackbird
The Night before Larry was Stretched
Willy Reilly
The Irish Phœnix
Anonymous Songs of the 1798 Rebellion
IRISH
Slievenamon
ENGLISH
The Star of Liberty
The Shan Van Vocht
The Croppy Boy
General Wonder
V: UNION AND DISSENSION: 1801–80 JAMES ORR (1770–1816)
Donegore Hill
Written in Winter
MARY TIGHE (1772–1810)
from Psyche or The Legend of Love
from Canto I: ‘Wrapped in a cloud unseen by mortal eye …’
THOMAS MOORE (1779–1852)
from Corruption: An Epistle
‘Boast on, my friend – though stripped of all beside …’
‘See that smooth lord, whom nature’s plastic pains …’
from The Fudges in England
from Letter V: From Larry O’Branigan, in England, to his wife Judy, at Mullinafad
ANTOINE Ó RAIFTEIRÍ (1784–1835)
Raftery’s Dialogue with the Whiskey
JEREMIAH JOSEPH CALLANAN (1795–1829)
The Outlaw of Loch Lene
Gougane Barra
GEORGE DARLEY (1795–1846)
from Nepenthe
from Canto I: ‘Hurry me, Nymphs! O, hurry me …’
from Canto II: ‘Welcome! Before my bloodshot eyes …’
JAMES HENRY (1798–1876)
The Lord and Adam in the Garden of Eden
The Penguin Book of Irish Poetry Page 1
