‘I come to Laredo to find me asylum,’
Says Tom Dick and Harry the Wandering Jew;
‘They tell me report at the first police station
But the station is pancaked – so what can I do?’
Thus eavesdropping sadly I strolled through Laredo
Perplexed by the dicta misfortunes inspire
Till one low last whisper inveigled my earhole –
The voice of the Angel, the voice of the fire:
O late, very late, have I come to Laredo
A whimsical bride in my new scarlet dress
But at last I took pity on those who were waiting
To see my regalia and feel my caress.
Now ring the bells gaily and play the hose daily,
Put splints on your legs, put a gag on your breath;
O you streets of Laredo, you streets of Laredo,
Lay down the red carpet – my dowry is death.
CHRISTY MOORE
(b.1945)
Lisdoonvarna
How’s it goin’ there everybody,
From Cork, New York, Dundalk, Gortahork and Glenamaddy?
Here we are in the County Clare,
It’s a long, long way from here to there.
There’s the Burren and the Cliffs of Moher,
The Tulla and the Kilfenora,
Micho Russell, Doctor Bill,
Willy Clancy, Noel Hill.
Flutes and fiddles everywhere.
If it’s music you want,
You should go to Clare.
(Up the Banner!)
Chorus:
Oh, Lisdoonvarna
Lisdoon, Lisdoon, Lisdoon, Lisdoonvarna!
Everybody needs a break,
Climb a mountain or jump in a lake.
Some head off to exotic places,
Others go to the Galway Races.
Mattie goes to the South of France,
Jim to the dogs, Peter to the dance.
A cousin of mine goes pot-holin’,
A cousin of hers loves Joe Dolan.
The summer comes around each year,
We go there and they come here.
Some jet off to Frijiliana,
But I always head for Lisdoonvarna.
Chorus
Normally leave of a Thursday night,
With me tent and groundsheet rolled up tight.
I like to get into Lisdoon,
In or around Friday afternoon.
This gives me time to get my tent up, get my gear together,
Don’t need to worry about the weather.
Ramble in for a pint of stout,
You’d never know who’d be hangin’ about!
There’s a Dutchman playing a mandolin,
And a German looking for Liam Óg O’Floinn.
Adam and Bono and Garret Fitzgerald,
Gettin’ their photos taken for the Sunday World.
Finbarr, Charlie and Jim Hand,
And they drinkin’ pints to bate the band.
(Why wouldn’t they, aren’t they gettin’ it for nothin’?)
Chorus
The multitudes they flocked in throngs
To hear the music and the songs.
On motorbikes and Hi-ace vans,
Bottles, barrels, flagons, cans.
Mighty crack, loads of frolics,
Pioneers and alcoholics,
PLAC, SPUC ’n’ the FCA,
Free Nicky Kelly and the IRA,
Hairy chests and milk-white thighs,
Mickey-dodgers in disguise.
McGraths, O’Briens, Pippins, Coxes,
Massage parlours in horseboxes.
RTE are makin’ tapes, takin’ breaks and throwin’ shapes.
Amhráns, bodhráns, amadáns,
Hairy Geeks, Arab Sheikhs, Hindu Sikhs, Jesus Freaks,
This is heaven, this is hell.
Who cares? Who can tell?
(Anyone for the last few choc ices?)
Chorus
A 747 for Jackson Browne,
They built a special runway just to get him down.
Before the Chieftains could start to play,
Seven creamy pints came out on a tray.
Seán Cannon was doin’ the backstage cookin’,
Shergar was ridden by Lord Lucan,
Mary O’Hara and Brush Shields,
Together singin’ ‘The Four Green Fields’.
Clannad were playin’ ‘Harry’s Game’,
Chris de Burgh singin’ ‘Lady in Red’ on a Spanish train,
Van the Man, Emmy Lou,
Moving Hearts and Planxty too!
Chorus
Everybody needs a break,
Climb a mountain, jump in a lake.
Sean Doherty’s down the Rose of Tralee,
Oliver J. Flanagan swimming naked in the Holy Sea.
But I like my music in the open air,
Every Summer I go to Clare.
Because Woodstock, Knock or the Feast of Cana,
Can’t hold a match to … Lisdoonvarna!
Chorus
Acknowledgements
Thanks for the existence of the book are due to Simon Winder at Penguin, who commissioned it; to Paul Keegan who championed it and whose Penguin Book of English Verse (2000) remained one of its inspirations from inception to completion; and to Alexis Kirschbaum, Director of Penguin Classics, who chivvied the manuscript on its way and whose unwavering support was crucial to the realization of my desire to present an appropriately large-scale account of Irish poetry. Ian Pindar, learned and eagle-eyed, was an unfailingly generous and acute copy editor, and Rebecca Lee a model of patience and acumen in overseeing the proofreading. Kristina Blagojevitch, permissions-seeker par excellence, kept me on an even keel during the nerve-racking final stages of production. Laura Barber, Marcella Edwards and Mariateresa Boffo were successively stalwart in their encouragement during the earlier phases of what ultimately proved a nine-year task.
Any anthology of Irish poetry contributes to a tradition of display that stretches back at least as far as the Victorian age and the four-volume Cabinet of Irish Literature (1879–80), and includes such assiduously meditated compilations as Stopford Brooke and T. W. Rolleston’s A Treasury of Irish Poetry in the English Tongue, which grew through successive editions from 1900 to 1932. Three more recent anthologies stand directly behind the present volume – Brendan Kennelly’s Penguin Book of Irish Verse (1970), with its generous attention to the poetry of early Ireland and its democratic treatment of the contemporary scene; John Montague’s lively and various Faber Book of Irish Verse (1974), compiled when that poet-editor was my inspirational tutor at University College Cork; and Thomas Kinsella’s New Oxford Book of Irish Verse (1986), the first anthology seriously to attempt an estimate of the scale of the Gaelic achievement via English translation. The larger scope and greater cultural pluralism of the present volume are to be understood in terms of evolutionary conversation rather than dispute with these ground-breaking books. Andrew Carpenter’s more specialized Verse in English from Eighteenth-Century Ireland (1998) and Verse in English from Tudor and Stuart Ireland (2003) drew attention to a great deal of hitherto obscure material and proved invaluable resources in themselves, while also providing starting points for many research trails. Anybody who works on poetry in Irish must owe a huge debt to the visionary scholarship of Máirín Ní Dhonnchadha’s sections of The Field Day Anthology of Irish Writing, Vol. IV (2002); I was greatly aided throughout all stages of the preparation of The Penguin Book of Irish Poetry by that distinguished editor’s readiness to inform, clarify and advise in relation to various aspects of Gaelic literature and cultural practice. I thank her also for co-writing two of the translations.
I was fortunate in having my interest in poetry awoken at home in Fermoy by my great-aunt and godmother Honora O’Donoghue, and stirred at primary school by Brother Dónal Blake and the late Brother T. A. Farrell, and at St Colman’s College by Michael Cannon, Seamus Cashman, the lat
e Monsignor Christopher Twohig and – decisively – by Dr (later Prof.) Patrick Hannon. John Montague and the late Seán Lucy did much at University College Cork to maintain the momentum set by Pat Hannon. At secondary school and university I was blessed by the company of Maurice Riordan, a significant contributor to this book, and of Dermot Coakley and John Coakley. My time as a student and then a teacher in Cork featured animated discourse about poetry with those friends and with Seán Clerkin, Theo Dorgan, the late Seán Dunne, Paul Durcan, Willy Kelly, Anne Kelly, Tom Leonard, Thomas MacCarthy, Frank Murphy, Mike O’Brien, the late Gregory O’Donoghue and the late Robert O’Donoghue. In my visits to Scotland as a graduate student in the mid- and later 1970s I repeatedly enjoyed the inestimable privilege of the company of one of the founts of European poetry, the late Hugh Mac Diarmid, and learned much also from the late Hamish Henderson, the late Norman McCaig, the late Sorley MacLean, Edwin Morgan (whose magnificent translation of the abecedarian poem attributed to Colum Cille is one of the glories of section I of the present book) and the late Alexander Scott, and from the critics the late Kenneth Buthlay and Ruth McQuillan. In Wales in the following decade the late Tudor Bevan, Tony Bianchi, the late Wyn Binding, George Boyce, Gillian Clarke, Katie Gramich, the late Dafydd Arthur Jones, the late Glyn Jones, Harri Pritchard Jones, John Pikoulis, Glyn Pursglove and M. Wynn Thomas kept the cauldron stirred.
The book has benefited from conversations with and other kinds of assistance from many poets, songwriters, critics, scholars and friends including Michael Alexander, Jonathan Allison, Fran Brearton, Terence Brown, James Campbell, Ciaran Carson, Philip Coleman, Neil Corcoran, Damian Walford Davies, Greg Delanty, Douglas Dunn, Leontia Flynn, Patrick K. Ford, John Wilson Foster, Roy Foster, Alan Gillis, Nicholas Grene, Tom Halpin, Liam Harte, Joe Hassett, Hugh Haughton, Marie Heaney, Seamus Heaney, John Herdman, the late Mick Imlah, the late A. N. Jeffares, Christine Kelly, James Kelly, John Kelly, Elmer Kennedy-Andrews, Brendan Kennelly, John Kerrigan, Nick Laird, Edna Longley, Michael Longley, Peter McDonald, Medbh McGuckian, Liam McIlvanney, Andrew McNeillie, Aodán Mac Póilín, Alasdair Macrae, Elise Macrae, Christy Moore, David Norbrook, Ailbhe Ó Corráin, Donnchadh Ó Corráin, Bernard O’Donoghue, Heather O’Donoghue, Gitti Paulin, Tom Paulin, Alan Riach, Sean Ryder, John Scattergood, Bruce Stewart, Mary Shine Thompson, Fintan Vallely, Helen Vendler, Celia Watson, Roderick Watson, Tim Webb, Robert Welch, David Wheatley and David Wilson.
In Aberdeen I am grateful to Prof. Chris Gane, Head of the College of Arts and Social Sciences, who supplied me with an able and greatly needed research assistant during the submission phase. To that research assistant, Dr Dan Wall, I am deeply thankful for his tireless work in helping put the manuscript together. Without a semester’s research leave granted by the School of Language and Literature in early 2009 the translations could not have been written or the book completed. I wish to record my thanks to the then Head of School, Prof. Chris Fynsk, and to all my colleagues in the School. I am particularly grateful to Dr Shane Alcobia-Murphy and Dr Wayne Price for their unfailing readiness to discuss aspects of the book and offer shrewd counsel. I am thankful also to Prof. Cairns Craig, Dr Stephen Dornan, Dr David Duff, Dr Barbara Fennell, Dr Andrew Gordon, Prof. David Hewitt, Dr Adrienne Janus, Dr Catherine Jones, Prof. Jeannette King, Dr Alison Lumsden, Mr Derrick McClure, Dr Ainsley McIntosh, Dr Robert McColl Millar, Prof. Isobel Murray, Dr Paul Shanks, Prof. Michael Syrotinski, Mrs Pam Thomson, Mrs Maureen Wilkie and Dr Tarrin Wills for support of important kinds. Elsewhere in the University I am grateful to Prof. Peter Davidson, Prof. David Dumville, Dr Ralph O’Connor and Prof. Jane Stevenson for so generously sharing their immense scholarship, and to Dr Michael Brown for his thoughtful comments on the Introduction. I owe a personal debt of gratitude to Sir Duncan Rice, Joanna Watson and above all to the late Prof. George Watson.
I wish to thank the staff of the Queen Mother Library and the Special Collections Library at the University of Aberdeen; of the National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth; of the University of Ulster libraries at Coleraine and Magee; and of the Cregan Library at St Patrick’s College, Drumcondra. I am indebted also to Dr John Brannigan of University College Dublin for his help in tracking down fugitive material. Additionally, I wish to bless the mighty Internet for transforming the character of poem-hunting, though not utterly.
I owe special thanks to Tiffany Atkinson, Peter Davidson, Kit Fryatt, Seamus Heaney, Kathleen Jamie, Michael Longley, Bernard O’Donoghue, Maurice Riordan and David Wheatley for their new translations, and to Seamus Heaney for his Preface. To Kit Fryatt, who lives the poetry life, I owe an additional and inestimable debt for her loving support during the period when the selections were being finalized and the translations and introduction composed.
The editor and publisher gratefully acknowledge the following for permission to reprint copyright material:
ANONYMOUS: ‘Suibne in the Trees’ trans. Paul Batchelor from The Sinking Road (Bloodaxe Books, 2008), reprinted by permission of the publisher (© Paul Batchelor, 2008); ‘Adze-head’, ‘Writing Out of Doors’ trans. James Carney from Medieval Irish Lyrics with The Irish Bardic Poet (The Dolmen Press, 1985), reprinted by permission of Mr Justice Paul Carney; ‘Cu Chulainn’s Lament over Fer Diad’ and ‘The Morrigan’s Chant’ trans. Ciaran Carson from The Tain: a New Translation of the Tain Bao Cauailnge (Penguin Classics, 2007), reprinted by permission of the publisher (© Ciaran Carson, 2007); ‘Elegy for Richard Lynch, d. Salamanca 1679’ trans. Peter Davidson (© Peter Davidson, 2010); ‘At Mass’, ‘The Curse’, ‘The Dispraise of Absalom’, ‘He Praises His Wife When She Had Gone from Him’ and ‘Sadly the ousel sings …’ trans. Robin Flower from Poems and Translations (Lilliput Press, 1994), reprinted by permission of Lilliput Press; ‘The Complaints of Gormlaith’ trans. Kit Fryatt (© Kit Fryatt, 2010); ‘He is my love’ trans. Michael Hartnett from Translations: A Selection (Gallery Press, 2003), reprinted by permission of the publisher (© The Estate of Michael Hartnett, 2003); ‘Lynchseachan, you are a bother …’ trans. Seamus Heaney from Sweeney Astray (Faber & Faber, 1984), reprinted by permission of the publisher (© Seamus Heaney, 1984); ‘The Blackbird of Belfast Lough’ trans. Seamus Heaney (© Seamus Heaney, 2010); ‘My Grief on the Sea’ trans. Douglas Hyde, reprinted by permission of Douglas Sealy; ‘Fedelm’s Vision of Cúchulainn’ trans. Thomas Kinsella from The Tain (Oxford University Press, 1969), reprinted by permission of the translator (© Thomas Kinsella, 1969); ‘Gaze North-East’ and ‘The Wooing of Etain’ trans. John Montague, reprinted by permission of the Gallery Press (© John Montague, 1974); ‘Aoibhinn, a leabhráin, do thriall’ (‘Delightful, book, your trip …’) and ‘Scél Lem Dúib’ (‘Here’s a song …’) trans. Flann O’Brien from The Pleasures of Gaelic Poetry (Penguin, 1982), reprinted by permission of A. M. Heath & Co. Ltd.; ‘First Year in the Wilderness’ trans. Flann O’Brien from At Swim-Two-Birds (Penguin Modern Classics, 2000), reprinted by permission of A. M. Heath & Co. Ltd. (© Flann O’Brien, 1968); ‘Death and the Maiden’, ‘The Downfall of Heathendom’, ‘The Hermit’s Song’, ‘A Jealous Man’, ‘Jealousy’, ‘The King of Connacht’, ‘Liadan’, ‘Patrick Sarsfield, Lord Lucan’, ‘The Praise of Fionn’, ‘The Priest Rediscovers his Psalm-Book’, ‘Slievenamon’, ‘Storm at Sea’ and ‘Winter’ trans. Frank O’Connor from Kings, Lords, & Commons: An Anthology from the Irish (Macmillan, 1961); ‘Advice to Lovers’, ‘A History of Love’ and ‘Women’ trans. Frank O’Connor from The Little Monasteries (The Dolmen Press, 1963), reprinted by permission of PFD on behalf of the Estate of Frank O’Connor (© The Estate of Frank O’Connor, 1959, 1963); ‘Gormlaith’s Last Lament’ and ‘On the Death of a Poet’ trans. David Wheatley (© David Wheatley, 2010); BECCÁN THE HERMIT: ‘Last Verses in Praise of Colum Cille’ trans. Thomas Owen Clancy from The Triumph Tree: Scotland’s Earliest Poetry AD 550–1350 (Canongate, 1998), reprinted by permission of the translator. SAMUEL BECKETT: ‘my way is in the sand flowing …’, ‘what would I do without this world faceless incurious …’ and ‘I
would like my love to die …’ from Selected Poems 1930–89 (Faber & Faber, 2009), reprinted by permission of the publisher. BRENDAN BEHAN: ‘The Captains and the Kings’ from The Hostage (Methuen, 1958) and ‘The Ould Triangle’ from The Quare Fellow (Methuen, 1960), reprinted by permission of the Estate of Brendan Behan and the Sayle Literary Agency. DOMINIC BEHAN: ‘Liverpool Lou’ and ‘The Patriot Game’, reprinted by permission of the Estate of Dominic Behan. BLATHMAC SON OF CÚ BRETTAN: ‘May I have from you my three petitions’ trans. James Carney from Medieval Irish Lyrics with The Irish Bardic Poet (The Dolmen Press, 1985), reprinted by permission of Mr Justice Paul Carney. EAVAN BOLAND: ‘Mise Eire’ and ‘From the Painting Back from Market by Chardin’ from Collected Poems (Carcanet Press, 1995), reprinted by permission of the publisher (© Eavan Boland, 1995). COLETTE BRYCE: ‘The Poetry Bug’ and ‘Self-Portrait in the Dark’ from Self-Portrait in the Dark (Picador, 2008), reprinted by permission of Macmillan (© Colette Bryce, 2008). CIARAN CARSON: ‘A Date Called Eat Me’, ‘Dresden’, ‘Part One: The Fetch’ and ‘Part Two: The Fetch’, ‘The Rising Sun’, ‘Trap’ and ‘Wake’ from Collected Poems (The Gallery Press, 2008), reprinted by permission of the publisher (© Ciaran Carson, 2008). SÉATHRÚN CÉITINN: ‘Dear Woman, With Your Wiles’ trans. Maurice Riordan (© Maurice Riordan, 2010); ‘No Sleep is Mine’ trans. David Wheatley (© David Wheatley, 2010). COLUM CILLE (attrib.): ‘Colum Cille’s Exile’ trans. James Carney from Medieval Irish Lyrics with The Irish Bardic Poet (The Dolmen Press, 1985), reprinted by permission of Mr Justice Paul Carney; ‘The Maker on High’ trans. Edwin Morgan from Edwin Morgan:Collected Poems (Carcanet Press, 1990), reprinted by permission of the publisher (© Edwin Morgan, 1990). AUSTIN CLARKE: ‘The Blackbird of Derrycairn’, ‘The Lost Heifer’, ‘Martha Blake at Fifty-one’, ‘New Liberty Hall’, ‘Penal Law’, ‘The Planter’s Daughter’, ‘The Scholar’, ‘The Straying Student’, ‘A Strong Wind’, Tiresias (extract) from Austin Clarke: Collected Poems (Carcanet Press and The Bridge Press, 2008), reprinted by permission of R. Dardis Clarke, 17 Oscar Square, Dublin 8. PADRAIC COLUM: ‘A Drover’, ‘O woman shapely as the swan’, ‘The Poet’, ‘The Poor Girl’s Meditation’ and ‘She Moved Through the Fair’ from Collected Poems (Devin Adair, 1953), reprinted by permission of the Estate of Padraic Colum. COLUMBANUS: ‘Hymn to the Trinity’ trans. Kit Fryatt (© Kit Fryatt, 2010); CÚ CHUIMNE OF IONA: ‘Hymn to the Virgin Mary’ trans. Kit Fryatt (© Kit Fryatt, 2010). JOHN F. DEANE: ‘The Instruments of Art’ from The Instruments of Art (Carcanet Press, 2005), reprinted by permission of the publisher (© John F. Deane, 2005). GREG DELANTY: ‘The Cure’ and ‘To My Mother, Eileen’ from Collected Poems (Carcanet Press, 2006), reprinted by permission of the publisher (© Greg Delanty, 2006). PAUL DURCAN: ‘Ireland 2001’ from The Art of Life (Harvill Press, 2004); ‘Give Him Bondi’, ‘Ireland 1972’, ‘Ireland 1977’ and ‘Ireland 2002’ from Life is a Dream: 40 Years Reading Poems 1967–2007 (Harvill Secker, 2009), reprinted by permission of Rogers, Coleridge & White, 20 Powis Mews, London W11 1JN (© Paul Durcan, 2004, 2009). PADRAIC FALLON: ‘A Flask of Brandy’ and ‘Raftery’s Dialogue with the Whiskey’ from Collected Poems (Carcanet Press, 1990), reprinted by permission of the publisher (© Padraic Fallon, 1990). PETER FALLON: ‘The Company of Horses’ from The Company of Horses (The Gallery Press, 2007), reprinted by permission of the publisher (© Peter Fallon, 2007). LEONTIA FLYNN: ‘By My Skin’ from These Days (Jonathan Cape, 2004); ‘Drive’ from Drives (Jonathan Cape, 2008), reprinted by permission of The Random House Group Ltd (© Leontia Flynn, 2004, 2008). DALLÁN FORGAILL: ‘Amra Colm Cille’ trans. Thomas Owen Clancy from The Triumph Tree: Scotland’s Earliest Poetry AD 550–1350 (Canongate, 1998), reprinted by permission of the translator. ALAN GILLIS: ‘Progress’ and ‘12th October, 1994’ from Somebody, Somewhere (The Gallery Press, 2004), reprinted by permission of the publisher (© Alan Gillis, 2004). EAMON GRENNAN: ‘because the body stops here because you can only reach out so far …’, ‘Casual, prodigal, these piss-poor opportunists, the weeds …’, ‘Even under the rain that casts a fine white blanket over mountain and lake …’ and ‘When I see the quick ripple of a groundhog’s back above the grass …’ from The Quick of It (The Gallery Press, 2004), reprinted by permission of the publisher (© Eamon Grennan, 2004). PÁDRAIGÍN HAICÉAD: ‘Dirge on the death of Éamon Mac Piarais Buitléir, 1640’ trans. Michael Hartnett from Haicéad: Translations from the Irish (The Gallery Press, 1993), reprinted by permission of the publisher (© The Estate of Michael Hartnett, 1993). KERRY HARDIE: ‘Ship of Death’ from A Furious Place (The Gallery Press, 1996); ‘Seal Morning’ from Cry for the Hot Belly (The Gallery Press, 2000), reprinted by permission of the publisher (© Kerry Hardie 1996, 2000). MICHAEL HARTNETT: ‘Bread’, ‘For My Grandmother, Bridget Halpin’, Inchicore Haiku (extract), and Notes on my Contemporaries (extract) from Collected Poems, (The Gallery Press, 2001); ‘Lament for Tadhg Cronin’s Children’ from Translations: A Selection (The Gallery Press, 2003), reprinted by permission of the publisher (© The Estate of Michael Hartnett, 2001, 2003). SEAMUS HEANEY: ‘Bogland’, ‘Broagh’, ‘Death of a Naturalist’, ‘Hailstones’, ‘The Harvest Bow’, ‘The Peninsula’, ‘Postscript’, ‘Requiem for the Croppies’, ‘Settings’, ‘A Sofa in the Forties’, ‘Song’, ‘The Strand at Lough Beg’, ‘Sweeney Redivivus’ and ‘The Tollund Man’ from Opened Ground (Faber & Faber, 1998); ‘Perch’ from Electric Light (Faber & Faber, 2001); ‘The Blackbird of Glanmore’ from District and Circle (Faber & Faber, 2006), reprinted by permission of the publisher (© Seamus Heaney 1998, 2001, 2006); ‘Craig’s Dragoons’ (© Seamus Heaney, 2010). JOHN HEWITT: ‘The Colony’ from The Selected Poems of John Hewitt (Blackstaff Press, 2007), reprinted by permission of the publisher and the estate of John Hewitt. RITA ANN HIGGINS: ‘Black Dog in My Docs Day’ from An Awful Racket (Bloodaxe Books, 2001), reprinted by permission of the publisher (© Rita Ann Higgins, 2001). PEARSE HUTCHINSON: ‘Petition to Release’ from Collected Poems (The Gallery Press, 2002), reprinted by permission of the publisher (© Pearse Hutchinson, 2002). JAMES JOYCE: ‘The Ballad of Persse O’Reilly’ and ‘The Ondt and the Gracehoper’ from Finnegans Wake; ‘Buy a book in brown paper’, ‘I hear an army charging upon the land’ and ‘Watching the Needleboats at San Sabba’ from Poems and Shorter Writings, reprinted by permission of the Estate of James Joyce. TREVOR JOYCE: ‘I once thought that the quiet speech …’ from With the first dream of fire they hunt the cold: A Body of Work 1966/2000 (New Writers’ Press and Shearsman Books, 2001); ‘all that is the case’ and ‘now then’ from What’s in Store (The Gig, 2007), reprinted by permission of the author (© Trevor Joyce, 2001, 2007). PATRICK KAVANAGH: ‘A Christmas Childhood’, ‘Come Dance with Kitty Stobling’, ‘The Great Hunger’, ‘The Hospital’, ‘Inniskeen Road: July Evening’, ‘Innocence’, ‘Kerr’s Ass’, ‘The One’, ‘On Raglan Road’ and ‘Threshing Morning’ from Collected Poems of Patrick Kavanagh (Allen Lane, 2004), reprinted by permission of the Trustees of the Estate of the late Katherine B. Kavanagh, through the Jonathan Williams Literary Agency. BRENDAN KENNELLY: The Book of Judas (extract) and The Man Made of Rain (extract) from Familiar Strangers: New and Selected Poems 1960–2004 (Bloodaxe Books, 2004), reprinted by permission of the publisher (© Brendan Kennelly, 2004); THOMAS KINSELLA: ‘At the Western Ocean’s Edge’, ‘Chrysalides’, ‘The Design’, ‘First Light’, ‘His Father’s Hands’, parts 2 and 5 of ‘Nightwalker’ ‘Tao and Unfitness at Inistiogue on the River Nore’ and ‘38 Phoenix Street’ from Collected Poems (Carcanet Press, 2001), reprinted by permission of the publisher (© Thomas Kinsella, 2001). NICK LAIRD: ‘Pedigree’ from To a Fault (Faber & Faber, 2005), reprinted by permission of the publisher (© Nick Laird, 2005). WALTER LAWLESS: ‘To the most noble Lord, James Marquis of Ormonde … his humble servant Walter Lawles wishes happiness and prosperity’ trans. Peter Davidson (© Peter Davidson, 2010). MICHAEL LONGLEY: ‘Above Dooaghtry’, ‘Between Hovers’, ‘The Butchers’, ‘The Campfires’, ‘Ceasefire’, ‘The Ev
ening Star’, ‘Form’, ‘In Memoriam’, ‘The Linen Industry’, ‘Overhead’, ‘Sleep & Death’ and ‘Wounds’ from Collected Poems (Jonathan Cape, 2006); ‘Whalsay’ from A Hundred Doors (Jonathan Cape, 2011), reprinted by permission of The Random House Group Ltd (© Michael Longley, 2006, 2010). FEARGHAL ÓG MAC AN BHAIRD: ‘A Letter of Complaint’ trans. Bernard O’Donoghue (© Bernard O’Donoghue, 2010). LAOISEACH MAC AN BHAIRD: ‘Brothers’ trans. Seamus Heaney (© Seamus Heaney, 2010); ‘A Man of Experience’ trans. Frank O’Connor from Kings, Lords, & Commons: An Anthology from the Irish (Macmillan, 1961), reprinted by permission of PFD on behalf of the Estate of Frank O’Connor (© The Estate of Frank O’Connor, 1959); ‘The Felling of a Sacred Tree’ trans. Bernard O’Donoghue (© Bernard O’Donoghue, 2010). MOTHER OF DIARMAID MAC CÁRTHAIGH: ‘A Lament for Diarmaid MacCarthy of Ráth Dubháin, Who Was a Butter-Merchant in Cork’ trans. Angela Bourke from The Field Day Anthology of Irish Writing, Vol. IV (Cork University Press, 2002), reprinted by permission of the Jonathan Williams Literary Agency. THOMAS MCCARTHY: ‘Ellen Tobin McCarthy’ and ‘The Standing Trains’ from Mr Dineen’s Careful Parade: New and Selected Poems (Anvil Press, 1999), reprinted by permission of the publisher. DONNCHADH RUA MAC CON MARA: ‘Epitaph for Tadhg Gaedhealach Ó Súilleabháin’ trans. Peter Davidson (© Peter Davidson, 2010). GIOLLA BRIGHDE MAC CON MIDHE: ‘A Response to a Threat against Poetry’ trans. Patrick K. Ford from The Celtic Poets (Belmont, MA: Ford and Bailie, 1999), reprinted by permission of the translator; ‘Childless’ trans. Frank O’Connor from Kings, Lords, & Commons: An Anthology from the Irish (Macmillan, 1961), reprinted by permission of PFD on behalf of the Estate of Frank O’Connor (© The Estate of Frank O’Connor, 1959). SÉAMAS DALL MAC CUARTA: ‘The Drowned Blackbird’ trans. Seamus Heaney (© Seamus Heaney, 2010). ART MAC CUMHAIGH: ‘The Churchyard of Creggan’ trans. Kit Fryatt (© Kit Fryatt, 2010). PETER MCDONALD: ‘The Hand’ from The House of Clay (Carcanet Press, 2007), reprinted by permission of the publisher (© Peter McDonald, 2007). PATRICK MACDONOGH: ‘No Mean City’ and ‘O, Come to the Land’ from Poems (The Gallery Press, 2001), reprinted by permission of the publisher (© Patrick MacDonogh, 2001). GEARÓID IARLA MAC GEARAILT: ‘Woe to him who slanders women’ trans. Thomas F. O’Rahilly in Dánta Grádha: Anthology of Irish Love Poetry, 1350–1750 (Cork University Press, 1925), reprinted by permission of the publisher (© 1925). PATRICK MCGILL: ‘La Baseé Road’ and ‘The Guns’ from The Navvy Poet (Caliban, 1984), reprinted by permission of Peter Knight Associates. CATHAL BUÍ MAC GIOLLA GHUNNA: ‘The Yellow Bittern’ trans. Seamus Heaney from The School Bag (Faber & Faber, 1997), reprinted by permission of the publisher (© Seamus Heaney, 1997). MEDBH MCGUCKIAN: ‘The Seed-Picture’ from The Flower Master (The Gallery Press, 1993); ‘The Sitting’ from Venus and the Rain (The Gallery Press, 1994); ‘Monody for Aghas’ from Drawing Ballerinas (The Gallery Press, 2001); ‘She is in the Past, She has this Grace’ from The Face of the Earth (The Gallery Press, 2002), reprinted by permission of the publisher (© Medbh McGuckian, 1993, 1994, 2001, 2002). LOUIS MACNEICE: ‘A Cataract Conceived as the March of Corpses’, ‘Autobiography’, Autumn Journal (IX), ‘Charon’, ‘The Introduction’, ‘Neutrality’, ‘Soap Suds’, ‘The Streets of Laredo’, ‘The Taxis’ and ‘Valediction’ from Collected Poems (Faber & Faber, 2007), reprinted by permission of David Higham Associates; DEREK MAHON: An Bonnán Buí’, ‘Courtyards in Delft’, ‘A Disused Shed in Co. Wexford’, ‘Ecclesiastes’, ‘Glengormley’ and ‘An Image from Beckett’ from Collected Poems (The Gallery Press, 1999); ‘Things’ from Harbour Lights (The Gallery Press, 2005); ‘Biographia Literaria’ from Life on Earth (The Gallery Press, 2008), reprinted by permission of the publisher (© Derek Mahon, 1999, 2005, 2008). BRIAN MERRIMAN: The Midnight Court: ‘’Twas my custom to stroll by a clear winding stream …’ and ‘The girl having listened to this peroration …’ trans. Ciaran Carson from The Midnight Court (The Gallery Press, 2005), reprinted by permission of the publisher (© Ciaran Carson, 2005); ‘To add to which, the whole assembly …’ and ‘Bathed in an aura of morning light …’ trans. Seamus Heaney from The Midnight Verdict: Translations from the Irish of Brian Merriman (The Gallery Press, 1993), reprinted by permission of the publisher (© Seamus Heaney, 2003); ‘By the time it strikes them to take a partner …’ trans. Thomas Kinsella from An Duanaire: Poems of the Dispossessed (The Dolmen Press, 1981), reprinted by permission of the translator (© Thomas Kinsella, 1981); ‘Then up there jumps from a neighbouring chair …’ trans. Frank O’Connor from Kings, Lords, & Commons: An Anthology from the Irish (Macmillan, 1961), reprinted by permission of PFD on behalf of the Estate of Frank O’Connor (© The Estate of Frank O’Connor, 1959). DOROTHY MOLLOY: ‘Gethsemane Day’ and ‘Ghost Train’ from Gethsemane Day (Faber & Faber, 2006), reprinted by permission of the publisher (© Dorothy Molloy, 2006). JOHN MONTAGUE: ‘All Legendary Obstacles’, ‘Herbert Street Revisited’, ‘Mount Eagle’, ‘She Cries’, ‘Sunset’ ‘The Trout’, ‘What a View’ and ‘Windharp’ from Collected Poems (The Gallery Press, 1995), reprinted by permission of the publisher (© John Montague, 1995). CHRISTY MOORE: ‘Lisdoonvarna’, reprinted by permission of Christy Moore (IMRO), www.christymoore.com. SINÉAD MORRISSEY: ‘Pilots’ from The State of the Prisons (Carcanet Press, 2005), reprinted by permission of the publisher (© Sinéad Morrissey, 2005). PAUL MULDOON: ‘Aisling’, ‘Anseo’, ‘Cuba’, ‘The Electric Orchard’, ‘Immram’, ‘Myself and Pangur’, ‘They That Wash on Thursday’ and ‘Third Epistle to Timothy’ from Poems 1968–1998 (Faber & Faber, 2001); ‘The Breather’ from Moy Sand and Gravel (Faber & Faber, 2002); ‘Turkey Buzzards’ from Horse Latitudes (Faber & Faber, 2006), reprinted by permission of the publisher (© Paul Muldoon, 2001, 2002, 2006). RICHARD MURPHY: ‘Girl at the Seaside’, ‘Morning Call’, ‘Sailing to an Island’, ‘Seals at High Island’ and ‘Stormpetrel’ from New Selected Poems (Faber & Faber, 1989); and Collected Poems (Wake Forest University Press and The Gallery Press, 2000), reprinted by permission of Dennis O’Driscoll. EILÉAN NÍ CHUILLEANÁIN: ‘Deaths and Engines’ from The Second Voyage (The Gallery Press, 1977, 1986); ‘MacMoransbridge’ from The Magdalene Sermon (The Gallery Press, 1989); ‘Fireman’s Lift’ and ‘The Real Thing’ from The Brazen Serpent (The Gallery Press, 1994); ‘A Capitulary’ and ‘Gloss/Clós/Glas’ from The Girl Who Married the Reindeer (The Gallery Press, 2001), all reprinted by permission of the publisher (© Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin, 1977, 1986, 1989, 1994, 2001). NUALA NI DHOMHNAILL: ‘The Language Issue’ trans. Paul Muldoon in Pharaoh’s Daughter (The Gallery Press, 1990), reprinted by permission of the publisher (© Nuala Ni Dhomhnaill 1990; trans. © Paul Muldoon); ‘My Father’s People’ and ‘The Hair Market’ trans. Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin from The Water Horse (The Gallery Press, 1999), reprinted by permission of the publisher (© Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill, 1999; trans. © Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin); ‘Mermaid with Parish Priest’ trans. Paul Muldoon from The Fifty Minute Mermaid (The Gallery Press, 2007), reprinted by permission of the publisher (© Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill, 2007; trans. © Paul Muldoon). DIARMAID Ó BRIAIN: ‘The Shannon’ trans. Robin Flower from The Irish Tradition (Lilliput Press 1994), reprinted by permission of the publisher. DÁIBHÍ Ó BRUADAIR: ‘Adoramus te, Christe’ trans. Tiffany Atkinson (© Tiffany Atkinson, 2010); ‘Eire’ trans. Austin Clarke from Austin Clarke: Collected Poems (Carcanet Press and The Bridge Press, 2008), reprinted by permission of R. Dardis Clarke, 17 Oscar Square, Dublin 8; ‘To them the state …’ and ‘To see the art of poetry lost’ trans. Michael Hartnett from O Bruadair (The Gallery Press, 1985), reprinted by permission of the publisher (© The Estate of Michael Hartnett, 1985); ‘A Glass of Beer’ trans. James Stephens from Collected Poems (Macmillan, 1954), reprinted by permission of The Society of Authors. TOIRDHEALBHACH Ó CEARBHALLÁIN: ‘Mabel Kelly’ and ‘Peggy Brown’ trans. Austin Clarke from Austin Clarke: Collected Poems (Carcanet Press and The Bridge Press, 2008), reprinted by permission of R. Dardis Clarke, 17 Oscar Square, Dublin 8. GOFRAIDH FIONN Ó DÁLAIGH: ‘Under
Sorrow’s Sign’ trans. John Montague reprinted by permission of The Gallery Press (© John Montague, 1974); ‘Praise of Maurice Fitz Maurice, Earl of Desmond’ trans. David Wheatley (© David Wheatley, 2010). LOCHLAINN ÓG Ó DÁLAIGH: ‘Praise for the Young O’Briens’ trans. Maurice Riordan (© Maurice Riordan, 2010). MUIREADHACH ALBANACH Ó DÁLAIGH: ‘A Poem Addressed to the Blessed Virgin’ trans. Kathleen Jamie (© Kathleen Jamie, 2010); ‘On the Death of his Wife’ trans. Frank O’Connor from The Little Monasteries (The Dolmen Press, 1963), reprinted by permission of PFD on behalf of the Estate of Frank O’Connor (© The Estate of Frank O’Connor, 1963); ‘On Cutting his Hair Before Going on Crusade’ trans. Thomas Owen Clancy from The Triumph Tree: Scotland’s Earliest Poetry AD 550–1350 (Canongate, 1998), reprinted by permission of the translator. PEADAR Ó DOIRNÍN: ‘The Mother’s Lament for Her Child’ trans. Michael Longley (© Michael Longley, 2010); ‘The Green Hill of Cian son of Cáinte’ trans. PÁdraigÍn NÍ UallachÁin from A Hidden Ulster (Four Courts Press, 2003), reprinted by permission of the publisher (© Pádraigín Ní Uallacháin, 2003). BERNARD O’DONOGHUE: ‘Casement on Banna’ from The Weakness (Chatto & Windus, 1991), reprinted by permission of the author (© Bernard O’Donoghue, 1991); ‘Ter Conatus’ from Here Nor There (Chatto & Windus, 1999), reprinted by permission of The Random House Group Ltd (© Bernard O’Donoghue, 1999). DENNIS O’DRISCOLL: ‘Churchyard View: The New Estate’ from New and Selected Poems (Anvil Press, 2004), reprinted by permission of the publisher. EOCHAIDH Ó HEODHASA: ‘The New Poetry’ trans. Maurice Riordan (© Maurice Riordan, 2010). GIOLLA BRIGHDE (BONAVENTURA) Ó HEODHASA: ‘In Memoriam Richard Nugent’ trans. Tiffany Atkinson (© Tiffany Atkinson, 2010). TADHG DALL Ó HUIGÍNN: ‘Enniskillen’ trans. Patrick K. Ford from The Celtic Poets (Belmont, MA: Ford and Bailie, 1999), reprinted by permission of the translator. TADHG OǴ Ó HUIGÍNN: ‘A School of Poetry Closes’ trans. Seamus Heaney (© Seamus Heaney, 2010). SEÁN Ó NEACHTAIN: ‘Ó Neachtain’s Proposal to Úna NÍ Bhroin’ trans. Kit Fryatt (© Kit Fryatt, 2010). AODHAGÁN Ó RATHAILLE: ‘The Ruin that Befell the Great Families of Ireland’ and ‘On a Gift of Shoes’ trans. Michael Hartnett from O Rathaille (The Gallery Press, 1998), reprinted by permission of the publisher (© The Estate of Michael Hartnett, 1998); ‘The Glamoured’ trans. Seamus Heaney, reprinted by permission of the translator (© Seamus Heaney, 1998); ‘A Grey Eye Weeping’ trans. Frank O’Connor from Kings, Lords, & Commons: An Anthology from the Irish (Macmillan, 1961), reprinted by permission of PFD on behalf of the Estate of Frank O’Connor (© The Estate of Frank O’Connor, 1959). CAITRÍONA O’REILLY: ‘A Lecture Upon the Bat’ from The Nowhere Birds (Bloodaxe Books, 2001); ‘Heliotrope’ from The Sea Cabinet (Bloodaxe Books, 2006), reprinted by permission of the publisher (© Caitríona O’Reilly, 2001, 2006). SEÁN Ó RÍORDÁIN: ‘Despair’ trans. David Wheatley (© David Wheatley, 2010). TADHG Ó RUAIRC: ‘A Game of Cards and Dice’ trans. Derek Mahon (The Gallery Press, 2002), reprinted by permission of the publisher (© Derek Mahon, 2002). CATHAL Ó SEARCAIGH: ‘Lament’ trans. Seamus Heaney from Homecoming/ An Bealach ’na Bhaile (Indreabhán, Co Galway: Cló Iar-Chonnachta Teo, 1993), reprinted by permission of the publisher. EOGHAN RUA Ó SúILLEABHÁIN: ‘Poet to Blacksmith’ trans. Seamus Heaney from District and Circle (Faber & Faber, 2006), reprinted by permission of the publisher (© Seamus Heaney, 2006); ‘A Magic Mist’ trans. Thomas Kinsella from An Duanaire: Poems of the Dispossessed (The Dolmen Press, 1981), reprinted by permission of the translator (© Thomas Kinsella, 1981); ‘The Volatile Kerryman’ trans. Seán Ó Riada, reprinted by permission of Peadar Ó Riada. FRANK ORMSBY: ‘The Gate’ and ‘The Whooper Swan’ from Fireflies (Carcanet Press, 2009), reprinted by permission of the publisher (© Frank Ormsby, 2009). TOM PAULIN: ‘A Written Answer’ from The Liberty Tree (Faber & Faber, 1993); ‘The Road to Inver’ from The Road to Inver (Faber & Faber, 2004), reprinted by permission of the publisher (© Tom Paulin, 1993, 2004). ANTOINE RAIFTEIRÍ: ‘Mary Hynes’ trans. Frank O’Connor from Kings, Lords, & Commons: An Anthology from the Irish (Macmillan, 1961), reprinted by permission of PFD on behalf of the Estate of Frank O’Connor (© The Estate of Frank O’Connor, 1959). MAURICE RIORDAN: ‘The Sloe’ from Floods (Faber & Faber, 2000); The Idylls (extract) from The Holy Land (Faber & Faber, 2007), reprinted by permission of the publisher (© Maurice Riordan, 2000, 2007). W. R. RODGERS: ‘The Net’ from Poems (The Gallery Press, 1993), reprinted by permission of the publisher (© The Estate of W. R. Rodgers, 1993). EARL ROGNVALD OF ORKNEY: ‘Irish Monks on a Rocky Island’ trans. Kit Fryatt (© Kit Fryatt, 2010). BLANAID SALKELD: ‘Art’ and ‘Role’ from Experiment in Error (Hand & Flower Press, 1955), reprinted by permission of the Estate of Blanaid Salkeld. SEDULIUS SCOTTUS: ‘He Complains to Bishop Hartgar of Thirst’ trans. Helen Waddell from Medieval Latin Lyrics (Four Courts Press, 2008), reprinted by permission of the publisher (© Four Courts Press, 2008). MAURICE SCULLY: ‘Liking the Big Wheelbarrow’, ‘Lullaby’ and ‘Sound’ from livelihood (Wild Honey Press, 2004), reprinted by permission of the author (© Maurice Scully, 2004). JAMES STEPHENS: ‘The Red-haired Man’s Wife’, ‘The Street Behind Yours’ and ‘O Bruadair’ from Collected Poems (Macmillan, 1954), reprinted by permission of The Society of Authors. DAVID WHEATLEY: ‘Drift’ and ‘Sonnet’ from Mocker (The Gallery Press, 2006), reprinted by permission of the publisher (© David Wheatley, 2006). MACDARA WOODS: ‘The Dark Sobrietee’ from Knowledge in the Blood: New and Selected Poems (Dedalus Press, 2000), reprinted by permission of Dedalus Press.
The Penguin Book of Irish Poetry Page 83