The Penguin Book of Irish Poetry Read online

  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