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The Finest Music

An Anthology of Early Irish Lyrics

Ed. Maurice Riordan
In the 7th century a new type of poetry, notable for its lyrical voice and feeling for nature, began to be written in Ireland’s monasteries. This anthology brings together 70 translations from Old and Middle Irish – both time-honoured versions by such figures as Tennyson and Auden and renderings by contemporary poets including Seamus Heaney, Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin and Paul Muldoon.
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Product information:
  • Publisher: Faber
  • Year: 2017
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 174pp
  • Illustrated: No
  • Dimensions: 198x131mm
  • ISBN: 9780571298020
  • Condition: New
  • Weight: 0.2kg
Product code:
518455
Category tags:
Product information
Full publisher description
In a series of timeless and modern-day renditions, Maurice Riordan brilliantly introduces us to the poems that founded Ireland's rich literature. Memorable and accessible, these early lyrics are presented in their classic incarnations by literary giants from both sides of the Irish Sea: in examples by W. H. Auden, Flann O'Brien, Alfred Lord Tennyson, John Montague, Robert Graves and Frank O'Connor. But the anthology is much more than a survey of canonical texts; through a series of specially commissioned poems, fresh eyes are brought to bear on these ancient poems: by Seamus Heaney and Eilean Ni Chuilleanain, by Paul Muldoon and Kathleen Jamie, by Ciaran Carson and Christopher Reid, and many others. The experience is enhanced still further by the enabling hand of Riordan himself, in a sweep of exquisite translations of his own made especially for this publication. Unforgettable and inspirational, a book for giving and for keeping: The Finest Music by some of the art-form's finest players.
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