The Faber book of Irish verse
Montague, John, 1929-1974
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'Gaelic is my national language but it is not my mother tongue. These words of W. B. Yeats serve as an epigraph to John Montague's perceptive and stimulating introduction to his anthology. 'I have tried', he says, "to create an anthology which leads up to the present, with the Irish tradition as it has been glimpsed by English-speaking writers'. His choice ranges from the sixth century, using many new or unfamiliar translations to suggest the variety of the Gaelic. In the eighteenth century the two languages cross, with Swift and Goldsmith beside the Gaelic satirists. His selection from the mineteenth century is particularly interest-ing, framed between songs translated from the Irish, and the newer Anglo-Irish street ballads. The anthology falls naturally into two halves, with the second half devoted to the astonishing poetic flowering that has taken place in the twentieth century. His editorial skills have done justice to a great literature, particularly those parts of it which have been neglected or misunderstood, and provides the reader with a view of contemporary Irish writing which is complete and balanced.
Main title:
The Faber book of Irish verse / edited by John Montague.
Author:
Imprint:
London : Faber, 1974.
Collation:
400p ; 21 cm.
ISBN:
05710839359780571083930
Dewey class:
821.008821.008821.08821
LC class:
PR8851
Language:
English
Subject:
Index terms:
Poetry in EnglishIrish writers, to 1973Anthologies
BRN:
120817
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