I suppose there are even some educated readers who, for histori- cal and cultural reasons, do not realise what a daunting task it is to compile an anthology of Irish poetry: who think that, except for that which was written in English from the eighteenth century onwards, it implies a labour no more arduous than that of putting together an anthology of Cornish poetry, for instance. Essays in Criticism Oxford University Press īook Reviews The Penguin Book of Irish Poetry. And one may be tempted to yield too much to modern prejudices, and not give due representation to the extraordinary achievements of medieval and early modern Irish poets, even though all knowledgeable commentators reckon that they are among the most notable in European Furthermore, a political tinge may be imputed to the anthologist’s selection, to complicate the usual aesthetic disputes. Of these, good translations have to be chosen or made.
But Irish literature comprises a vast body of texts apart from those in English (though they are plentiful enough), and poetry is a sizeable part of it: texts in Latin, in Old Norse, in Anglo-Norman French, but by far the most in Old, Middle, and modern Irish.
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