Sean O Riordain (1916-77) was the most important and most influential Irish-language poet of modern times. He revitalised poetry in Irish, combining the world of Irish literature with that of modern English and European literature, thus adding to the Irish tradition from the other side. His poems 'seek to answer fundamental questions about the nature of human existence and the place of the individual in a universe without meaning' (Gearoid Denvir).
Many of O Riordain's poems came out of his struggle with the isolation, guilt and loneliness of life in mid-century Catholic Ireland experienced in Cork, the native locale also of the poet Greg Delanty, translator of Apathy Is Out. O Riordain's poems have been translated by many poets, but until now no single writer has translated the majority of the poems. This collection gives a much more unified sense of O Riordain's work, catching the poetry's verve, playfulness and range and also 'the music you still hear in Munster,/even in places where it has gone under'. It includes the dark, sorrowful poems O Riordain has usually represented with in anthologies but also poems of exuberance and celebration, notably 'Tulyar', one of the funniest satirical critiques of the Irish Church's attitude to sex which matches any similar attack by Patrick Kavanagh or Austin Clarke. Sean O Riordain renewed poetry in Irish by writing out of the modernist sense of alienation, fragmentation and identity, but he also saw beyond Modernism's confines to the connective matrix of our world.
By:
Sean O Riordain
Translated by:
Greg Delanty
Imprint: Bloodaxe Books Ltd
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Edition: Bilingual 'facing page' edition
Dimensions:
Height: 216mm,
Width: 138mm,
Spine: 17mm
ISBN: 9781780375366
ISBN 10: 1780375360
Series: Ni Ceadmhach Neamhshuim: Rogha Danta
Pages: 176
Publication Date: 12 July 2021
Audience:
General/trade
,
ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
Clar | Contents 9 Preface 11 Introduction (2005-2017) an Eireaball Spideoige (1952) | from A Robin's Tail Apologia 20 | 21 Apologia An Dall sa Studio 22 | 23 The Blindman in the Studio An Leigheas 24 | 25 The Cure An Cheist 26 | 27 The Question A Sheanfhili, Muinidh dom Glao 28 | 29 Old Poets, Teach Me your Call Bacaigh 30 | 31 Beggar An Peaca 32 | 33 The Sin An Doircheacht 34 | 35 Darkness An Stoirm 36 | 37 The Storm Sos 38 | 39 Rest Clairseach Shean na nGnathrud 40 | 41 The Old Harp of Ordinary Things Do Dhomhnall O Corcora 42 | 43 To Daniel Corkery Adhlacadh mo Mhathar 46 | 47 My Mother's Burial Na Fathaigh 50 | 51 The Giants Cul an Ti 54 | 54 Behind the House Malairt 56 | 57 The Swop Cnoc Melleri 58 | 59 Mount Melleray An Bas 64 | 65 Death Ceol 66 | 67 Music Oilean agus Oilean Eile 68 | 69 An Island and Another Island Saoirse 78 | 79 Freedom Siollabadh 84 | 85 Syllabling an Brosna (1964) | from Kindling A Ghaeilge im Pheannsa 88 | 89 O Irish in My Pen Rian na gCos 90 | 91 Footprints Claustrophobia 94 | 95 Claustrophobia An Feairin 96 | 97 The Maneen Seachtain 98 | 99 A Week Reo 100 | 101 Cold Snap Na Leamhain 102 | 103 The Moths In Absentia 104 | 105 In Absentia An Moladh 108 | 109 The Praise A Theanga Seo Leath-Liom 110 | 111 O Language Half Mine Fiabhras 112 | 113 Fever Tost 114 | 115 Silence Tulyar 116 | 117 Tulyar An Lacha 118 | 119 The Duck Colm 120 | 121 Colm An Gealt 122 | 123 The Mad Woman Bagairt na Marbh 124 | 125 Dread of the Dead An Da Ghuth 126 | 127 The Two Voices Soileireacht 128 | 129 Clarity Catchollu 130 | 131 Catology Duine 132 | 133 People File Aris 134 | 135 Return again an Linte Liombo (1971) | from Limbo Lines Linte Liombo 138 | 139 Limbo Lines Suile Donna 140 | 141 Brown Eyes Ceol Ceantair 142 | 143 Local Music Cloch Scail 144 | 145 Quartz Stone Aistriu 146 | 147 Transformation Tar Eis Dom E Chur go Tigh na nGadhar 148 | 149 After Sending Him to the Doghouse Solas 150 | 151 Light Bas Beo 152 | 153 Live Death Obair 154 | 155 Work Ni Ceadmhach Neamhshuim 156 | 157 Apathy Is Out Dom Chairde 158 | 159 To My Friends Mise 160 | 161 Me from Tar Eis mo Bhais (1978) | from After My Death Clonna Uber Alles 164 | 165 Forms, Above All Udar 166 | 167 Author Barra Na hAille, Dun Chaoin, Lunasa 1970 168 | 169 Clifftop, Dunquin, August 1970 Gaoth Liom Leat 170 | 171 A Dithering Wind 175 Note on the translator
Sean O Riordain (1916-77) was born in the Breac-Ghaeltacht village of Ballyvourney, Co. Cork and moved to Inishcarra, on the outskirts of Cork City at the age of 15, following the death of his father from TB four years earlier. O Riordain himself was diagnosed with TB in 1938, not long after he had begun working as a clerk in Cork City Hall. After resigning from his position due to illness in 1965, he contributed a regular column to the Irish Times in which he wrote critically and satirically about language, literature and culture. He also provided a sharp critique of government policies that reneged on the State's commitment to its professed ideals, with greater vehemence as the Troubles in the six counties of Northern Ireland worsened during the 1970s. An occasional lecturer and writer in residence at University College Cork (1969-76), he had a considerable influence on the Innti poets who studied there. The diaries he kept from 1940 to a couple of days before his death provide insights into O Riordain's working method and his anguished quest for meaning in a life frustrated by illness where poetry provided occasional access to truth and authenticity. O Riordain published three collections before his death in 1977, Eireaball spideoige (1952), Brosna (1964), and Linte Liombo (1971). A fourth collection Tar eis mo bhais was published posthumously in 1978, and his collected poems in Irish, Na danta, in 2011. There are two substantial translations of his poetry, Selected Poems, edited by Frank Sewell (Yale University Press, 2014), and Apathy Is Out: Selected Poems, translated by Greg Delanty (Bloodaxe Books / Clo Iar-Chonnacht, 2021).
