Introduction by James Carney.
In the present volume are brought together three important works on early Irish literature: "Irish Classical Poetry", by Dr. Eleanor Knott; "Saga and Myth in Ancient Ireland" and "The Ossianic Lore and Romantic Tales of Medieval Ireland", by the late Professor Gerard Murphy. Between them, these three works by two most distinguished Celticists, comprise an excellent introduction to over a thousand years of traditional Gaelic literature, reckoning from its remote beginnings in the sixth or seventh century down to the eighteenth, by which time the production of creative literature in traditional forms had come almost to a standstill.
Author(s): Eleanor Knott, Gerard Murphy
Publisher: Routledge & Kegan Paul
Year: 1967
Language: English
Pages: VIII+206
City: London
Abbreviations vii
Introduction by James Carney 1
IRISH CLASSICAL POETRY
I. EARLY POETRY
Bard and fili 21
Metrical form 23
Subjects and authors 28
Literary style 30
Anonymity 37
Early religious poetry 38
Love poems 45
Ossianic poems 54
II. THE COURT POET AND HIS WORK
'Dá mbáidhti an dán' 60
Composing a poem 63
Recitation 64
Language 65
Style 68
Poems of praise, protest, etc. 71
Satire 77
Personal poems 82
The religious verse of the court poets 85
The 'Contention of the Bards' 88
Conclusion 92
SAGA AND MYTH IN ANCIENT IRELAND
Storytelling in ancient Ireland 97
Mythological tales 104
Tales of the heroic age 114
King tales 131
Later development 142
THE OSSIANIC LORE AND ROMANTIC TALES OF MEDIEVAL IRELAND
The Fionn cycle 145
Early Fionn tales 148
Early Fionn ballads and Acallam na Senórach 154
New trends in Irish storytelling as a result of the Anglo-Norman invasion 166
Translations and adaptations 170
Irish Arthurian tales 172
Irish romantic tales 174
Later Fionn tales 182
Later Fionn ballads 187
Manuscript tradition and oral tradition 191
Books for further reading 194
Index of Names, Terms, Authorities, etc. 195
Index of Tales, etc. 201
