E A R L Y IR IS H L I T E R A T U R E EARLY IRISH LITERATURE ELEAN O R KNOTT GERARD M U RPH Y Introduction by JA M ES CARNEY LONDON R O U T L E D G E & K E G A N P A U L Published ig66 by Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited Broadway Housey 68-J 4 Carter Lane London, E.C.4 Printed in Great Britain by Western Printing Services Limited Bristol © Government of Ireland 2nd impression ig6y Contents Abbreviations page vii Introduction by James Carney i IRISH CLASSICAL PO ETRY I. EARLY POETRY Bard and fili 21 Metrical form 23 Subjects and authors 28 Literary style 3° Anonymity 37 Early religious poetry 38 Love poems 45 Ossianic poems 54 II. THE COURT POET AND HIS WORK Dd mbdidhti an dan 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 V CONTENTS SAGA AND M YTH IN AN CIEN T IRELAND Storytelling in ancient Ireland page 97 Mythological tales 104 Tales of the heroic age 114 King tales 131 Later development 142 TH E OSSIANIC LORE AND RO M ANTIC TA LES OF M ED IEVAL 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 vi