Wave

Poems of Aogán Ó Rathaille translated by Brian O’Connor.
Foreword by Declan Kiberd.

A series of new translations by Brian O’Connor are presented in parallel text alongside the original Irish of Aogán Ó Rathaille (c.1670–1726). O’Connor provides a translator’s note and Professor Declan Kiberd provides an engaging, informative foreword on this great poet of lament whose verse bears witness to the demise of the civilisation that nurtured him.

Declan Kiberd, from the foreword:

These translations capture the fragile buoyancy of beautifully extended vowels, which give each line a magnificent dignified internal patterning, even as their endings sometimes refuse rhyme, because the world the poet faces is no longer felt to be regular: Brian O’Connor helps us also to appreciate the sheer range of Ó Rathaille’s acoustic

Brian O’Connor, translator’s note:

Over the years, some very fine writers have rendered Ó Rathaille into English – Frank O’Connor, Thomas Kinsella (with the help of Seán Ó Tuama), Seamus Heaney and Michael Hartnett being among the most distinguished. I hope these versions will be a small addition and, perhaps, introduce Ó Rathaille to new readers.