Maidean i mBéarra agus dánta eile

Om denne boken

Maidean i mBéarra agus dánta eile by Osborn Bergin is a collection of Irish-language poems written in the early 20th century. The book blends lyric, satirical, and occasional verse from the Gaelic Revival, moving between love of landscape, elegy, cultural pride, and playful debate. Its likely topic is the celebration and defense of the Irish language and heritage.

The opening lyric longs for a morning on the Beara coast, followed by twin laments for Pádraig Ó Laoghaire that turn private sorrow into communal loss. A series of rousing pieces praises and protects the native tongue, calls the provinces to “sow the seed” of renewal, greets the diaspora on St. Patrick’s Day, and restates heroic virtues of the Fianna. Personal feeling returns in a gentle poem of parting, while civic pride appears in addresses to the Gaels of Belfast and to a prize-winning student. The book also stages lively quarrels over spelling reform, mocks broken Irish, and answers in the spirited voice of Eoghan Rua, even rebuffing a cheeky London interlocutor. Homage to a fellow poet (Torna) and to Welsh song, a jaunty wanderlust piece, and playful reworkings of a simple English rhyme round out a varied, affectionate, elegiac, rousing, and satirical portrait of a language and its community in revival.