Apathy Is Out: Selected Poems
Ni Ceadmhach Neamhshuim: Rogha Danta
Published on 25. March 2021
Book
Paperback/Softback
176 pages
978-1-78037-536-6 (ISBN)
Description
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.
More details
Edition
Bilingual 'facing page' edition
Language
English
Other
Place of publication
Tyne and Wear
United Kingdom
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Dimensions
Height: 214 mm
Width: 135 mm
Thickness: 15 mm
Weight
288 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-78037-536-6 (9781780375366)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
03/2021
Bloodaxe Books Ltd
€14.49
Available for download
Persons
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).
Content
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
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