Verse in English from Eighteenth-century Ireland

Andrew Carpenter

Cork University Press, 1998 - Literary Criticism - 623 pages

This pioneering anthology introduces many previously neglected eighteenth-century writers to a general readership, and will lead to a re-examination of the entire canon of Irish verse in English.



Between 1700 and 1800, Dublin was second only to London as a center for the printing of poetry in English. Many fine poets were active during this period. However, because Irish eighteenth-century verse in English has to a great extent escaped the scholar and the anthologist, it is hardly known at all.



The most innovative aspect of this new anthology is the inclusion of many poetic voices entirely unknown to modern readers. Although the anthology contains the work of well-known figures such as John Toland, Thomas Parnell, Jonathan Swift, Patrick Delany, Laetitia Pilkington and Oliver Goldsmith, there are many verses by lesser known writers and nearly eighty anonymous poems which come from the broadsheets, manuscripts and chapbooks of the time. What emerges is an entirely new perspective on life in eighteenth-century Ireland. We hear the voice of a hard working farmer's wife from county Derry, of a rambling weaver from county Antrim, and that of a woman dying from drink. We learn about whale-fishing in county Donegal, about farming in county Kerry and bull-baiting in Dublin. In fact, almost every aspect of life in eighteenth-century Ireland is described vividly, energetically, with humor and feeling in the verse of this anthology.



Among the most moving poems are those by Irish-speaking poets who use amhran or song meter and internal assonance, both borrowed from Irish, in their English verse. Equally interesting is the work of the weaver poets of Ulster who wrote in vigorous and energetic Ulster-Scots. The anthology also includes political poems dating from the reign of James II to the Act of Union, as well as a selection of lesser-known nationalist and Orange songs. Each poem is fully annotated and the book also contains a glossary of terms in Hiberno-English and Ulster Scots.

Contents

• Introduction: 1
• Jonathan Swift: 7
• Chapbook verse of the 1780s: 20
• A Note on the Texts 34: 34
• Nahum Tate 165216981715: 54
• William King 166317041712: 61
• William Congreve 167017101729: 67
• Mary Monck c 167817151715: 75
• James Ward 169117181736: 77
• Morrough OConnor fl 171940: 83
• Matthew Concanen 170117201749: 90
• Anonymous poems current 171025: 99
• Nicholas Browne c 169917221734: 128
• Mary Davys 167417251732: 135
• Swift and his Irish contemporaries 171345: 143
• Jonathan Swift 16671745: 151
• Esther Johnson 16811728: 158
• Thomas Sheridan 16871738: 164
• Jonathan Swift Patrick Delany Thomas Sheridan and others: 182
• Jonathan Swift: 190
• Matthew Pilkington 170117311774: 197
• Constantia Grierson c 170517321732: 203
• James Arbuckle c 17001745c 1747: 231
• Anonymous poems from the 1730s and 1740s: 241
• James Sterling 170117371763: 253
• Wetenhall Wilkes fl 1737 d 1751: 260
• John Earl of Orrery 170717411762: 268
• Laurence Whyte c 16831742c 1753: 278
• James Eyre Weekes c 17201743c 1754: 296
• Anonymous songs and poems from the 1750s: 302
• Thomas Mozeen fl 1750 d 1768: 314
• Samuel Whyte 173317581811: 320
• Liam Inglis 170917601778: 327
• Anonymous poems from the 1760s: 338
• Anonymous verse from newspapers and books of the 1780s: 405
• Anonymous IrishEnglish poems from the 1780s: 420
• John Taylor fl 1787: 428
• Brian Merriman c 174917891805: 446
• Charlotte Brooke c 174017891793: 453
• OReilly fl 1790: 459
• Pat OKelly 17541791c 1812: 468
• Henrietta ONeill 175817921793: 475
• Samuel Thomson 176617931816: 482
• Edward Walsh 175617931832: 490
• Four anonymous rambling songs: 498
• Anonymous poems from the 1790s: 507
• Richard Alfred Milliken 176718001815: 523
• Jane Elizabeth Moore 17381796?: 530
• Mary Alcock c 174217981798: 537
• James Orr 177017981816: 542
• Hugh Porter 178017991812: 552
• Three Orange Songs: 576
• Edward Lysaght 176318001810: 582

Bibliographic information

• Title: Verse in English from Eighteenth-century Ireland
• Editor: Andrew Carpenter
• Edition: annotated
• Publisher: Cork University Press, 1998
• ISBN: 1859181031, 9781859181034
• Length: 623 pages
• Subjects: Literary Criticism / European / English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh; Poetry / Anthologies (multiple authors); Poetry / European / English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh