Bruadair, Dáibhí Ó. / Bruadair, David Ó.

Duanaire Dhaibhidh Ui Bhruadair – The Poems of David Ó Bruadair. [3 volumes – complete]. Part I – Containing Poems down to the Year 1666 / Part II – Containing Poems from the Year 1667 till 1682 / Part III – Containing Poems from the Year 1682 till the Poets Death in 1698. Edited with Introduction, Translation and Notes also with Glossary and an Index of proper Names to the three Parts by Rev. John C. Mac Erlean.

Bilingual Gaelic – English Edition. London, Published for the Irish Texts Society, 1910-1917. 8°. Volume I: VIII, 207 pages plus 26 pages of advertising for publications of the ITS / Volume II: XXXIX, 288 pages / Volume III: XII, 275 pages plus 28 pages of Member Lists and General Rules of the ITS. Original, very decorative Hardcover (green cloth with gilt lettering on spine and emblemata on frontcover. Very good condition with only very minor signs of wear. Few library – stamps. Three pages of the advertisement-sections with minor tears. Rare as a complete set and in this very good condition. [The Irish Texts Society – Volumes XI, XIII and XVIII]

Dáibhí Ó Bruadair (1625 – January 1698) was one of the most significant Irish language poets of the 17th century. He lived through a momentous time in Irish history and his work serves as testimony to the death of the old Irish cultural and political order and the decline in respect for the once honoured and feared poetic classes. His ode, D’Aithle Na bhFileadh (The High Poets are Gone) upon the death of a fellow poet is a particularly poignant reminder of this decline and lament that Ireland was now a far less educated place due to it.
He was born in Barrymore, County Cork and spent much of his adult life in Limerick, receiving the patronage of both Irish and Anglo-Irish landowners. This patronage was vital, as Ó Bruadair was the first of the 17th century poets to attempt to live purely from his poetry, in the manner of the professional bards of the medieval period. It would seem that this attempt was not particularly successful, as his poem Is mairg nár chrean le maitheas saoghalta indicates that he was reduced to working as a farm labourer. He died in poverty and, as poems such as Mairg nach fuil ‘na Dhubhthuata (O It’s best be a total boor) show, with bitterness on him towards the ‘blind ignorant crew’ that was the peasantry. This view was reflected by other poets such as Brian Mac Giolla Phádraig.

As well as Irish, Ó Bruadair knew Latin and English. He was a poet of considerable range, and wrote on historical and political subjects, as well as producing elegies on a number of his patrons, bitter satires on Cromwellian planters, religious poems of real feeling and, almost uniquely amongst Gaelic poets, at least two epithalamia. His versification was equally varied, and he wrote in both syllabic and assonantal metres. (Wikipedia)

• Keywords: Catalogue Irish History Seven – Irish Literature – Poetry – Music – Theatre · Catalogue Irish History Ten – Irish Literature Before 1900 · Catalogue Irish History Two – Origins of Irish Identity · Catalogue No.10 – International Literature · Gaeilge · Gaeilge – Rare · Irish Literature · Irish Literature – Rare
• Language: Gaelic
• Inventory Number: 26919AB

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