Verse in English from Tudor and Stuart Ireland

by Andrew Carpenter (Editor)

Overview

In the same way that Andrew Carpenter's 1998 anthology "Verse in English from Eighteenth-Century Ireland" changed our perception of Irish writing in English from that period, so this companion volume "Verse in English from Tudor and Stuart Ireland" explodes the myth that no English verse of value has survived from sixteenth- or seventeenth-century Ireland. As this exciting and original anthology shows, hundreds of poets were active in Ireland at the time. The work of a few of them — Edmund Spenser and the young Jonathan Swift in particular – is well-known today: but almost everything else in this anthology — taken from manuscripts or from the original printings — appears here for the first time in over three hundred years. The poets who wrote these verses, otherwise unknown men and women from the worlds of the Old English and native Irish, or visitors or settlers newly arrived from England, emerge from the pages of this book as sardonic observers of the dangerous times in which they lived, and as writers of originality, freshness and, sometimes, of wit and ingenuity.



There is astonishing variety of material in the 200 poems gathered here — love songs, ballads, verse letters, laments, death-bed repentances, elegies, political lampoons and theological speculations. There are verses from well-bred coteries in Dublin Castle and verses scratched on gateposts; there are hymns and curses, echoes and allegories, prayers and squibs; there are coarse poems, gentle poems, angry poems and mad poems. The book proves triumphantly that, from the beginning of the Tudor period until the Battle of the Boyne, verse in English was written, read and recited wherever English-speakers were to be found in Ireland.



"Verse in English from Tudor and Stuart Ireland" is not only a major contribution to Irish cultural history, but a book which introduces to modern readers a memorable range of original and unjustly neglected Irish poetic voices.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781859183540
Publisher:	Cork University Press
Publication date:	12/31/2003
Pages:	598
Product dimensions:	5.25(w) x 8.75(h) x 1.57(d)

About the Author

Andrew Carpenter is Emeritus Professor of English, University College Dublin and General Editor, The Art and Architecture of Ireland (Yale UP). He is the joint founding editor of The Field Day Anthology of Irish Writing Volumes I-III, and Verse in English From Eighteenth Century Ireland. He is a former publisher of collector’s titles under the Cadenus Press, a bibliophile and expert on eighteenth century literature.

Table of Contents

	Introduction	1
	A Note on the Texts	33
Part I	1485-1603: Verse from Tudor Ireland
	from: Letter sent by the Mayor and Inhabitants of the Citie of Waterford ...	37
	Description and praise of his love Geraldine	44
	I am an Iryshe man ...	45
	Edward 6 vel Quene Marie	47
	from: A most pithi and plesant history whear in is the destrouction of Troye ...	48
	Song on Queen Elizabeth (c.1560)	49
	An Epitaph upon the death of Syr William Drury ...	50
	from: Of the unquietnesse of Ireland	54
	from: A Letter sent from the Noble Earl of Ormond's house at Kilkennie	55
	You and I will go to Fingall (c.1580)	58
	from: The Image of Irelande ...	59
	A Penitent Sonnet written by thee Lord Girald ...	65
	Upon thee death of thee right honourable and his moste deere coosen ...	68
	An Endevored Description of his Mystresse	69
	from: Thee First Booke of Virgil, his AEneis ...	70
	[A good horse described] from translation of Heresbach's Foure Bookes of Husbandrie...	73
	from: The mourning Muse of Thestylis	74
	from: Colin Clouts Come Home Againe	78
	from: Epithalamion	82
	from: The Faerie Queene	89
	Of the warres in Ireland	97
	from: England's Hope against Irish Hate	98
	from: The Newe Metamorphosis	108
	from: A Discourse occasioned upon the late defeat ...	110
	from: A joyfull new ballad of the late Victory obtain'd by my Lord Mount-Joy (1602)	116
	Richard Bourke, Earl of Clanricard (c.1580-1602?-1635) Of the last Queene	121
Part II	1603-1641: Early Stuart Verse
	Fare-well sweete Isle	125
	His leave taking of Cynthia ...	125
	To his Co[u]sin Master Richard Nugent ...	126
	The answer of M. Richard Nugent ...	126
	An Irish Banquet or the Mayors Feast of Youghall	128
	On the Deputy of Ireland his Child	134
	Poem for the marriage of Sir Francis Willoughby and Lady Cassandra Ridgeway	135
	from: Newes from the Holy Ile	139
	The Lamentable Burning of the City of Corke ... (1622)	148
	Dialogus inter viatorem & Heremitam ... [A dialogue between a traveller and a hermit ...]	152
	Verses on a bible presented to the Lady K[atherine] C[ork]	154
	from: Eclogue to A Sixth Booke to the Countesse of Pembrokes Arcadia	156
	The Description of a Tempest	158
	Directions to a Painter to draw his Mistris	161
	To his approved friend the Author	165
	An Elegie... to the Countesse of London Derrye ...	166
	Sacred to God + aeternall memore Sr. Arthure Chichester ... (1625)	172
	from: An Elegie on the much lamented death of ... Sir Arthur Chichester ...	174
183
	from: Argalus and Parthenia	186
	Like to the Damaske Rose	191
	A Theologicall description of the divine rapture and extasie ...	193
	from: An Elegie upon the death of the ... Countesse of Corke	195
	The Irish Exile's Song	202
	Passages in English verse from translation of Geoffrey Keating's Foras Feasa ar Eirinn	204
	Ye merry Boyes all that live in Fingaule (c.1636)	210
	A Prologue ... to The Irish Gent	212
	A Prologue to another of Master Fletcher's Playes ...	213
	A Prologue to ... No Wit to a Womans	214
	Upon Mr James Shirley his Comedy, called The Royal Master	216
	The Life and Death of John Atherton ... (1641)	218
Part III	1641-1660: From the Rising to the Restoration
	Anonymous political poems from the 1640s
	Verse prophesy about the Irish (1641)	227
	Verse written by the Irish Confederates (1642)	227
	An Elegie uppon the much lamented death of ... Sir Charles Coote (1642)	228
	Anagram on Charles Coote (the younger) (1646?)	231
	from: On the breach of the Peace (1646)	232
	from: A New Ballad called a Review of the Rebellion ... (1647)	235
	Anagram on Michael Jones (1648?)	236
	A kind of a Ballad ...	238
	On the Renovation of the Bishops of Ireland ...	242
	An Account of an Irish Quarter (c.1643)	243
	from: A Looking-Glasse of the World, or, the Plundered Man in Ireland (1644)	249
	On a dangerous Voyage twixt Mazarine and Montjoy	251
	Newes from Lough-Bagge ...	254
	A March	258
	Inscription on a monument in the church at Gowran, Co. Kilkenny (1646)	263
	The Explanation of the Frontispeece of A Bloody Irish Almanack ...	264
	To the excellent and most noble ... Lord Marquis of Ormond	266
	Arise, distracted land	268
	from: Hybernioe Lachrymoe, or, a sad contemplation on ... Ireland (1648)	269
	To Ireland	273
	Inscription on Monument in St Mickle's Church, Damagh, Co. Kilkenny	274
	The Loyall Subjects Jubilee, or Cromwels Farewell to England ... (1649)	276
	from: Carmen Eucharisticon ...	278
	Ormondes Breakfast or a True Relation ... (1649)	284
	from: Zions Thankfull Ecchoes from the Clifts of Ireland ...	290
	A Poeme uppon Cromuell and his Archtrayterous Rabble of Rebellious Racailles ...	299
	The Fingallian Dance (c.1650)	310
	from: On the Protector (c.1653)	311
	from: A Medley of the Nations [The Irish] (1655)	312
	To the Honorable Commissioners for Assesments, The Complaint of the South Suburbs of Corke	313
	A Preparative to a Pacification betwixt The South, and North, Suburbs of Corke	317
	from: Ter Tria: or the Doctrine of the Three Sacred Persons ...	321
	from: Hope	340
	from: A Song for that Assembly ...	346
Part IV	1660-1685: The Reign of Charles II
	Verses sent to Generall Monck by the Corporation of Belfast (1660)	353
	An Antheme Sung at the Consecration of the Arch bishops and Bishops of Ireland ...	354
	from: 'To his Grace James Duke of Ormond... upon his returne to this Kingdom and Government' (1662)	356
	On the Act of Settlement (c.1663)	359
	Katherine Philips (1632-1662-1664)
	To the Lady E[lizabeth] Boyl	361
	To the Lady Mary Butler at her marriage with the Lord Cavendish ...	363
	To the Countess of Roscomon, with a copy of Pompey	364
	The Irish Greyhound	365
	'Philo-Philippa' (1663)
	To the Excellent Orinda	367
	Epilogue to Alexander the Great when acted at the Theatre in Dublin	374
	Prologue to Pompey	376
	from: An Essay on Translated Verse	377
	from: Iter Hibernicum (c.1663)	382
	In Laudem Navis Geminoe E Portu Dublinij ad Regem Carolum II[superscript dum] Missoe (1663)	391
	['In praise of the twin-hulled boat sent from the port of Dublin to King Charles II']
	Verses for the year and for each month of 1665 ...	402
	An Epitaph upon one Browne, an Irish man (1665)	405
	Four Festival Hymns	406
	from: An humble token of loyalty & sincere gratitude	409
	Lines allegedly written on the gates of Bandon Bridge (c.1670)	410
	from: Purgatorium Hibernicum (c.1670)	411
	On the Praise, and happy delivery of James Wolveridge ...	418
	On the death of Mr Jo. Nelson ... (1671)	421
	A Letter from a Missionary Bawd in Dublin ... (c.1673)	423
	from: The Wish	429
	from: To his worthy and much honoured Friend [Edmund Borlase] ...	437
	from: The Moderate Cavalier ...	442
	A Dialogue betwixt a Soldier, Author of this Book, and an Echo ...	445
	A Navall Allegory	447
	To my Mother the Church of Christ in Ireland	453
	On the Nativity of Our Blessed Lord ...	453
	An Elegy of the Modern Heroe, Redmond O Hanlan ... (1681)	455
	from: Upon the Earl of Ossory's dying of a Feaver (1681)	458
	A Looking-Glass for a Tory; or the Bogg-Trotter's Glory (1682)	462
	To his Excellence, Richard Earle of Arran &c.	466
	On Mr Wilson's admirable Copy of Verses dedicated to his Ex: the Earle of Arran (1682)	468
	from: A Lampoon on the Senior Fellowes of Dublin Colledge (1683)	470
	On Christmas Day the Yeere 1678 ...	474
	Lines Presented to a Freind in her Garden ...	477
	The Banish'd Man Lamenteth the 20th of November ...	479
	The Banish'd Man's Adieu to his Country	481
	The Lamentation of the Scholars ... at the Dissolving of the Schools ...	482
	To all Protestants in England, Scotland & Ireland (1684)	486
	Upon the Earl of Roscommon's poems being publish'd	488
Part V	1685-1701: Jacobite and Williamite Ireland
	To His Grace the Duke of Ormond, upon his Leaving the Government and Kingdom of Ireland (1685)	493
	To his Onor de Rit Onorable Richard Earle of Tyroincol (c.1686)	495
	from: Fons Perennis	497
	On the College of Physicians in Dublin ... (c.1687)	499
	from: A Congratulatory Poem on the arrival of His Sacred Majesty at the City of Chester (1687)	500
	On Doctor Dryden's coming over to the provost of Trinity College (1687)	502
	Lilliburlero (1687)	504
	An Elegy of the Pig ... (c.1688)	509
	Verses on Thomas Weaver	511
	Two broadsides calumniating Irish Papists (1689)
	Here, Here, Here is Pig and Pork ...	513
	The Lusty Friar of Dublin ...	515
	from: The Irish Hudibras (1689)	519
	from: The Court of England [Teague's response to the accession of King William] (1689)	524
	Five broadsides on the Irish War (1689-91)
	News from London-Derry in a packet of advice from Room	526
	Poor Teague in Distress ...	529
	The Bogg-Trotters March	531
	Teague the Irish Trooper	533
	Teague the Irish Soldier	536
	On the Death of General Schomberg ...	539
	Ode to the King on his Irish Expedition ...	543
	from: Epicteti Enchiridion made English ...	549
	The Gentlemen at Larges Litany (c.1692)	552
	from: The Story of Perseus and Andromeda	554
	An Ode upon the 9th of January 1694, the Anniversary of the University of Dublin ...	557
	The Blessed Virgin's Expostulation ...	559
	Upon the Sight of an Anatomy	560
	Ribeen a Roon (1698)	563
	from: Londerias ...	564
	from: The Fall of Man	568
	Pigmalion and his Iv'ry Statue	570
	Three poems from Dublin Castle (1699-1701)
	The Discovery (by Jonathan Swift)	573
	The Picture of a Beau (Anonymous)	575
	The Humble Petition of Frances Harris (by Jonathan Swift)	577
	Sources of the texts	581
	Index	592

Editorial Reviews

"[I]n presenting a generous selection of the English verse produced there [in Ireland], Carpenter provides cultural, literary and social historians with a fascinating collection of materials through which to explore what might be termed English cultural mentalities about Ireland…This anthology is the product of enormous amount of scholarly labour and enthusiasm…"

Times Literary Supplement

"Prior to the 18th century, verse was often an oral account of ordinary events, and written verses were generally circulated among one's social set or printed for wider distribution. Carpenter (Univ. College Dublin) has collected surviving works of men and women residing in Ireland from early Tudor times through the Stuart years. Although many of these individuals would not have considered themselves poets, their verses in English offer an outsider's view of Ireland. Like his previous anthology, Verse in English from Eighteenth-Century Ireland (CH, Nov'98), the present collection demonstrates the number and variety of poets writing at the time, only a few of whom are well known. Carpenter's material ranges in every genre from love songs and hymns to political lampoons. In addition, a few dramatic prologues and epilogues offer a glimpse of the cultural and political milieu of English speakers in Ireland in the 16th and 17th centuries. Although only a few women are represented in the text, the survey is a balanced summary of a diverse and prolific literary scene. Summing Up: Recommended. Libraries with special collections in Irish studies or late Renaissance and Restoration literature; upper-division undergraduates and above."

CHOICE - M. H. Kealy

"Prior to the 18th century, verse was often an oral account of ordinary events, and written verses were generally circulated among one's social set or printed for wider distribution. Carpenter (Univ. College Dublin) has collected surviving works of men and women residing in Ireland from early Tudor times through the Stuart years. Although many of these individuals would not have considered themselves poets, their verses in English offer an outsider's view of Ireland. Like his previous anthology, Verse in English from Eighteenth-Century Ireland (CH, Nov'98), the present collection demonstrates the number and variety of poets writing at the time, only a few of whom are well known. Carpenter's material ranges in every genre from love songs and hymns to political lampoons. In addition, a few dramatic prologues and epilogues offer a glimpse of the cultural and political milieu of English speakers in Ireland in the 16th and 17th centuries. Although only a few women are represented in the text, the survey is a balanced summary of a diverse and prolific literary scene. Summing Up: Recommended. Libraries with special collections in Irish studies or late Renaissance and Restoration literature; upper-division undergraduates and above."

"[I]n presenting a generous selection of the English verse produced there [in Ireland], Carpenter provides cultural, literary and social historians with a fascinating collection of materials through which to explore what might be termed English cultural mentalities about Ireland…This anthology is the product of enormous amount of scholarly labour and enthusiasm…"

From the Publisher