Four Irish Poets - Quatre Poetes Irlandais

Clíona Ní Ríordáin presents a bilingual English-French selection of the work of four Irish poets published: Pat Boran, Katherine Duffy, Mary Montague and Gerry Murphy. An ideal companion for students of contemporary Irish poetry. "The oral essence of poetry is more marked in Ireland than possibly anywhere else; this is without doubt linked to the bardic tradition, with its reliance on assonance as an aid to memorisation. In Irish poetry, the private nature of poetry is perhaps less important than poetry seen as a form of public art, which includes the recitation of favourite poems and poetry readings given by the poets themselves ... or by readers. The Irish attraction for this type of event is without an equivalent in France" - from the Preface. Brought up in an Irish-speaking family in Cork, Clíona Ní Ríordáin is a Maître de Conférences at the University of the Sorbonne Nouvelle, where she teaches translation and Irish Studies (language and literature).