Wednesday 12 March 2008

Seán Ó Coileáin


...de la Missoulian:

It was a 700-line epic in keeping with the Irish mourning tradition.

And yet Eileen's keen, spontaneous as the ripping of her heart, was so powerfully crafted it is considered by academics and historians as one of the world's greatest love poems.

“It is something extraordinary,” said Sean

O Coileain, a foremost expert on Irish poetry and recently retired department chairman of the renowned modern Irish language department at Ireland's University College Cork.

That it survived some of the most turbulent times Ireland faced, when Protestant rule forbade the speaking and teaching of the country's native language, and that through the ages it was eventually transcribed in its original language and translated for all to experience is testimony to the author's immense skill, O Coileain said.

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