Bone and Marrow/Cnámh Agus Smior

Book excerpt: Bone and Marrow/Cnámh agus Smior: An Anthology of Irish Poetry from Medieval to Modern is the most inclusive and comprehensive anthology of Irish-language poetry to date. Impressive in its breadth and scholarly in its depth, this collection casts a wide net, and in tracing Irish history since the sixth century to the present day, it makes evident that so much of the bone and marrow of Irish history and culture is poetry. Across the turbulent and often traumatic centuries, poets witnessed and gave witness to a multiplicity of Irish experiences; the rich and multifaceted tradition they created is both a reckoning with Irish, European, and global realities, and an imaginative response to them. Capturing the power and beauty of this diverse tradition, this indispensable volume reveals poetry's centrality to Irish history and culture. Meticulously researched by a team of twenty-two renowned international scholars, it features many new translations, introductory essays, and explanatory headnotes. This bilingual anthology should prove of inestimable value to students, academic, educators, and all those interested in Ireland's ever-evolving poetic traditions and culture.