The Táin Bó Cuailnge, center-piece of the eighth-century Ulster cycle of heroic tales, is Ireland's greatest epic. Thomas Kinsella's lively translation is based on the partial texts in two medieval manuscripts, with elements from other versions. This edition includes a group of related stories which prepare for the action of the Táin along with brush drawings by Louis le Brocquy.

The Tain: Translated from the Irish Epic Tain Bo Cuailnge

Literature & Fiction

Kinsella, Thomas

British & Irish

Oxford University Press

The Táin Bó Cuailnge, centre-piece of the eighth-century Ulster cycle of heroic tales, is Ireland's nearest approach to a great epic. It tells the story of a giant cattle-raid, the invasion of Ulster by the armies of Medb and Ailill, queen and king of Connacht, and their allies, seeking to carry off the great Brown Bull of Cuailnge. The hero of the tale is Cúchulainn, the Hound of Ulster, who single-handedly resists the invasion, whils Ulster's warriors lie sick. Thomas Kinsella's translation is the first attempt to present a `living version' of the story, complete and unbowdlerized. It is based on the partial texts in two medieval manuscripts, and includes a group of related stories which prepare for the action of the Táin. Illustrated with 31 brush drawings by Louis le Brocquy and three maps, this edition combines medieval epic with modern art.

The Tain: From the Irish Epic "Tain Bo Cuailnge"

Oxford University Press, London

This new collection comprises four short volumes originally published by Kinsella's own Peppercannister Press. The first section, Songs of the Psyche presents a sequence of twenty-five poems. The following section, Her Vertical Smile consists of a single four-hundred-line poem on the theme of violence, order, and music. Out of Ireland, a metaphysical love sequence, and St. Catherine's Clock, which includes Kinsella's writing about family history and the bloody social history of the early nineteenth century, complete the collection.

Blood and Family (Oxford Paperbacks)

From Centre City, Thomas Kinsella's first book of poems since Blood and Family (1988), is an outstanding selection of poetry taken from the works of five pamphlets, privately published by Kinsella's own Peppercannister Press in Dublin. Dealing primarily with family history and the bloody social history of the nineteenth century that are "tangled together in the area," this collection continues with a body of personal poetry based on experiences and places in various parts of the poets previous home city of Dublin. Also included are the first short poems from Kinsella's new home in County Wicklow. The editor of the highly acclaimed New Oxford Book of Irish Verse and translator of the Irish classic The Tain, Kinsella again establishes himself as a poet whom Seamus Heaney hailed as one "who over the last decade has been mastering an idiom."

From Centre City (The ^AOxford Poets)

History & Criticism

The Collected Poems of the distinguished poet Thomas Kinsella contains virtually all his own poems, written over the past forty years. His early books, of the 1950s and 1960s, include occasional poems, lyrics in traditional forms, and longer poems and sequences on themes ranging from history to politics. There are speculative narratives in local settings, such as "A Country Walk" and "Downstream," and family poems of close observation, with a growing mythical and allegorical element. There is also much public poety, including "Butcher's Dozen," on the Bloody Sunday shootings in Derry in 1972. His books since the 1980s continue with poems of public and literary comment, such as "Open Court," and a growing body of personal and private poetry, including "Songs of the Psyche" and "Personal Places." The Collected Poems offers readers an intriguing glimpse into the evolution of a fascinating poet.

The Collected Poems 1956-1994 (The Oxford Poets)

Poetry

Poems, 1956-73

Dolmen Press

Poems, Nineteen Fifty-Six to Nineteen Seventy-Three.

Wake Forest Univ Pr

Personal places (Peppercanister)

Dedalus Press

Poems from Centre City

The Dedalus Press

Poems from centre city (Peppercanister)

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