Abhráin Grádh Chuige Connacht / Love Songs of Connacht (1893)

[ Note: The pages below are taken from Douglas Hyde, Abhráin Grádh Chuige Connacht / Love Songs of Connacht [orig. 1893; 5th edn.] (Dublin: Gill & Macmillan 1909) ]

Remarks: Besides its importance as giving impetus to a renewed interest in Irish poetry and song during the Gaelic Revival, Hyde’s compilation of texts, translations, and commentary had considerable importance for its introduction of a translation-language in the footnote section of each page which more resembles the syntax of the Irish-language originals that the conventional Hiberno-English patterns of lexis and syntax employed by contemporary bilingual speakers and translators in the Ireland of the day - who understandable sought to emulate the accepted style of English poetry. The examples that he gave in this way possibly inspired - or at least lent confidence to - John Millington Synge in his own experiments with a new literary language for the Anglo-Irish stage, based on his a profound knowledge and understanding of spoken Irish in the Gaeltacht or Irish-speaking regions of the country. it adds some irony to this reflection that Synge"s quasi-poetical Hiberno-English has itself been derogated for its remoteness from the actual parlance of Irish speakers in either language by his critics. BS: 1998.

Note: These remarks reflection the disciplinary insights of Declan Kiberd in his foundational studies of Hyde and his role in the Irish Literary Revival.]

[ The following page images are copied from the 1909 Edition available at Internet Archive - online; accessed 01.06.2019. ]

Cover and final page (published without boards)
Title Page
“Mala Neifin / The Brow of Nefin”
“Mo Brón air an bFairrge / My Grief on the Sea”
[ Enlarged images ]
[ Literal translation - footnote ]
*Literally. My grief on the sea. It is it that is big. It is it that is going between me And my thousand treasures. I was left at home Making grief, Without any hope of (going) over sea with me, For ever or aye. My grief that I am not, And my white moorneen, In the province of Leinster Or County of Clare. My sorry I am not, And my thousand loves On board of a ship Voyaging to America. A bed of rushes Was under me last night And I threw it out With the heat of the day. My love came To my side, Shoulder to shoulder And mouth on mouth.
Cf. James Joyce, Ulysses (1922)—
Ulysses (1922; revised edn. 1984), 3:384-400.