Labhair an file iomráiteach, Ailbhe Ní Ghearbhuigh le Olivia O' Leary ar The Poetry Programme ar RTÉ Radio 1 faoin gcnuasach filíochta dátheangach Cnámh agus Smior atá nuafhoilsithe.
Cé go bhfuil cnuasaigh eile faoi thraidisiún fhilíocht na Gaeilge, deir Ailbhe gur iarracht mhór é an cnuasach seo leis an traidisiún Gaelach a chuimsiú. Is leabhar mór é seo, a deir sí, míle leathanach ar fhad a chlúdaíonn an séú haois déag go dtí an lá atá inniu ann.
Tá idir aistí agus filíocht sa chnuasach seo agus mar go bhfuil sé dátheangach, cuireann sin le toirt an leabhair. Osclaíonn an leabhar seo le Mise agus Pangúr Bán agus dár le hAilbhe is 'miracle of survival' é an dán seo mar gur mhair sé in lámhscríbhinn sa Ghearmáin go dtí gur thángthas air.
Subtitled An Anthology of Irish Poetry from Medieval to Modern and edited by Samuel K. Fisher & Brian Ó Conchubhair, this inclusive and comprehensive anthology of Irish-language poetry incorporates Early Medieval Irish poetry; monastic and bardic poetry; the Anglo-Norman invasion; the Reformation; Counter-Reformation; Plantations; the Gaelic Apocalypse; the Restoration; The War of the Two Kings; Penal Laws; Jacobitism; the Great Famine; vernacular nineteenth-century songs; the Irish Revival; Modernism; the Innti poets; as well as new and emerging twenty-first-century voices.
All in, it has 800 pages of poetry, 120 poets, 24 contributors, and 15 centuries of coverage. To get a flavour of the anthology, throughout the programme we hear readings of a number of poems.
An extract of Messe ocus Pangur Bán is read in Old Irish by Liam Ó Murchú, former member of staff of the Department of Early and Medieval Irish in University College Cork, while actor Andrew Bennett reads the English translation. Andrew also reads Dáibhí Ó Bruadair's poem D'aithle na bhFileadh/After the Noble Poets and an extract from Brian Merriman’s The Midnight Court/Cúirt an Mheán Oíche.
We also hear an archive recording of Michael Davitt reading his poem Luimneach, and Ailbhe reads Slán Chugat Thoir/I Bid you Farewell in the East by Áine Ní Fhoghlú, as well as her own poem Manach Eile agus a Chat/Another Monk and his Cat.
Éist le The Poetry Programme, Sundays at 7 pm on RTÉ Radio 1
