Description
Kettillonia, 2015. 60 pages. Paperback.
The original Gaelic poem, Birlinn Chlann Raghnaill, by Alasdair Mac Mhaighstir Alasdair (Alexander MacDonald), with a new English version, introduction and notes by Alan Riach.
This is a terrific rendering of the poem and very much for the 21st century…The words ‘the best yet’ spring immediately to mind.
Ronald Black
The poetry found in Mac Mhaighstir Alasdair’s original Birlinn belongs to, while also transcending, its time: it is strictly metrical, densely rhythmic, and, characteristically, rich in assonance. How does a translator achieve a parallel to so specific an original, where the syntax is radically different as well, while still making readable sense of it? Alan Riach’s answer is not to attempt something that was bound to have been uncomfortable to eye, ear and brain. What he has done instead is to re-imagine the entire poem, brilliantly, without ever losing sight of theme, sonority or emotional drive. And even in passages where rhyme is actually absent, the ear is persuaded to the contrary by the rhythmic intensity he achieves.
In this translation, Alexander MacDonald’s epic song in homage to ocean, ship and sailors, sings with equally melodious eloquence in the guest language. One of the greatest poems in Gaelic lives again in this vibrant new guise that will bring many of us back to the original.
Aonghas MacNeacail
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