The Aubane Historical Society's prolific output continues to impress. Its latest publication, Danta Phiarais Feiritear, is the first bilingual edition of the complete known poetical works of the 17th century Norman/Gaelic poet.
It is also the first time that the Irish version of the poet's work has appeared in print since Father Patrick Dinneen's publications of 1903 and 1934.
The translations have been provided by Dr Pat Muldowney of Magee College in Derry, and on the facing pages the original Irish version of the poems is matched by explanatory notes.
Pierce Ferriter (1600-1653) was one of Kerry's foremost poets. This collection contains his musings on everything from poetry to grief, war, politics, romance, erotic love and his lament, as the note from the society puts it, "for the destruction being wrought on a civilisation which had flourished for 1,000 years".
Mr Jack Lane of the historical society says that while translations can never do full justice to the poet, Dr Muldowney has given a good sense of Ferriter's passions and feelings. "It is these feelings, so well expressed, that transcend the language barrier and enable Ferriter to talk to us across more than three centuries.
"Hopefully, this work will help remove the association of schooling and formal education with which he is inevitably associated in so many minds. To do as much justice as possible to Ferriter's poetry, we are producing an audio cassette of a selection of poems and I hope you will get a lot of pleasure from listening to them."
In the introduction by Dr Muldowney, we are told that in an article in 1969 by Art O Beolain, the author concluded with the wish that Dinneen's 1934 edition of the poems be reprinted "to enable more people to get to know this great poet."
Dr Muldowney went on: "Between the 1903 and 1934 editions, there are some differences in the selection of poems (probably because of uncertainty regarding authorship) and the wording of some of the poems. The 1934 edition includes a list of alternative versions of certain lines and their manuscript sources.
"The present edition includes all those poems which are definitely attributed to Ferriter by Dinneen, and where alternative readings of some words and lines of the manuscript exist, selects what seems likely to the editor to be the correct version." He also says the notes and English translations have been put together "with the aid of Dinneen's incomparable dictionary", as well as using Dinneen's notes and comments contained in the two editions.
The book also affords insights into Ferriter's politics and his role in the so-called rebellion of 1641 and its Cromwellian outcome. It puts a poet generally known for his output into its historical context. Ferriter's family was of Norman origin and subordinate to the earls of Desmond. His involvement in the seething politics of the time cost him his life. He was hanged in Killarney in 1653.
The society's publications thus far include: A North Cork Anthology (1993); Aubane, Notes on a Townland (1996); 250 Years of the Butter Road (1997); Spotlights on Irish History - from the Confederation of Kilkenny to the Civil War (1997); The Cork Free Press in the Context of the Parnell Split, 1890-1910 (1998) and Aubane, Where in the World is it?.