146: #146 | A Fine Bed-Mate: The Story of “Caoineadh Airt Uí Laoghaire”

Motherfoclóir

It’s not often that an eighteenth century poem finds itself in the news, but thanks to the rave reviews and public demand for Doireann Ní Ghríofa’s “A Ghost In The Throat”, this is the situation we are now in. Ní Ghríofa’s work is a memoir in which she considers her relationship with the masterpiece “Caoineadh Airt Uí Laoghaire” and tries to discover the story of its author, Eibhlín Dhubh Ní Chonaill. How can the person who wrote the greatest poem of her century disappear from history? Why do we only know about her in relation to the men in her life?
In today’s episode, Darach, Peadar and Gearóidín consider this poem, the world of penal laws, power changes and rivalries that it emerged from and its place in Irish literature then and now. They discuss its female gaze, the attitude to physical and equal love it reveals and how male Irish poets have asserted their names into the life stories of remarkable Irish women.
Also, Darach has a conspiracy theory about the death of Art O’Laoghaire’s assassin, Gearóidín bemoans PS I Love You and Peadar explains the significance of horses in Europe at the time.
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