James Carney (1914–1989)

Carney is by far the best translator of early Irish poetry. he cuts to the bone - no flowery romantic additives here:
No pleasure
that deed I did, tormenting him,
tormenting what I treasure.
the introduction illuminates the structure of the poetry of this period, and the coda essay follows an Irish bardic poet's life and living through all his writings, making clear the position of an ollav within the old Irish system. an important little book altogether for anyone interested in Irish poetry.

structural studies of early Irish literature centered around the Tain, and set against other literary works of the day, including Beowulf. using an interesting and exhaustive, though not always persuasive, methodology of textual analysis, Carney looks for patterns to advance theories about authorship and dating, and attempts to find the earliest extant introduction of the motifs involved.

a collection of essays on early Irish poetry by noted scholars, the subject matters include the lyric poetry, latin poetry, religious epics, the metrical dindshenchas, and individual poets. numerous poems are quoted, sometimes in full, both the original and a translation attached. altogether a lovely little book on some very important early poetry and scholarship unique in western Europe at the time.