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Mar bís coindeall a láim doill: knowledge, inspiration, and Irish poetics through the lens of Irish and continental defences of poetry
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Date
2026-02
Abstract
This research focuses on the intellectual history of Ireland and Europe in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. Several Irish texts from that period question the functions of poetry, thus forming a debate discussing its merits. At the time, similar discussions were taking place on the continent, and yet the Irish and European debates have never been compared. Such a study has the potential to reveal the extent of the influence and knowledge of European thought on Irish ideas of the period, especially regarding poetry.
This thesis will first provide an analysis of the Irish texts. These texts are severely understudied, and an assessment of these texts in their contemporary Irish context will provide a better understanding of the debate, the reasons behind it, and how it played out. A comparative study of the differences and similarities between the Irish and European texts will also be presented, highlighting how the ideas found elsewhere were used and adapted in the Irish context. To illustrate the continental European view on poetry, texts from Italy and to a lesser extent France will be discussed. Italy, in particular, provides an excellent case study for purposes of comparison as numerous texts on the debate emanated from there, from authors such as Petrarch and Boccaccio.
This study will then turn to the sources for the debate, especially focusing on the background of the ideas central to the arguments of both continental and Irish authors. Evaluating the development and presence of these ideas in both context will ultimately lead us to a better understanding of how poetry was perceived in thirteenth- and fourteenth-century Ireland, and how this understanding aligns – or differs – from wider literary and philosophical trends of the time.
This study is about ideas: how ideas travel, how they are received, and how similar ideas may be employed to support different viewpoints; but also who controls ideas, how they may be used or misused to support vested interests.
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Description
Peer-reviewed
Publisher
University of Limerick
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Clion_2025_Knowledge.pdf
Adobe PDF, 1.15 MB
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Sustainable Development Goals
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Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International