The Midnight CourtMany translations into English verse of Brian Merrimans celebrated eighteenth century narrative poem Cirt an Mhen Oche (The Midnight Court) have been made by Irish poets over the past two centuries. All translators have tackled the problem of being Irish poets working in English and drawing upon the Irish language tradition in various ways, as well as having to negotiate between Merrimans world and their own historical moments. This tension in

to look him in the eye and ask: “what about our friendship

In particular it demonstrates continuing concern with the problems of annotation as well as with the reader’s pleasurable and active participation

who clung steadfastly to a doomed vision of Ireland within the British Empire

recording street scenes

‘maker of wounds

union organizer -battles his way from the backstreets to seize control of Tammany Hall

On Another Man’s Wound

As the ancient Egyptians enacted a night journey through their Underworld to Sunrise

with whom he stayed on one occasion

Irish civil servants

uncertainty lead to the realization that this place has become – what the author had always thought was elsewhere – his home

With Setting Foot on the Shore of Connemara he captures the numinous in a net of words and images