Seal re Saobhnós – Essays on Irish Courtly Love Poems

The 8 chapters of this books shed new light on how this fascinating genre developed, was transmitted and received and, with the aid of in-depth studies of the theme of love in the work of a number of named poets, prompt us to reconsider the place of the Dánta Grá in the Gaelic literary tradition. The relationship of the Dánta Grá to Bardic praise poetry is re-examined and new light is shed on the role of women as patrons of the arts in Early Modern Ireland, while a study of the metaphors of love in the poetry of Dafydd ap Gwilym expands the scope still further, beyond Ireland and Scotland and into Wales.