Vol. 7: Buttimer, Cornelius G.

Type: Article

Buttimer, Cornelius G. ‘Tuairisc Amhailt Uí Iartáin: An eighteenth-century poem on a fair.’, Eighteenth-century Ireland/Iris an dá chultúr, Vol. 7 (1992), Pp 75-94.

This article analyses the Gaelic poem, Tuairisc Amhailt Uí Iartáin ar Aonach Chlár Chluana Mhic Mhuiris sonn, a burlesque, ‘microcosmic’ account of an eighteenth-century fair. Buttimer discusses the event on which the poem is based and “the ability of the Irish language to describe a commercial and social enterprise”. Since there is no date, place or author mentioned in the poem, Buttimer attempts to solve the question of the poem’s origin by analysing the action and setting as described in each line of the poem. Buttimer also compares Tuairisc to other fair compositions and discusses fairs and markets in Gaelic tradition. The poem is reprinted here in Irish and English with textual notes and a glossary of Irish terms used in the poem.