The Caldron of Poesy

P.L. Henry

15 Pages (pages 114-128), ISBN unknown     
Published by Studia Celtica; Cardiff Vol. 14, (Jan 1, 1979)     
University of Wales Press 1980     
ProQuest LLC 2007     


The composition which bears this rather apr editorial title survives in a single heavily-glossed copy in the great legal codex H. 3. 18 (c.1500) from which it was edited (without translation) in Anecd. v. 22-8. The Caldron of Poesy [CP] is one of the rare pieces of literature from which we might expect enlightenment about the origins of the Celtic or, at least, the Gaelic muse. What we do know of the ancient poetic process is based on modern accounts and on the evidence of modern Bardic poems buttressed by a few hints from the early literature. Our hopes of enlightenment from archaic sources will be tempered by the knowledge that the terms in which archaic Irish poetry is communicated are relatively inaccessible to us, as indeed they must be, if they represent the technical and professional output of a learned and exclusive craft for their members in, say, the sixth and seventh centuries of our era.


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