Manannan Ballad
The Manannan Ballad or Manx Traditionary Ballad is a poem in Early Manx[1] dating from about the beginning of the 16th century. It gives an account of the history of the Isle of Man and its rulers, ranging from the Gaelic god Manannán mac Lir up to Thomas Stanley, 1st Earl of Derby.[2] The Manannan Ballad is the oldest datable work in the Manx language.[3]
Synopsis
The poem begins with an account of
Verse form
The ballad was written in quatrains, rhyming abab. The lines have eight syllables, or occasionally nine, in iambic metre. The poem uses neither alliteration nor internal rhyme.[4]
Composition
Internal evidence shows the poem to have been written between about 1490 and 1520, perhaps by an inhabitant of the east-central part of the Isle of Man.[5] It was written in an antiquarian spirit, drawing on documents and oral traditions for its picture of Manx history.[6] Two short additions to the poem were written in the 18th century to bring the story up to date.[7]
Transmission
The ballad was at first transmitted orally, but around the year 1770 it was transcribed in two independent manuscripts, perhaps as a result of the general enthusiasm for collecting traditional ballads sparked by the controversy surrounding James Macpherson's Ossian poems.[6] A 1778 printing of the poem, cited in Charles Vallancey's Collectanea de rebus Hibernicis IV (1786), is now lost, but an 1802 pamphlet giving its text survives in two copies. The ballad's appearance in Joseph Train's Historical and Statistical Account of the Isle of Man (1845) ensured its survival,[8] though it was given little attention by later 19th-century Manx historians, some of whom doubted its authenticity.[9] Theophilus Talbot, for example, argued that it had been written by Thomas Christian in the 1790s.[7]
Editions and translations
- Train, Joseph (1845). An Historical and Statistical Account of the Isle of Man, from the Earliest Times to the Present Date. Volume 1. Douglas, Isle of Man: Mary A. Quiggin. pp. 50–55. Retrieved 18 November 2020. The 1802 text with a facing English translation
- Thomson, R. L. (1961). "The Manx Traditionary Ballad". Études Celtiques. 9 (2): 521–548. . Retrieved 18 November 2020. Edition, translation and commentary covering stanzas 1–28
- Thomson, R. L. (1962). "The Manx Traditionary Ballad (suite et fin)". Études Celtiques. 10 (1): 60–87. . Retrieved 18 November 2020. Edition, translation and commentary covering stanzas 29–62
References
- ISBN 978-3110911411. Retrieved 19 November 2020.
- ^ Thomson 1962, pp. 84–86.
- ISBN 1851094407. Retrieved 19 November 2020.
- ^ Thomson 1961, p. 523.
- ^ Thomson 1962, pp. 83–86.
- ^ a b Broderick 2008, p. 217.
- ^ a b Thomson 1961, p. 522.
- ^ Thomson 1961, p. 521.
- ^ Cubbon, William (1913). "The Ballad of Mannanan Beg Mac y Leirr". Mannin. 1: 40. Retrieved 19 November 2020.
Sources
- Broderick, George (2008). "Manx Gaelic (Manx Gälisch)". In Ammon, Ulrich; ISBN 9783851297966. Retrieved 18 November 2020.