Abstract
A handful of short syllabic satires and epigrams on bad harp players are preserved in Irish-language manuscripts. They are short compositions – containing from just one to fifteen quatrains – and share a number of stylistic and linguistic features. Many of the poems are anonymous and are addressed to unnamed harpers. While most of the poems have appeared in print, few have been the subject of any focused discussion. This article offers a stylistic and thematic analysis of these poems. Although they tell us little about the music of the harp at this period, they are valuable sources for our understanding of satire and, indeed, of its authors, in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Ireland.
The article is in two sections. In the first, a list of nine syllabic satires on harpers is provided, along with summaries of the poems and information about their manuscript and printed sources. The second part of the article focuses on literary devices employed in these poems and, in particular, on the use of invective. It explores an imaginative use of animal imagery, as well as references to plants, class and gender. However humorous these poems are, it is suggested that they can be situated within a conservative literary tradition.
