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The Old and Middle Irish didactic text titled Auraicept na nÉces has attracted increasing attention from scholars since Geroge Calder published his edition and partial translation of it in 1917. Nevertheless, many continue to read it as a singularly grammatical text despite evidence that it was used primarily in the training of the medieval Irish poet. In this book James Acken examines the Auraicept's terminology and methods of explication and shows how its principles were foundational to poetic composition in medieval Ireland.Looking first at the earliest form of the Auraicept as edited by Anders Ahlqvist, Acken shows how this early text provided the medieval student with a model of history, linguistics and seven fundamental concepts, the 'seven things by which Gaelic is measured', that informed both grammar and poetics. The book then turns to how these different topics were explored in the later versions of the Auraicept and the place of its seven concepts in the later Bardic culture of medieval Ireland.
About the author
James Acken recieved his graduate degrees from the Centre for Medieval Studies, University of Toronto, and currently teaches for the Centre for Scottish Studies, Simon Fraser University, in British Columbia. His work focuses on the history and aesthetics of Middle Irish poetry.
