Status
Available
Call number
Publication
Tor Books (1987), Mass Market Paperback, 480 pages
Description
This is the tale of the coming of the Irish to Ireland, and of the men and women who made that emerald isle their own.
Subjects
Language
Original publication date
1984
ISBN
0812585151 / 9780812585155
Similar in this library
Local notes
Bard, by Morgan Llywelyn, is a blend of fantasy and historical fact that centres around the coming of the Celts to Ierne, i.e., Ireland. The bard named in the title is Amergin, a druid and minstrel who is the son of Milesos, the clan-chief of a tribe. Amergin’s tribe lives in modern-day Spain, and is a tribe that focuses on swordsmanship and warriors rather than music and literature. So when Amergin learns of a fertile new country from visiting traders, he immediately makes plans to leave the tribe where he has been shunned to live out his life as a bard, in “bard-land.” When the rest of the tribe catches wind of Ierne, they decide to come as well, for their own varied reasons. While tensions heat up between warriors and bards, Amergin is determined to make his new land “bard land”, and not let the blood spilled by the warriors defile his new land.
User reviews
LibraryThing member Poetgrrl
do you wish to feel more connected to your irish heritage? you may find that here. morgan llywelyn brings me to where i can only dream to be. enjoy!
LibraryThing member turtlesleap
Amergin the Bard probably existed in pre-Christian Ireland; there are works attributed to him. This is Morgan Llywelyn's account of Amergin's life, and how the Gaels might have arrived in Ireland on a journey lost in the mists of time. The book is very well done, rich with complex characters,
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villainy, heroism, tragedy and all that one might expect in this sort of epic. If you are at all interested in pre-Christian Ireland, it's well worth a read. Show Less
LibraryThing member cfk
Bloody, violent clan and tribal migration from Spain/Portugal to Ireland. Beautiful and lyrical at times, but a mirror the violent times.
LibraryThing member JackMassa
Compelling, half-mythical story of the voyage of the Gaels to Ireland, circa 300 BCE.
Llywelyn is a master of the big canvas, and she effortlessly pot-boils up an array of interesting characters and powerful conflicts, centered on the large family of the "Sons of Mil."
The protagonist is Amergin, a
Llywelyn also does the strongest job I've seen of imagining the daily life of the prehistoric Celts. Less convincing is her treatment of the Tuatha De Danaan, the mythical fairy folk, who in the story (and the myths) are displaced by the Gaels and retreat into the Otherworld. Imagining them into an otherwise realistic tale is a stretch, which detracts especially from the last 1/4 of the book.
Still, it's easy to forgive this talented and ambitious author for overreaching a bit when dealing with such epic and lofty material.
Llywelyn is a master of the big canvas, and she effortlessly pot-boils up an array of interesting characters and powerful conflicts, centered on the large family of the "Sons of Mil."
The protagonist is Amergin, a
Show More
semi-historical bard whose attributed poetry stands at the wellspring of European literature. A central theme is the contrasted loves of beauty and war, eros and thanatos, that stand at the core of the Irish soul.Llywelyn also does the strongest job I've seen of imagining the daily life of the prehistoric Celts. Less convincing is her treatment of the Tuatha De Danaan, the mythical fairy folk, who in the story (and the myths) are displaced by the Gaels and retreat into the Otherworld. Imagining them into an otherwise realistic tale is a stretch, which detracts especially from the last 1/4 of the book.
Still, it's easy to forgive this talented and ambitious author for overreaching a bit when dealing with such epic and lofty material.
Show Less
Physical description
465 p.; 4.06 x 1.26 inches
Pages
465