Dán díreach

Dán Díreach (pronounced [ˈd̪ˠaːn̪ˠ ˈdʲiːɾʲəx], Irish for "direct verse") is a style of poetry developed in Ireland from the 12th century until the destruction of Gaelic society in the mid 17th century. It was a complex form of recitative designed to be chanted to the accompaniment of a harp. This poetry was often delivered by a professional reciter called a reacaire (reciter) or marcach duaine (poem rider). It was the specialised production of the professional poets known as Filidh (Seer). The complexities of the structure becomes more understandable when we consider that Irish poetry evolved primarily as an orally transmitted art. They were not intended to be read, but recited in public. Form, structure, rhythm and rhyme, intonation, and expression all play an essential part of the performance of poets The aim was to amaze an audience with vocal virtuosity, knowledge, and spiritual depth. In this they must have succeeded as the Filidh came to be viewed with a sense of awe, respect and fear. Because it was designed to be delivered to a regular rhythm it appears to have more in common with forms of rap than with modern spoken verse.

The formal production of Dán Direach by trained poets came to an end with the destruction of Irish Gaelic society due to the Plantations of Ireland in the 17th century. However, the forms continued in folk memory as chants, prayers and informally delivered lays that continued to be recited in Gaelic speaking areas of Ireland and Scotland into the early 20th century. Gaelic poetical culture may have continued to influence Caribbean and African American forms of singing in the 17th and 18th century when the language was spoken by immigrants in the Caribbean and American south.

Many hundreds of poems are still extant as they were collected into poem books called Duanaire by wealthy patrons.

Rhyme has an old history of sophisticated development in Ireland. It was not a feature of Classical Greek or Latin verse. There is some reason to believe that Ireland brought developed forms of rhyme into other European cultures through the influence of the literate monks and foundations created by them across northern Europe. The development of Dán Direach seems to coincide with the rise of the secular schools in the 12th century. Families that had their roots in the great monastic literary tradition appear to have continued the learned tradition outside the strictly religious environment of the monasteries after the reform of the Irish church in the 12th century. The Ó Dálaigh family of bards were considered to be the foremost exponents of Dán Direach throughout the later Medieval period.

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