Welcome back. I am on my last few poems from the top 100 poems list! This week it is an Irish poem well initially written in English and later converted to Irish. Typically this is the reverse way that it happens. The poem Valparaiso(Valparaíso is a major city, seaport, naval base, and educational centre in the commune of Valparaíso, Chile) was called ‘The Ship’ by Oliver St John Gogarty before de Brún translated it into Irish. It is, by all accounts, still popular. My notes on the poem are below.
This poem by Pádraig de Brún initiated an abiding fascination with the renowned Chilean city of Valparaíso, which remains unsatisfied and unfulfilled to this day. Read on for my notes on Valparaiso by Pádraig de Brún.nbsp;
You could see his fascination with the dramatic colours of the buildings.
The Ship
Tháinig long ó Valparaiso
Valparaiso is a poem about the pull of faraway places and the choice to stay at home. A ship from the Chilean port stands for adventure, sunshine and escape, but the young speaker prefers the worlds he finds in books and stories, and the chance passes him by.
The ending turns regret into faith. He still believes he will reach that shining city one day, and many readers see it as a quiet picture of heaven.
The poem has an unusual history. It began as The Ship by Oliver St John Gogarty, published in 1918. Pádraig de Brún’s Irish version, An Long, appeared in Fáinne an Lae in August of that year with no mention of Gogarty, and in 1920 it was printed as Valparaiso in the anthology Cuisle na hÉigse. It went on to appear in many school textbooks and was learned by generations of students of Irish.
The English version that was on this page is still in copyright, as is de Brún’s Irish poem, so I have not printed them here. You will find An Long in The Irish Times Book of Favourite Irish Poems, edited by Colm Tóibín (Irish Times Books, 2000).
Did you enjoy the poem Valparaiso?
I personally have never been there, but I would love to visit one day and see what he would have noticed. I send out a new Irish poem every Friday straight to your inbox. You can subscribe here irisharoundtheworld.com/join