Gather Round Me

Book excerpt: Gather round me, all ye ladies fair, And ye gentlemen of renown; Listen, listen, and to me repair, Whilst I sing of beauteous Dublin town. The Irish have long been associated with great writing generally and with poetry specifically. The love of language pervades this strong culture, and the Irish people have long shared poetry with each other, whether in the street, in the home, or in the pub. These poems may be bawdy or tragic, but there is always something quintessentially Irish about them. In Gather Round Me, Christopher Cahill has put together a collection of the best of these popular poems, found in newspapers, heard in pubs, or put down in diaries. With explanatory notes that make the verse more accessible, these poems give voice to the Irish character, full of humor, mischief, and wit.