The Poems of Patrick Delany

Book excerpt: Patrick Delany's reputation as a scholar and tutor at Trinity College, Dublin, and an influential preacher in his time, apologist for Church of Ireland causes, and foremost defender of Jonathan Swift against the criticisms and slanders of Lord Orrery is well documented. The purpose of this edition is to establish an authoritative text to show what sort of poet Delany is, why we should read his poems, and to claim for him a position of importance as an eighteenth-century Irish poet.