Buile Shuibhne, commonly referred to as Sweeny’s Madness, is a cornerstone of medieval literature. The protagonist, Sweeney, is transformed into a bird-like being after he disrespectfully flings the psalter of St Rónán Finn into a lake. The curse sees Sweeney stripped of his human luxuries and condemned to a life of constant hopping from one tree to another across Ireland, while journeying deeper into insanity and nature. Throughout his adventure, he crafts a poem at each spot, capturing his mental state and surroundings.
Many poets have revisited this text, one noteworthy adaptation being Seamus Heaney’s ‘Sweeney Astray’. Late Feargal Ó Bearra’s ‘Mé Suibhne’ reconstructs the narrative as a tale of mental disorder.
Rody Gorman’s take titled ‘Sweeney: An Intertonguing’ offers a unique multilingual odyssey, replete with the vibrant energy of its original Irish synonyms, homonyms, and a dazzling fusion of English and modern Irish and Scottish Gaelic. The text is filled with enthralling lyric poems, tender songs, and rhythmic litanies that often blend languages mid-verse. A recurring motif of sublime haiku serves as a nod to both, the marginal verses of Irish monk scribes and Bashō, with Sweeney adopting the persona of the nomadic Japanese haiku poet, Santōka Taneda at one point.
Gorman’s Sweeney is not merely a solemn figure and is accompanied by various cultural affects such as Gregory Campbell’s jesting about Irish, Leonard Cohen’s ‘I’m your man’, and playful allusions to Charlie Haughey, Vincent Van Gogh, and Lafcadio Hearn. His poetry isn’t just visually striking but creates an aural spectacle that demands to be heard aloud. It is a joyous homage to the beauty of language, whether “King’s English or Inglis or Lallans/Or Scots or Irish or Gaelic/Or Cant, if I’m not all of these,/Then I’m no’ one”. The endeavour is vibrant, teeming with activity, featuring vivid scenes of women on top of flax, church bells chiming, clerics in the midst of vespers, and men fishing and swimming.
In the end, Gorman’s Sweeney represents the epitome of transformation, deriving elements of Orpheus, Merlin, and Odysseus. He embodies the experience of a refugee, an outcast, and the variances of a bipolar mind. His death transforms him into the lyric of self-expression inspired by Whitman, rebirthed as the essence of poetry. Gorman’s exceptional reinterpretation introduces us to an abundant universe of the human experience, language, and the poetic art.