“Pangur Bán” by Anonymous

Book of Kells, Folio 19v: Argumentum to John; Breves causae of Luke I-XIII (The Library of Trinity College Dublin)

Amanda Holmes reads the anonymous ninth-century poem “Pangur Bán,” translated from the Irish by Seamus Heaney. Have a suggestion for a poem by a (dead) writer? Email us: podcast@theamericanscholar.org. If we select your entry, you’ll win a copy of a poetry collection edited by David Lehman.

This episode was produced by Stephanie Bastek and features the song “Canvasback” by Chad Crouch.

Amanda Holmes, the author of the novel I Know Where I Am When I’m Falling, is a columnist and poetry editor for the Washington Independent Review of Books.