Saints in Their Ox-Hide Boat (Masterplots II: Poetry, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Brendan Galvin
- First Published: 1992
- Type of Work: Dramatic monologue
- Genres: Poetry, Dramatic monologue
- Subjects: Sailing or sailors, Sea or seafaring life, Ireland or Irish people, Saints or sainthood, Monasteries, monks, or monasticism, Boats or boating, Religious life
The Poem
Saints in Their Ox-Hide Boat is a book-length dramatic monologue that owes much to both the traditions of epic poetry and the traditions of hagiography, or the study of saints’ lives. The speaker of the poem is Saint Brendan the Navigator, who is relating the tale of his famous voyage that may have taken him as far as North America. Brendan tells his story to a young scribe, who sets down his words. The interplay between Brendan’s story and his discursive comments to the scribe constitutes an ironic commentary on the poem itself, which is both the history...
[The entire page is 2594 words long]
