It is difficult for
us to realize that in the ancient Irish Schools of Poets the students were
trained in not less than three hundred and fifty different kinds of metre.
Twelve years was the minimum period of study in the schools. There were four
grades of poet -- each requiring three years of concentrated study. Each grade
was sub-divided again many times. Of the lowest grade, the bard, there were
sixteen divisions distinguished by the metres they had mastered. As instance of
the prosodial subtlety and complexity of the metres, let us instance that of
one kind alone, the nath metre which was mastered by the king-bard, there were
six different kinds, and these six again divided, some of them into as many as
six subdivisions. Therefore, it was an arduous task which arose before the
Irish poetic aspirant -- and wonderful and powerful was the mental training
through which the Irish poet passed.
The poet's course in literature
embraced seven times fifty of the great bardic epics -- all of which he must
not only have memorized, but have mastered in every detail -- and with each of
which, when called upon, must be able to hold spellbound every gathering.
Furthermore, when he should go for his final degree he must be able to compose
an impromptu short poem on any subject suggested. The poet-ollam, the poet of
highest rank, must be a master of Irish history, Irish antiquities and
genealogies of all the leading Irish families -- and always able and ready at a
moment's notice, to recite anything called for in any of these subjects. Few
and far between are the twentieth century scholars who are as thoroughly
steeped in their subjects as were the poet-ollams of fifteen hundred years ago.
