6/18/2023 0 Comments Peig name pronunciation![]() To describe the crowds at Tralee railway station, waiting for the Dingle train on the way home, she says 'You'd think no-one had died!' Other chapters describe the day to day life of the islanders until she makes another trip to the mainland to enquire about the rumoured Widows' Pension. One of those few occasions is the Wethers' Well pilgrimage described in this book, and which includes my favourite expression of hers. She moved there when she married, and only visited the mainland a handful of times before finally moving back many years later as an aged widow. She spent most of her life on Great Blasket, the largest of the Blasket Isles just off the Dingle peninsula in County Kerry, Western Ireland. Otherwise it will more than likely be a dry read and somewhat of a struggle if your mind cannot focus on it.Īlthough the title might not be calculated for mass-market appeal, when the old woman in question is Peig Sayers, prospective readers can relax, knowing they are in safe hands! Peig was one of the last, and widely considered one of the finest, of the Gaelic language storytellers. The title names were usually a combination of the major themes that would be touched upon and so were a bit of a giveaway.Īll in all it was decent and a nice read for those who are interested in the memories of those from not-so-long-ago. In my opinion if the stories had more of her in them I may have enjoyed the read a bit better.Īnother thing I didn't enjoy was that for what small chapters these were they surely had long names. ![]() This was instead a snapshot of her neighbors, very small glimmers of her life and a lot of opinion told in that fiery Irish spirit. Although there were snippets of what life was like it didn't explore Peig as a woman, what she felt, thought or experienced mostly unless indirectly. The other part is that Peig was suppose to be a storyteller but instead of stories this is just a collection of memories she had in and throughout her life. Most of the other names that were included were common names thus not as much problems to me. I really wish there was a pronunciation guide on the woman's name and whether it was correct or not I called her Peg. First of all there is a small paragraph explaining a bit of the history of Blasket Island, its vague announcement that it was evacuated, its importance to the linguistic world and other books that came from the Island People - most of which share the same characters. What would have been an interesting read for me actually turned out to be a struggle. As a result that it was small and the closest I chose to read it to get sleepy eyes to close. I am still not quite sure where this particular book came from in my collection. The island, when she went there, was very exposed and a hard place to live.Īnyone interested in these past ways of life might enjoy: So her father talked to him while Peig and her mother got on with housework. ![]() Later in life a match was made for Peig with a young man who had a farm on the Great Blasket island off Kerry she saw the lad when he was brought to her house as a guest but it would have been considered too forward for her to get to know him. Peig had a friend called Cait Jim (short for Catherine, Jim's daughter) who went to America and promised to send back money so Peig could join her. Peig had to do the milking and so on, hard physical work in the cold. ![]() Peig was a girl from a simple household and when she was old enough to be sent out to work, her mother found a place for her as a servant - the pay was rubbish but it saved her family feeding her. My view of the book is coloured by the fact that we had to read it in Irish in school, and many outdated terms as well as rural terms that were unfamiliar were used.Ī friend says her teacher told the class to read Peig in translation and then go through selected passages in Irish.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |