Aisling
The aisling (Irish for 'vision', IPA: [aɕlʲənʲ]), or vision poem, is a poetic genre that developed during the late 17th and 18th centuries in Irish language poetry.
Format
In an aisling, the island of Ireland appears to the poet in a vision in the form of a woman, sometimes young and beautiful, sometimes old and haggard. This female figure is generally referred to in the poems as An Spéirbhean (the sky-woman). She laments the current state of the Irish people and predicts an imminent revival of their fortunes, usually linked to the return of a Stuart pretender to the English throne.
The form developed out of an earlier, non-political genre which was essentially an Irish form of the French reverdie, in which the poet meets a beautiful, supernatural woman who symbolises the spring season, the bounty of nature, and love.
The first and greatest of the aisling poets was Aogán Ó Rathaille, Mac an Cheannaí. In his hands, the aisling is a powerful mode of political writing. In the 18th century, the form became something of an empty formula and became the target of jokes.
Satire
The Scottish Jacobite poet Alasdair MacMhaighstir Alasdair poked fun at the aisling genre in his Anti-Campbell polemic An Airce. Towards the end of the century, Munster poet Brian Merriman also parodied the aisling form in his comic masterpiece Cúirt An Mheán Óiche.
Probably the most famous example of aisling poetry is the song Róisín Dubh (song).
Name
Aisling is also a girl's first name in Ireland, meaning dream, delusion, vision or inspiration. The spelling is somewhat variable as Aislinn, Aislynn, Ashling, Eislinn etc.
Women named Aisling
- Aisling Burnand, the Chief Executive of the UK BioIndustry Association
- Aislinn O'Sullivan, Irish actress
Fictional and other uses
- LÉ Aisling (P23) s a ship in the Irish Naval service.
- Aisling Grey is a character in Katie MacAlister's "Guardian" series.
- Aisling is a player character in the MMORPG Dark Ages.