Time, Place, Language and Translation: Ciaran Carson’s The Inferno and The Táin

Ciaran Carson’s translations of two major medieval texts, The Inferno (2002) and The Táin(2007), are part of a broader body of translation within his work. Appearing during a decade when a number of English-language poets turned their attention to the Middle Ages, Carson’s translations are in tune with other recent approaches in seeing affinities between his own circumstances and those of the medieval texts he translates. Carson’s approach is notable for a commitment to the formal qualities of the source texts. But these translations are also informed by Carson’s practice elsewhere, and both texts intersect with an interest in the themes of time, place, language, and translation across Carson’s broader body of work.