Sedirse Bodley is one of the bestknown senior figures of contemporary music in Ireland. This book seeks to examine his engagement with the poetry of Micheal OSiadhail and the making of these song cycles. It assesses the joint contribution to Irish art song and seeks to understand its roots in and departure from European tradition. This apograph is the first publication of Bodleys OSiadhail song cycles and is the first book to explore the composers lyrical modernity from a number of perspectives. Lorraine Byrne Bodleys insightful introduction describes in detail the development and essence of Bodleys musical thinking the European influences he absorbed which linger in these cycles and the importance of his work as a composer of Irish art song. She asks an array of questions Does song play a new role in twentiethcentury music or was this the age as many have insisted that bears witness to the death of song How does contemporary Irish art song inscribe individual concerns and mirror the influence of dominant social trends through its music and its texts She demonstrates that the answers to such questions illuminate the context in which these cycles were created and how they were valued and viewed. Through a blend of close analysis of Bodleys songs and wideranging engagement with both poetry and music this book sheds new light on Bodleys integral part in fashioning Irish art song. It analyses the way Bodleys song has been harnessed both to legitimate and to challenge national art song. And it identifies elements of Bodleys musical style which are shaped by European tradition. Beyond such musicopoetic analysis Lorraine Byrne Bodleys reading of the threefold roles of continuity gradual change and revolution opens up a braided history of Irish art song where song is not an aesthetic given but a means to understanding the changing patterns of life. She argues convincingly that an understanding of the way in which Irish society has perceived song in recent centuries is ava