The Parson’s Revels

William Dunkin (1705-1765) is the most undeservedly neglected of 18th-century Irish poets. Swift called him ‘the best English poet in the Kingdom’ and his contemporaries considered him as good as Pope. But Dunkin’s works were last printed in 1770 and few readers have had a chance to enjoy his energetic and original verse since then. This edition of The Parson’s Revels, one of his most entertaining poems, has been transcribed from a contemporary manuscript and edited by Dr. Catherine Skeen of Villanova University. It introduces to a new audience one of the most lively and humorous poets of 18th-century Ireland.