The main object of the most celebrated of the ancient poets up to the end of the twelfth century was to render history, genealogy, Toponomy, and lives of saints readier of access and easier to retain by putting them into verse-form; and it is the names of those scholars that have been rescued from oblivion, while lyric poetry, having as its basis nothing more than sentiment, has remained for the most part anonymous.
"The Glories of Ireland"
Edited by Joseph Dunn and P.J. Lennox