"Irish, Old (to 900);: Pangur Bán|italics=no" is an Old Irish poem written in about the 9th century at or near Reichenau Abbey, in what is now Germany, by an Irish monk about his cat. Irish, Old (to 900);: Pangur Bán|italics=no, 'White Pangur', is the cat's name, Irish, Old (to 900);: Pangur possibly meaning 'a fuller'. Although the poem is anonymous, it bears similarities to the poetry of Sedulius Scottus, prompting speculation that he is the author.[1] In eight verses of four lines each, the author compares the cat's happy hunting with his own scholarly pursuits.
The poem is preserved in the Reichenau Primer (Stift St. Paul Cod. 86b/1 fol 1v) and now kept in St. Paul's Abbey in the Lavanttal.
The poem is found in only one manuscript, the Reichenauer Schulheft or Reichenau Primer. The primer appears to be the notebook of an Irish monk based in Reichenau Abbey. The contents of the primer are diverse, it also contains "notes from a commentary of the Aeneid, some hymns, a brief glossary of Greek words, some Greek declension, notes on biblical places, a tract on the nature of angels, and some astronomy".[2]
A critical edition of the poem was published in 1903 by Whitley Stokes and John Strachan in the second volume of the Thesaurus Palaeohibernicus.[4] Among modern writers to have translated the poem are Robin Flower, W. H. Auden, Seamus Heaney, Paul Muldoon and Eavan Boland. In Auden's translation, the poem was set by Samuel Barber as the eighth of his ten Hermit Songs (1952–53).
Fay Sampson wrote a series of books based on the poem. They follow the adventures of Pangur Bán, Niall the monk (his friend) and Finnglas (a Welsh princess).
In the 2009 animated movie The Secret of Kells, which is heavily inspired by Irish mythology, one of the supporting characters is a white cat named Pangur Bán who arrives in the company of a monk. A paraphrase of the poem in modern Irish is read out during the credits by actor and Irish speaker Mick Lally.[5]
Irish-language singer Pádraigín Ní Uallacháin recorded the poem in her 2011 studio album Songs of the Scribe, featuring both the original text and a translation by Nobel laureate Seamus Heaney. The poem was read by Tomás Ó Cathasaigh (first in Irish, then in Heaney's English translation) at the memorial service held for Heaney at the Memorial Church of Harvard University on 7 November 2013.[6]
In 2016, Jo Ellen Bogart and Sydney Smith published a picture book based on the poem called The White Cat and the Monk.[7]
In 2018, Eddi Reader adapted the words in "Pangur Bán And The Primrose Lass" on her album Cavalier.[8]
Dutch band Twigs & Twine used parts of the poem in their song "Messe ocus Pangur Bán".[9]
In 2022, Irish writer Colm Tóibín published his own version of the poem in a collection titled Vinegar Hill.[10]
First described in 2022, Pangurban, a genus of nimravid from Eocene California, is named for the cat in the poem.[11]