The primary purpose of "An Duanaire" is to demonstrate the nature and quality of the Irish poetic tradition during the troubled centuries from the collapse of the Gaelic order to the emergence of English as the dominant vernacular of the Irish people.

Thomas Kinsella's English translations aim at a close fidelity to the content of the originals, while suggesting something of the poetic quality, and the basic rhythms, of the original Irish poems. In Irish and English.