Haicéad is characterized by his use of alliteration, adjective chains and his puns, and last but certainly not least, his sense of humour.
Firstly, to alliteration. Consider #22, which is dedicated to Roiberd Óg Carrún, and reads thusly:
“I call warm blessings on your head always
And, beloved, on the sociable pure harp you play:
With a stream of polished playing skilled and sweet
You have banished the spiders out of all our ears!”
(Hartnett 37)
Secondly, to his accumulation of adjectives. Consider #3, which is a love poem which refers to “Deirdre of the unrevealing eyes” who has told her love “that we must separate, for she intends to wed.” Her love praises Deirdre, saying that it isn’t her fault that she is “slender noble svelte / sweet silvertongued whitetoothed” and “handsome graceful wise with twisting intricate hair, / a white-as-chalk and stately smoothflanked maid” (Hartnett 16). Much of his poetry reads in such a fashion, from describing woman to men and even an odd bishop or two, down to Ireland herself: “poor and fair and swiftspeared Ireland,” “O tender, brightflanked coastline” (Harnett 24).
Thirdly, his puns. Consider #12, which is dedicated to James Butler in Ireland, and says that the poet “send[s] to see you, to the Irish shore, / a darling woman who wears no clothes” (Hartnett 25). The earlier two lines of the poem are a blessing, and so too are the last, for the poet sends a benediction, which in Irish is beannacht (note—this is a female noun). But the pun lies in the fact that “a darling woman who wears no clothes” is bean nocht in Irish. Or we could take #19, which is entitled “Arneis” which is an Irish word meaning ‘cattle’ where the poet adds “a dimunitive,” that of ‘ín’ and he is referring to ‘Caitlín’ (Hartnett 34, 11).
And lastly, his sense of humour. There are many places one could quote, but one need simply quote #1 in full:
“Though I am just a wisp of straw and not a besom—
And not Cearúl—that noble, handsome creature—
I’d sooner have his place in your affections
Than control the whole of Cruachain’s taxes.
Take heed—although he’s absent long on trips—
Don’t ignore my love in such hardships;
for it’s commonly said, my girl, whose tight curls thickly fall,
It’s better to be mangy than have no hair at all.”
(Harnett 15)
A Study in Ireland 