Poetry can be a powerful reflection of the lived experiences of our ancestors. We often use it as a lens to understand the emotions and feelings of a particular time.
This week's piece takes a look at three of our most beloved poets, Antoine Ó Raifteiri, Mary Devenport O'Neill, and Patrick Kavanagh. It includes famous excepts from each reminding us of the times they were written.
Ireland is renowned the world over for the great literary works which it has produced. Here we take a look at three of our most beloved poets.
Antoine Ó Raifteiri
Antoine Ó Raifteiri (Anthony Raftery) was born in Kiltimagh County Mayo on the 30th of March 1779.
His early years were marked by tragedy. Anthony was one of nine children born to his parents but by 1788 he would be their only surviving child. All nine children contracted smallpox with Anthony being the only one to beat the disease. Although he lived, Anthony was not left unmarked by the sickness. He lost his sight. This would have huge ramifications on his life to come. Losing his sight meant that many avenues were closed to him in terms of work. However, Anthony was gifted with a talent for music and poetry which meant that he not only got by, but would go on to become one of Ireland's best known Irish language poets.
He is best known locally for his idyllic poem about Killedan which he describes as a land of milk and honey:
Cill Aodain an baile a bhásann gach nidh ann
Tá sméardha subh croidh ann 'gus measardha gach sórt
's dá mbéinn-se 'mo sheasamh I gceart lar mo dhaoine
D'imeoidh an aois uaim agus bheinn arís óg'.
***********************
'Killedan, the land where everything grows
There's an abundance of blackberries and all that is good
And if I were standing in the midst of my people
Age would fall from me and I'd be young once more'
In his early career, Anthony's patron was his father's landlord Frank Taafe, but after they had a falling out he became a travelling poet. He moved along the roads of County Galway playing his fiddle and reciting his poems as he went. He is believed to be one of the last travelling bards.
Interestingly, none of Anthony Raftery's poems were written down in his lifetime. Instead they were passed on as spoken word until some literary figures including Lady Augusta Gregory took it upon themselves to commit his work to paper.
Anthony Raftery died on Christmas Eve 1835. He is buried in Craughwell County Galway where his headstone was erected by Lady Gregory and Douglas Hyde.
An annual Féile Raifteiri in Loughrea County Galway celebrates the life and work of this great Irish poet.
READ HER FULL STORY
Mary Devenport O’Neill
Mary Devenport O'Neill was born in Loughrea County Galway on the 3rd of August 1879. Her father John was a sub-constable in the local Royal Irish Constabulary.
As a young girl Mary was educated in the Dominican Convent on Dublin's Eccles Street. When she was 19 years old she enrolled in the Dublin Metropolitan School of Art where she spent the next four years training as an art teacher. Though she excelled in her training as a painter, she would gain her notoriety as a poet.
On the 19th of June 1908, Mary married writer and fellow Galway native Joseph O'Neill. The pair made a home for themselves in Dublin's Kenilworth Square. She became a prominent figure in a number of Dublin salons, even establishing her own, called ‘Thursdays at Home’. She became good friends with a number of important Irish poets and was particularly close to William Butler Yeats.
In 1929 Mary published a book of poetry entitled Prometheus and Other Poems.She was just the second author to publish a volumne of modernist poetry besides Yeats. The work has long been out of print and much of her contribution to Irish literature has been somewhat forgotten. She was a long time contributor to a number of literary and news publications. Her poetry often described her childhood in Galway, with one poem titled Galway giving a wonderful description of life in the windswept city by the sea.
“Galway”
I know a town tormented by the sea,
And there time goes slow
That the people see it flow
And watch it drowsily,
And growing older hour by hour they say,
‘Please God, to-morrow!
Then we will work and play,’
And their tall houses crumble away.
This town is eaten through with memory
Of pride and thick red Spanish wine and gold
And a great come and go;
But the sea is cold,
And the spare, black trees
Crouch in the withering breeze
That blows from the sea,
And the land stands bare and alone,
For its warmth is turned away
And its strength held in hard cold grey-blue
stone;
And the people are heard to say,
Through the raving of the jealous sea,
‘Please God, to-morrow!
Then we will work and play.’
Mary died in 1967. In her later life she had suffered from poor health and often travelled with her husband to France and Switzerland for treatment. You can view the full collection of her poetry here
Patrick Kavanagh
Patrick Kavanagh was born on the 21st of October 1904 in Inniskeen County Monaghan.
One of 10 children, Kavanagh left school at the age of 13 and began working with his father on the farm and as a cobbler's apprentice. However his lack of formal education did not hold him back in life. Kavanagh would go on to become an incredibly well known poet who is still revered and widely studied to this day.
As one of the later poets of the Irish Literary Revival, Kavanagh has been highly praised for his accurate depictions of rural Irish life. His first book of poetry, Ploughman and Other Poems was published in 1936. Two years later he published a book called The Green Fool which although sold as a novel has been described by the poet himself as semi-autobiographical. This gained him great acclaim and brought him to the fore as a name to be watched in Irish literature.
In 1939 Kavanagh moved to Dublin where he would spend the rest of his life. He had felt disillusioned in his rural home and believed that in Dublin he would find a greater sense of belonging amongst the literary figures of the time. However when he made the move, he found that he felt like just as much of an outsider in the city as he had in the countryside. This theme of being on the outside of society looking in would become a common thread in much of his poetry. He became quite the social critic and was known for his less than favourable views and comments on society. Although in his later years, he softened his opinions and became more enamoured with the simple pleasures in life.
The Great Hunger is often is most cited poem
The Great Hunger
Clay is the word and clay is the flesh
Where the potato-gatherers like mechanised scarecrows move
Along the side-fall of the hill – Maguire and his men.
First published in 1942 its a long narrative poem set in rural County Monaghan in the 1930's/early 1940's. It is centered around Patrick Maguire a small rural famer preoccupied by the land. Listen to the poem below.
Patrick Kavanagh died on the 30th of November 1967. He is buried in his native Inniskeen and a statue of him sits on a bench in Dublin city by the Grand Canal.
His most famous works are On Raglan Road, The Great Hunger, and Iniskeen Road: July Evening.
You can read more about Patrick Kavanagh in the Royal Irish Academy's Dictionary of Irish Biography; ria.ie
A Litany of Literature
The three individuals discussed here represent just a small sample of the great poetic works of Ireland. There are many more avenues to be explored and the work of countless poets, both historical and contemporary to enjoy.
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