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Antoine Ó Raifteiri

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Antoine Ó Raifteirí (also Antoine Ó Reachtabhra, or Anthony Raftery; 30 March 1779 – 25 December 1835)[1] was an Irish language poet who is often called the last of the wandering bards.

Antoine Ó Raifteiri
Statue in Craughwell
Statue in Craughwell
Born30 March 1779
Kiltimagh, County Mayo, Ireland
Died25 December 1835 (1835-12-26) (aged 56)
Craughwell, County Galway, Ireland
Resting placeKilleeneen Cemetery, Craughwell
LanguageIrish
NationalityIrish
Genrepoetry
Notable worksEanach Dhuin, Cill Aodain

Biography

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Antoine Ó Raifteirí was born in Killedan,[2] near Kiltimagh in County Mayo. His father was a weaver. He had come to Killedan from County Sligo[1] to work for the local landlord, Frank Taaffe. Ó Raifteirí's mother was a Brennan from the Kiltimagh area.[3] She and her husband had nine children.[4] Antoine was an intelligent and inquisitive child. Some time between 1785 and 1788, Antoine Ó Raifteirí's life took a huge turn. It all started with a cough. Soon two of the children began experiencing headaches. Another child had a high fever. A rash appeared on Antoine's hand. It caused severe itching. Soon the children were covered in that same rash. They had contracted smallpox. Within three weeks, eight of the nine children had died.[4] One of the last things young Antoine saw before going blind was his eight siblings laid out dead upon the floor.

As Ó Raifteirí's father was a weaver, he had not experienced the worst of that era's poverty, but it would be much more difficult for his son to escape hardship. He lived by playing his fiddle and performing his songs and poems in the mansions of the Anglo-Irish gentry.[citation needed] His work draws on the forms and idiom of Irish poetry, and although it is conventionally regarded as marking the end of the old literary tradition, Ó Raifteirí and his fellow poets did not see themselves in this way.

In common with earlier poets, Antóine had a patron in Taaffe. One night Frank sent a servant to get more drink for the house. The servant took Antóine with him, both of them on one of Franks good horses. Whatever the cause (said to be speeding) Antóine's horse left the road and ended up in the bog, drowned or with a broken neck. Frank banished Antóine and he commenced the life of an itinerant. According to An Craoibhín (Douglas Hyde) one version of the story is that Antóine wrote Cill Aodáin (as DH Kileadan, County Mayo, his most famous work apart from Anach Cuan, to get back in Frank Taaffe's good books. Taaffe however was displeased at the awkward way Antóine worked his name into the poem, and then only at the end. Another version has it that Antóine wrote this poem in competition to win a bet as to who could praise their own place best. When he finished reciting the poem his competitor is reported to have said "Bad luck to you Raftery, you have left nothing at all for the people of Galway" and refused to recite his own poem.[5]

None of his poems were written down during the poet's lifetime, but they were collected from those he taught them to by An Craoibhín Aoibhinn Douglas Hyde, Lady Gregory and others, who later published them.[6]

Ó Raifteirí was lithe and spare in build and not very tall but he was very strong and considered a good wrestler. He always wore a long frieze coat and corduroy breeches.[7]

Ó Raifteirí died at the house of Diarmuid Cloonan of Killeeneen, near Craughwell, County Galway, and was buried in nearby Killeeneen Cemetery. In 1900, Lady Gregory, Edward Martyn, and W. B. Yeats erected a memorial stone over his grave, bearing the inscription "RAFTERY". A statue of him stands in the village green, Craughwell, opposite Cawley's pub.

Poetry

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Ó Raifteirí's most enduring poems include Eanach Chuin and Cill Aodain which are still learned by Irish schoolchildren.

Eanach Chúin

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Cill Aodáin

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These are the opening two verses of "Cill Aodáin":

Legacy

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  • The first four lines of "Mise Raifteirí an File" appeared on the reverse of the Series C Irish five pound note.
  • Douglas Hyde wrote a play called The Marriage (An Pósadh) where a poor newlywed couple is visited by Raftery on their wedding day. The bard attracts a lot of people with his music, and leaves after giving the couple all the numerous gifts given to him for it. Soon after, it is discovered that Raftery had actually been dead for a while.[10]
  • The author James Stephens published English translations of poems attributed to Ó Raifteirí in his book Reincarnations.[11] The American composer Samuel Barber wrote a composition for mixed chorus – also entitled Reincarnations – based on three of the poems translated by Stephens.[12]
  • An annual festival, Féile Raifteirí, is held in Loughrea, County Galway each year on the last weekend in March. Ó Raifteirí spent most of his later years in townlands close to the town. The festival features a contemporary Irish language poet and promotes the native arts of Ireland. The festival ends with a visit to Raifteirí grave in neighbouring Craughwell.[13]
  • Kiltimagh town square features a granite memorial in honour of Antoine Ó Raifteirí erected in 1985, in that same year Kiltimagh twinned with Craughwell, the final resting place of the blind Gaelic poet.[14]
  • Scoil Raifteirí, an All-Irish Primary School in Castlebar, County Mayo is named in honour of the poet.[15]
  • The Raftery Room Restaurant is located in Kiltimagh Main Street[16]*
  • Ó Raifteirí is mentioned in passing by IRA member Liam Devlin in Jack Higgins's 1975 novel The Eagle Has Landed.
  • In 2011 Seán Ó Cualáin directed a feature film Mise Raiftearaí an Fíodóir Focal/I am Raifteirí, The Weaver of Words documenting the life of Ó Raifteirí, which was produced by Sonta Teo for TG4, and featured Irish actor Aindrias de Staic in the lead role as Ó Raifteirí.[17]
  • A street on the Ballymagroarty estate in Derry, Raftery Close, is named after Antoine Ó Raifteirí. All the streets in the estate are named after Irish writers.
  • Sketch of Raifteirí http://www.irishpage.com/graf/raftery.gif
  • In Radclyffe Hall's novel The Well of Loneliness, Stephen Gordon's horse is named Raftery after the Irish poet.
  • Bob Dylan's 2020 song "I Contain Multitudes" contains the line "Follow me close, I'm going to Bally-na-Lee", presumed by Richard F. Thomas, Paul Muldoon, Brian Hiatt, and others to be a reference to Raifteiri's "The Lass From Bally-na-lee" ("Agus gluais go lá liom go Baile Uí Laí" / "So walk with me to Bally-na-Lee").[18][19]
  • Liam Clancy speaks Raifteiri's poem "Mary Hynes" over music in a song which appears on the compilation CD Favourites (2005)

References

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  1. ^ a b Jeffers, Ron (2003). Reincarnations. [Corvallis, Oregon]: Earthsongs. p. 4.
  2. ^ Murphy, Maureen O'Rourke; MacKillop, James (2006). An Irish literature reader: poetry, prose, drama. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press. p. 108. ISBN 978-0-8156-3046-3.
  3. ^ O'Hara, Bernard (1982). Mayo: aspects of its heritage. Galway, Ireland: Archaeological, Historical, and Folklore Society, Regional Technical College. p. 292. ISBN 978-0-9508233-0-0.
  4. ^ a b "The Deel Basin : a historical survey". Crossmolina Historical & Archaeological Society. 2 (8). [Crossmolina]: 106. 1990.
  5. ^ Denvir, Gearóid (1997). Litríocht agus Pobal. Cló Iar-Chonnachta.
  6. ^ Bartleby. http://www.bartleby.com/250/142.html Retrieved 24 February 2007.
  7. ^ Recollections of Dermot McManus
  8. ^ Lyrics of "Eanach Dhúin" Archived 14 August 2009 at the Wayback Machine
  9. ^ Lyrics of "Cill Aodáin"
  10. ^ Selected plays of Douglas Hyde : "An Craoibhin Aoibhinn"
  11. ^ "The Project Gutenberg E-text of Reincarnations, by James Stephens".
  12. ^ http://www.lieder.net/lieder/b/barber.html [permanent dead link]
  13. ^ "Untitled Document". Archived from the original on 18 December 2010. Retrieved 24 May 2010.
  14. ^ Raftery on Famous People from Kiltimagh
  15. ^ Scoil Raifteirí WebSite
  16. ^ Ireland OnLine Raftery Room Entry
  17. ^ "Mise Raiftearaí an Fíodóir Focal (I am Ó Raifteirí, The Weaver of Words)". Tg4.ie. Archived from the original on 29 July 2013. Retrieved 18 June 2018.
  18. ^ "Antoin Ó Raifteirí: Máire Ní Eidhin (The Lass from Bally-na-Lee)". Love poems & quotes: German, French, Italian, Russian etc. 20 April 2009. Retrieved 14 June 2020.
  19. ^ Pavel Barter (26 April 2020). "Bob Dylan fans tangled up in clue to solve Irish riddle of I Contain Multitudes". The Sunday Times. Retrieved 14 June 2020."Bob Dylan's latest song makes reference to Irish poets, an ode to his own life". IrishCentral. 27 April 2020. Retrieved 14 June 2020.Brian Hiatt (27 April 2020). "Hear Bob Dylan's Daring New Song, 'I Contain Multitudes'". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 14 June 2020."Bob Dylan's New Song and Ballinalee County Longford". Cassandra Voices. 18 April 2020. Retrieved 14 June 2020.

Further reading

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