Eoghan Rua O Súilleabháin (1748-84)
Life
[angl. Owen Roe OSullivan]; b. Meentogues, nr. Killarney, Co. Kerry; ed. at bardic school in Faha, opened school at Gneevelguilla; after an incident nothing to his credit, according to Dinneen, he became a spailpín [travelling labourer]; sometime tutor to Nagle family in Fermoy; engaged in misconduct with Mrs Nagle; joined British navy and sailed under Vice-Admiral Rodney, meeting and beating the French off Dominica in April 1782; wrote Rodneys Glory, in English doggerel; returned to England and served in the army; secured discharge by ulcerating his shin with spearwort; |
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opened a school at Knocknagree Cross; was wounded in drunken brawl with servant[s] of a Col. Cronin, whom he had satirised, one of them knocking him on the head with a fire-iron, and died of fever a few days after; buried in Muckross Abbey; called Eoghan an Bhéil Bhinn (Owen of the Sweet Mouth); his collected poems ed. Fr. Pádraig Ó Duinnín, include 19 aislingí [vision poems] and others dealing with his own life, as well as satires and poems in praise of women; |
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said to have seduced girl on his death-bed and to have expired while writing a poem (Sin é file go fann/Nuair thuiteann an peann as a láimh [weak indeed is the poet/when the pen falls from his hand]; An tAth Pádraig Ua Duinnín [Dinneen] edited his works as Amhráin Eoghain Ruaidh Uí Shúilleabháin for the Gaelic Leauge (1901; rep. 1902, 1923); holograph copies of some poem survive; he is largely featured in Daniel Corkery, The Hidden Ireland (1924). DIW OCIL |
The Last Vision of Eoghan Rua Ó Súilleabháin, by Michael Harnett |
The cow of morning spurted
milk-mist on every glen
and the nise of feet came
from the hills white sides.
I saw like phantoms
my fellow-workers
and instead of spades and shovels
they had roses on their shoulders.
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From Selected & New Poems (Wake Forest UP 1994); cite by Adrian Rice on Facebook, 16.10.2022; see Irish version under Hartnett - as supra. |
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Works
- Patrick Dinneen, ed., Amhráin Eoghain Ruaidh Uí Shúilleabháin (Baile Atha Cliath: Connradh na Gaedhilge, 1901; rep. 1902, 1923).
- Filidhe móra Chiarraighe / Four Notable Kerry Poets (Dublin: M. H. Gill & Son 1929), viii, 32pp., 8º [Egan ORahilly, Eoghan Ruadh OSullivan/Ó Suilleabháin, Piaras Ferriter/Féiriteir and Geoffrey ODonoghue/Seafradh Ó Donnchadha].
- Risteárd Ó Foghludha, ed., [nuadh-eagar], Eoghan Ruadh Ó Súilleabháin 1748-1784 ( Baile Átha Cliath: Comhlucht Oideachais na hÉireann 1937), 152pp., ill. [pl.; facs.].
- Na hAislingí / Vision Poems [of] Eoghan Ruadh Ó Súilleabháin, with notes and English translations by Pat Muldowney [Collected writings of Eoghan Rua O Suilleabhain, Vol. 1] (Belfast: Aubane Historical Society, [2002]), 216pp.
- Dánta: Poems [of] Eoghan Ruadh Ó Súilleabháin, trans. Pat Muldowney (Belfast: Aubane Hist. Soc. 2009), 224pp.
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Commentary Daniel Corkery, in The Hidden Ireland, Cork: Mercier Press 1957 Edn.): He is one of our greatest lyric poets, far greater than at present we conceive - yet in the catalogue of men Lecky would have found him written down as a farm labourer, a spailpín, and would have rested on that description [...] (p.109). Corkery quotes Rodneys Glory [as in Quotations, infra] and relates the circumstances: The poet was brought to him and Rodney offered him promotion. However the Irishman requested only to be set free from service. An Irish officer, a Kerryman named McCarthy, answered for the admiral Anything but that. Disgusted, the poet turned away and muttered under his breath, Imireaochaimid beart eigin eile oraibh. McCarthy replied, Ill take care, Sullivan, you will not. [&c.] (p.199.)
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References John Montague, Faber Book of Irish Verse (London: Faber & Faber 1973), pp.161-64: His Request, trans. Joan Keefe: Forge me a tool, my Seamus, fit for the heart ... the handle, the whole to have / harmony like a bell (a chara mo chléibh is a Shéamais ghreannmhair grháigh); The Volatile Kerryman, a seductive dialogue with a girl: a fortnight spent travelling far and wide with her, making up songs for her, telling lies to her ... till the last golden sovereign I winkled out of her, in the version of Sean Ó Riada.
Sean OTuama, ed., Poems of the Dispossessed, trans. Thomas Kinsella (1981), pp.58-9: A chara mo chléibh [Seamus, light-hearted and loving friend of my breast]; Ceo Draíochta [A magic mist].
Note: There are no works by Ó Súilleabháin in Justin McCarthy, gen. ed., Irish Literature (Washington: University of America 1904).
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Quotations
Surviving holograph poems |
Barántas an hata [warrant concerning a hat]: As I am informed that pilfering roving rakes gan dearmad iuris quoque contemptores faoi mar chanaimse nightly stroll and haunt these borders.
Barántas on Donnchadh Ó Núnáin, for interfering with his attempt to meet young woman (MS [signed] 29th March 1770).
To a blacksmith: a chara mo chléibh is a Shéamais ghreannmhair grháigh/Dfhuil Ghearaltaigh Ghréagaigh éachtaigh airmnirt áigh./Maide glan réidh i ngléas bíodh agat rámhainn/Is mar bharra ar an scléip, cuir léi go granta bacán [Dear Seamus, bosom friend, loving and jovial, of valiant strenuous Greco-Geraldine blood, fit my spade with a smooth clean shaft and as finishing touch add a greaceful treadle...].
Aisling [Ag taisteal na sléibhte dom seald im aonar/Im leabaidh aréir tréim néal do dhearcs-sa ainnir ba mhaorga taitneamhach cló [Once as I traversed the mountains on my way/As I lay asleep on my bed a stately attractive lady appeared to me]
Song poem: Coe draíochta i gcoim oíche sheol mé/Trí thiortha mar óinmhid are strae/Gan priomhcharaid díogras in chóngar/Is mé i gcríochaibh thar meolas i gcéin [In the dead of night a magic mist led me astray through many a region like a fool abroad / No near or dear friend at my side a-wandering in lands beyond my ken] |
Rodneys Glory: Now may prosperity attend / Brave Rodbey and his Irishmen / And may he never want a friend / While he shall reign commander; / Success to our Irish officers, / Seamen bold and jolly tars / Who like darling sons of Mars / Take delight in the fight / And vindicate bold Erins right / And die for Erins glory.
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