Donnchadh Ruadh Mac Conmara

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Donnchadh Ruadh Mac Conmara (1715–1810) was an Irish schoolmaster of a

anti-hero in Irish folklore, and composer of poetry in both Munster Irish and in the Irish language outside Ireland
.

Life

He was born into the

Mac Conmara at Cratloe (Irish: An Chreatalach), County Clare
(Contae an Chláir).

According to the

anti-hero in local Irish folklore.[2]

Around 1741, he was appointed assistant master of the illegal Catholic

Touraneena (Irish: Tuar an Fhíona), County Waterford.[3] He is said locally to have been highly talented at Gaelic games and to have once led his students to victory upon the pitch against a rival hurling team from a neighbouring district.[4]

He is said to have sailed for

Anglophilia of the English lines upon its head and give the poem a subversive message. The poems that Donnchadh Ruadh Mac Conmara composed in the Irish language in Newfoundland remain important works of modern literature in Irish.[8]

After leaving Newfoundland he continued for a long period to work as a sailor, and his poem Bán Chnoic Éireann Óigh ("The Fair Hills of Holy Ireland"), is said to have been composed in Hamburg.[9]

After returning to Ireland, Donnchadh Ruadh converted to

Oath of Abjuration inside the still extant Church of Ireland parish at Carrick-on-Suir (Irish: Carraig na Siúire).[10] He then joined the Anglican parish at Rossmire, Newtown, near Kilmacthomas (Irish: Coill Mhic Thomáisín). He was briefly appointed as parish clerk, but when the Vicar and parishioners discovered how great a rogue he was, Donnchadh Ruadh was dismissed; he then converted back to Catholicism,[11] and composed his poem Duain na hAithrighe ("Song of Repentance").[12]

Following the death in 1795 of his close friend and fellow poet Tadhg Gaelach Ó Súilleabháin, Donnchadh Ruadh composed a eulogy for his friend in Neo-Latin verse.[13]

In 1810, at the age of 95, Donnchadh Ruadh died in Newtown and lies buried in the Roman Catholic cemetery there.[14] His death was briefly reported in the Freeman's Journal; "October 6th, 1810, at Newtown, near Kilmacthomas, in the 95th year of his age, Denis MacNamara, commonly known by the name Ruadh, or Red-haired, the most celebrated of the modern bards. His compositions will be received and read until the end of time with rapturous admiration and enthusiastic applause."[15]

Legacy

While still teaching at

Penal times and about the life of Donnchadh Ruadh Mac Conmara. This comprises Stand and Give Challenge (1934), Candle for the Proud (1936) and Men Withering (1939).[16]

For a long time, it was doubted whether Donnchadh Ruadh ever even visited Newfoundland. During the 21st century, however,

linguists discovered that multiple Donnchadh Ruadh poems in the Irish language contain Gaelicized renderings of words and terms that are unique to Newfoundland English. For this reason, Donnchadh Ruadh's poems are considered the earliest solid evidence of the speaking of the Irish language in Newfoundland.[8]

See also

References

  1. ^ Daniel Corkery (1926), The Hidden Ireland: A Study of Gaelic Munster in the Eighteenth Century, p. 244.
  2. ^ Donnchadh Ruadh
  3. ^ Donnchadh Ruadh
  4. Gill & Macmillan
    , pp. 17–18.
  5. ^ Natasha Sumner and Aidan Doyle (2020, eds.), North American Gaels: Speech, Song, and Story in the Diaspora, McGill-Queen's University Press, p. 80.
  6. ^ Donnchadh Ruadh
  7. ^ Natasha Sumner and Aidan Doyle (2020, eds.), North American Gaels: Speech, Song, and Story in the Diaspora, McGill-Queen's University Press, p. 76.
  8. ^ a b Natasha Sumner and Aidan Doyle (2020, eds.), North American Gaels: Speech, Song, and Story in the Diaspora, McGill–Queen's University Press, pp. 73–91.
  9. ^ Daniel Corkery (1926), The Hidden Ireland: A Study of Gaelic Munster in the Eighteenth Century, p. 245.
  10. ^ Daniel Corkery (1926), The Hidden Ireland: A Study of Gaelic Munster in the Eighteenth Century, p. 246.
  11. ^ Donnchadh Ruadh
  12. ^ Daniel Corkery (1926), The Hidden Ireland: A Study of Gaelic Munster in the Eighteenth Century, pp. 246–247.
  13. ^ Daniel Corkery (1926), The Hidden Ireland: A Study of Gaelic Munster in the Eighteenth Century, p. 249.
  14. ^ Donnchadh Ruadh
  15. ^ Daniel Corkery (1926), The Hidden Ireland: A Study of Gaelic Munster in the Eighteenth Century, p. 247.
  16. ^ Oxford Companion to Irish Literature cited at http://www.answers.com/topic/francis-macmanus

Further reading

  • Séamus J. King (1996, 1998), A History of Hurling: Revised and Updated,
    Gill & Macmillan
    .
  • Éamonn Ó Ciardha (2001, 2004), Ireland And The Jacobite Cause, 1685-1766: A Fatal Attachment, p. 224, 306, 315, Four Courts Press.
  • Edited by Natasha Sumner and Aidan Doyle (2020), North American Gaels: Speech, Song, and Story in the Diaspora, McGill-Queen's University Press.
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