Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Seamus 'ac Cosgair

The following discussion is an archived debate of the proposed deletion of the article below. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was userfy.

talk) 16:01, 4 May 2011 (UTC)[reply

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Seamus 'ac Cosgair

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Non-notable poet, in a preliminarily research the only page available I could find on the internet about was a facebook relating to Wikipedia, ~~could this be a hoax~~. Eduemoni ^↑talk↓ 04:41, 26 April 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Comment I don't think he is a hoax; a couple of indications: two mentions of the poet Seamus Cosgair (given as (1775-1847) on this Mayo Family Settlements page, albeit a page authored by school pupils), and mention of a chapbook by James Cosgrave in The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Folktales and Fairy Tales. AllyD (talk) 18:09, 26 April 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Comment - I've only found these two books, on the whole internet mentioning about him, but the article refers about a Seamus Cosgair who was born in 1820, no other mentions elsewhere. Eduemoni ^↑talk↓ 21:34, 26 April 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Comment Actually the article asserts he was living in 1820, rather than born in 1820 - fl. standing for floruit. As for worries that this being possibly a hoax, they can be easily put aside. For example, there is a snippet view of the 1982 book Mayo:aspects of its heritage used as a source available on Google Books here and the book was ~~authored~~ edited by an academic at what is now the Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology. Now to add a few more complications: 'ac Cosgair can also be rendered as Mac Cosgair or Mac Coscair (or MacCosgair or MacCoscair) - the dropped "m" has fallen out of general usage. For example looking for MacCosgair brings up a mention of what is almost certainly the same person being described as an "Erris folk poet" (link) in Remembering the year of the French: Irish folk history and social memory, while looking for Mac Coscair brings up a mention in "The Field day anthology of Irish writing: Irish women's writing" (link). All that said, I would like to see a few more sources covering the subject in detail. FlowerpotmaN·(t) 20:20, 28 April 2011 (UTC)[reply]
- Comment Slight edit above. The book was edited by Bernard O'Hara; he wasn't the author of the section on 'ac Cosgair. FlowerpotmaN·(t) 17:01, 1 May 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Note: This debate has been included in the list of Poetry-related deletion discussions. -- • Gene93k (talk) 21:42, 27 April 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Note: This debate has been included in the list of Authors-related deletion discussions. -- • Gene93k (talk) 21:43, 27 April 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Note: This debate has been included in the list of Ireland-related deletion discussions. —FlowerpotmaN·(t) 18:21, 28 April 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Comment Hi guys, is mise Fergananim, creator of the article. I used Brian O'Rourke's article in the 1982 Mayo book as my source for 'ac Cosgair. I don't publish hoaxes, just try to fill in a few obscure corners of Irish literary biography. I had hoped to add more material to it, over time, but have not yet found any more published material concerning him. Fergananim (talk) 01:19, 29 April 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Perhaps we should userfy this until more sources become available. It doesn't appear to be a hoax and its creator is clearly willing to improve the article, but at present
WP:Notability (biographies) seems to be a stumbling block. Alzarian16 (talk) 15:19, 29 April 2011 (UTC)[reply
]

I would tend towards suggesting "userification" if only for a brief period, until more than one source can be added. I am convinced there are more sources out there. Just taking the two brief mentions I came across: unfortunately while some of the text is visible as a summary in the link I give above for "The Field day anthology of Irish writing: Irish women's writing" (link), the page is unavailable as a preview, as so often is going to be the case using Google Books for understandable copyright reasons, but the index (page 1475 if you are looking) indicates an entry for both the poet and the poem "An Abhainn Mhor ". The other source mentioned while only mentioning the poet in passing, notes that he, along with other poets, doesn't seem to have written about the 1798 Rising and also mentions that the poet's works were collected by the folklorist Michael O'Gallaher. The point here is that while these sources only mention 'ac Cosgair in passing, as would be expected as the subjects of these books are broader, it is obvious that the authors are working from other sources. (As indeed were the 5th & 6th class pupils of Bangor National School mentioned in the link above from AllyD). It really is a case of having more than one source dealing in detail with the subject. I don't doubt that those sources exist, but there will be digging involved :) FlowerpotmaN·(t) 17:01, 1 May 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Comment - Clearly is not a hoax, however the notability guideline seems to be the major obstacle for this article to stand up, the userfication proposal seems to be a good idea, so the user can find more sources (online or not) to prove the notability and verifiability of it. Eduemoni ^↑talk↓ 03:52, 3 May 2011 (UTC)[reply]

The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.