Edward Walsh (1805—6 August 1850) was an Irish poet, the son of a sergeant in the Cork militia, and was born in Derry City, where his father's regiment had been sent for training. His parents were natives in the village of

Millstreet Millstreet () is a town in north County Cork, Ireland, with a population of 1,555 (as of 2016). Millstreet is within the civil parish of Drishane, and within a Poor Law Union also called Millstreet. The Millstreet Union encompasses the civil ...

County Cork County Cork ( ga, Contae Chorcaí) is the largest and the southernmost county of Ireland, named after the city of Cork, the state's second-largest city. It is in the province of Munster and the Southern Region. Its largest market towns a ...

, near which his father at one time possessed a small holding. Walsh spent about thirty years of his life in Millstreet. His education was received in that most primitive of Irish primary schools, the ‘hedge school’—so called because the children assembled under a spreading hedge on summer days to be taught by untrained teachers who, wandering from district to district, thus obtained a miserable livelihood. When little more than a boy he showed great intellectual gifts, and in 1830 was private tutor in County Cork. Additionally tutored children of an Irish member of parliament. He was for a time teacher of a school at

, whence, in 1837, he removed to

Tourin Tourin () is a type of French garlic soup, also known as ''le tourin d'ail doux'', or 'smooth garlic soup'. Many regions have their own variations on the recipe. Typically, many recipes include as many as 20 cloves of garlic for a much stronger ...

, County Waterford, having been appointed to a school under the Commissioners of Education. Many of his songs and poems appeared between the years 1832–39, and he contributed to the ''Nation''. In an uncongenial occupation, and pestered by officials, he went to reside in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...

in 1843, and was befriended by Charles Gavan Duffy, who got him appointed sub-editor of the ''Monitor''. His ''Irish Jacobite Poetry'' (1844) and his ''Irish Popular Songs'' (1847) gave unmistakable evidence of a genuine poet. Yet he was forced to fight against poverty, and, in 1848, he accepted the post of schoolmaster to the junior convicts of Spike Island. There he was visited by

John Mitchel John Mitchel ( ga, Seán Mistéal; 3 November 1815 – 20 March 1875) was an Irish nationalist activist, author, and political journalist. In the Famine years of the 1840s he was a leading writer for ''The Nation'' newspaper produced by the ...

, on his way to penal servitude, who vividly describes in his ''Jail Journal'' his meeting with Walsh. Not long afterwards, he secured the schoolmastership of Cork

work-house In Britain, a workhouse () was an institution where those unable to support themselves financially were offered accommodation and employment. (In Scotland, they were usually known as poorhouses.) The earliest known use of the term ''workhouse'' ...

, but died within twelve months. A fine monument, with an epitaph in Irish and English, was erected to his memory in the Father Mathew Cemetery at Cork. Among his lyrics ''Mo Chragibhin Cno'', ''Brighidin ban mo stor'', and ''O'Donovan's Daughter'' are in most Irish anthologies, while his translations from the Irish are both faithful and musical.

Criticism

Hayes says in his Ballads of Ireland: "There is a singular beauty and fascinating melody in his verse, which cheers and charms the ear and heart. His translations preserve all the peculiarities of the old tongue, which he knew and spoke with graceful fluency. His ballads are the most literal and characteristic which we possess.Hayes, Edward: Ballads of Ireland. 2 vols. Dublin, N.D.

Selected poem

* *
Have You Been at Carrick?
' In

References

External links

* http://www.libraryireland.com/biography/EdwardWalsh.php {{DEFAULTSORT:Walsh, Edward 1805 births Irish poets 1850 deaths People from County Cork 19th-century Irish poets