Ethna Carbery, born Anna Bella Johnston, (3 December 1864 – 2 April 1902) was an
Irish
Irish may refer to:
Common meanings
* Someone or something of, from, or related to:
** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe
***Éire, Irish language name for the isle
** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...
journalist, writer and poet. She is best known for the ballad ''
Roddy McCorley
Roddy McCorley (died 28 February 1800) was an Irish nationalist from the civil parish of Duneane, County Antrim, Ireland. Following the publication of the Ethna Carbery poem bearing his name in 1902, where he is associated with events around the B ...
'' and the ''Song of Ciabhán''; the latter was set to music by
Ivor Gurney
Ivor Bertie Gurney (28 August 1890 – 26 December 1937) was an English poet and composer, particularly of songs. He was born and raised in Gloucester. He suffered from bipolar disorder through much of his life and spent his last 15 years in ps ...
. In
Belfast
Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdo ...
in the late 1890s, with
Alice Milligan
Alice Letitia Milligan 'pseud.'' Iris Olkyrn(4 September 1865 – 13 April 1953) was an Irish writer and activist in Ireland's Celtic Revival; an advocate for the political and cultural participation of women; and a Protestant-unionist convert ...
she produced ''
The Shan Van Vocht
''The Shan Van Vocht,'' (a phonetic rendering of the Irish phrase ''An tSean bhean Bhocht'' - "The Poor Old Woman") was the name of a song, dating to the period of the Irish rebellion of 1798 that, once printed, gained notoriety in nineteenth ce ...
'', a nationalist monthly of literature, history and comment that gained a wide circulation in Ireland and in the Irish diaspora. Her poetry was collected and published after her death under the pen name Ethna Carberry, adopted following her marriage to the poet
Seumas MacManus
Seumas MacManus (31 December 1867 – 23 October 1960) was an Irish author, dramatist, and poet known for his ability to reinterpret Irish folktales for modern audiences.
Biography
Born James McManus on 31 December 1867 in Mountcharles, County ...
in 1901.
Life
She was born Anna Bella Johnston on 3 December 1864 in the
townland
A townland ( ga, baile fearainn; Ulster-Scots: ''toonlann'') is a small geographical division of land, historically and currently used in Ireland and in the Western Isles in Scotland, typically covering . The townland system is of Gaelic origi ...
of Kirkinriola,
Ballymena
Ballymena ( ; from ga, an Baile Meánach , meaning 'the middle townland') is a town in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It is part of the Borough of Mid and East Antrim.
The town is built on land given to the Adair family by King Charles I i ...
,
County Antrim
County Antrim (named after the town of Antrim, ) is one of six counties of Northern Ireland and one of the thirty-two counties of Ireland. Adjoined to the north-east shore of Lough Neagh, the county covers an area of and has a population o ...
, the daughter of Robert Johnston, a timber merchant and a leading member of the
Irish Republican Brotherhood
The Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB; ) was a secret oath-bound fraternal organisation dedicated to the establishment of an "independent democratic republic" in Ireland between 1858 and 1924.McGee, p. 15. Its counterpart in the United States ...
, and Marjorie (Mage) Magee, who came from
County Donegal
County Donegal ( ; ga, Contae Dhún na nGall) is a county of Ireland in the province of Ulster and in the Northern and Western Region. It is named after the town of Donegal in the south of the county. It has also been known as County Tyrconne ...
.
Born in 1839 her father had grown up hearing stories from the last veteran
United Irishmen
The Society of United Irishmen was a sworn association in the Kingdom of Ireland formed in the wake of the French Revolution to secure "an equal representation of all the people" in a national government. Despairing of constitutional reform, ...
who had fought at the
Battle of Antrim
The Battle of Antrim was fought on 7 June 1798, in County Antrim, Ireland during the Irish Rebellion of 1798 between British troops and Irish insurgents led by Henry Joy McCracken. The British won the battle, beating off a rebel attack on Antri ...
and personally knew a number of
Young Ireland
Young Ireland ( ga, Éire Óg, ) was a political movement, political and cultural movement, cultural movement in the 1840s committed to an all-Ireland struggle for independence and democratic reform. Grouped around the Dublin weekly ''The Nati ...
ers from the 1840s before himself becoming involved in the 1867
Fenian rising
The Fenian Rising of 1867 ( ga, Éirí Amach na bhFíníní, 1867, ) was a rebellion against British rule in Ireland, organised by the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB).
After the suppression of the ''Irish People'' newspaper in September 186 ...
. He later oversaw the re-organisation of the IRB in the 1880s and had hosted many of the future readers of the Easter Rising in his Antrim Road home in Belfast. Carbery's husband, the poet and folklorist
Seumus MacManus, called Robert Johnston the “''…connecting link that kept the spirit of freedom alive throughout more than a century.''”
From the age of fifteen, when she had her first piece published, Carbery contributed poems and short stories to a number of Irish periodicals, including ''United Ireland'', ''Young Ireland'', the ''Nation'' and the ''Catholic Fireside''.
She participated in the nationalist commemorations of the
1798 Rising and with Alice Milligan,
Maud Gonne
Maud Gonne MacBride ( ga, Maud Nic Ghoinn Bean Mhic Giolla Bhríghde; 21 December 1866 – 27 April 1953) was an English-born Irish republican revolutionary, suffragette and actress. Of Anglo-Irish descent, she was won over to Irish nationalism ...
and others toured the country delivering lectures on the
United Irishmen
The Society of United Irishmen was a sworn association in the Kingdom of Ireland formed in the wake of the French Revolution to secure "an equal representation of all the people" in a national government. Despairing of constitutional reform, ...
. In 1900 she was a founder-member of
Inghinidhe na hÉireann
Inghinidhe na hÉireann (; "Daughters of Ireland") was a radical Irish nationalist women's organisation led and founded by Maud Gonne from 1900 to 1914, when it merged with the new Cumann na mBan.
Patriotic Children's Treat
The Inghinidhe origi ...
, the revolutionary women's organisation led by
Maud Gonne
Maud Gonne MacBride ( ga, Maud Nic Ghoinn Bean Mhic Giolla Bhríghde; 21 December 1866 – 27 April 1953) was an English-born Irish republican revolutionary, suffragette and actress. Of Anglo-Irish descent, she was won over to Irish nationalism ...
. She was elected a vice-president of the association, along with
Jenny Wyse Power
Jane Wyse Power ( ga, Siobhán Bean an Phaoraigh; ; 1 May 1858 – 5 January 1941) was an Irish activist, feminist, politician and businesswoman. She was a founder member of Sinn Féin and also of Inghinidhe na hÉireann. She rose in the ranks t ...
, Annie Egan and
Alice Furlong
Alice Furlong (26 November 1866 – 1946) was an Irish writer, poet and political activist who also worked on Irish publications with Douglas Hyde (later President of Ireland).
Life
She was born at Old Bawn, near Tallaght, County Dublin, the ...
. She and Milligan wrote and produced plays as part of its cultural activities.
[
In October 1895, with ]Alice Milligan
Alice Letitia Milligan 'pseud.'' Iris Olkyrn(4 September 1865 – 13 April 1953) was an Irish writer and activist in Ireland's Celtic Revival; an advocate for the political and cultural participation of women; and a Protestant-unionist convert ...
, she produced the ''Northern Patriot'', the journal of the commemorative Henry Joy McCracken Literary Society. But after just four issues, she was dismissed. The sponsors were wary of an association with her father, an active "Fenian". Milligan resigned in solidarity and, working out of the offices of Robert-Johnston's timber yard, they launched their own independent monthly ''The Shan Van Vocht'', producing forty issues. Leading literary revivalist Padraic Colum
Padraic Colum (8 December 1881 – 11 January 1972) was an Irish poet, novelist, dramatist, biographer, playwright, children's author and collector of folklore. He was one of the leading figures of the Irish Literary Revival.
Early life
Col ...
attributed its comparative success to "a freshness that came from its femininity". Carberry (still Johnston) and Milligan were joined as prominent contributors by Alice Furlong
Alice Furlong (26 November 1866 – 1946) was an Irish writer, poet and political activist who also worked on Irish publications with Douglas Hyde (later President of Ireland).
Life
She was born at Old Bawn, near Tallaght, County Dublin, the ...
, Katherine Tynan
Katharine Tynan (23 January 1859 – 2 April 1931)Clarke, Frances (2013)"Hinkson (née Tynan), Katharine Tynan" in ''Dictionary of Irish Biography'' (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press). was an Irish writer, known mainly for her novels and p ...
, Margaret Pender
Margaret Pender (1848 – 17 March 1920) was a Belfast-based Irish writer whose fiction and poetry appeared regularly in the nationalist press.
Early life
Margaret Pender was born Margaret Teresa Doherty in 1848 or 1850 in the townland of Ba ...
and Nora Hopper
Nora Chesson (2 January 1871 – 14 April 1906) was an English journalist and poet. She won for herself a distinct celebrity as a contributor to most of the English periodicals and newspapers of her time.
Biography
Eleanor Jane Hopper was born ...
. The first issue, January 1896, gave an early platform to socialist republican James Connolly
James Connolly ( ga, Séamas Ó Conghaile; 5 June 1868 – 12 May 1916) was an Irish republican, socialist and trade union leader. Born to Irish parents in the Cowgate area of Edinburgh, Scotland, Connolly left school for working life at the a ...
.[
On 22 August 1901 she married Seumas MacManus (1867–1960), a contributor and moved with him to Revlin House, just outside ]Donegal Town
Donegal ( ; , "fort of the foreigners") is a town in County Donegal, Ireland. The name was also historically spelt 'Dunnagall'. Although Donegal gave its name to the county, now Lifford is the county town. From the 15th until the early 17th ce ...
in County Donegal
County Donegal ( ; ga, Contae Dhún na nGall) is a county of Ireland in the province of Ulster and in the Northern and Western Region. It is named after the town of Donegal in the south of the county. It has also been known as County Tyrconne ...
in the west of Ulster
Ulster (; ga, Ulaidh or ''Cúige Uladh'' ; sco, label= Ulster Scots, Ulstèr or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional Irish provinces. It is made up of nine counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United King ...
. It was then that she began writing under the pen name of Ethna Carbery because once she took the last name of MacManus she didn't want to be confused with her husband (also a writer).
Carbery died in Revlin House of gastritis on 2 April 1902, aged 37. Her husband, who was three years her junior, outlived her by 58 years.[ Although MacManus and Johnston were only married for one year her impact on his life ran deep.
Her poetry was published by her husband after her death in ''The Four Winds of Erin'', which was phenomenally successful over the next few years. Some further volumes followed.][ He also wrote a memoir dedicated to her.]
At the fiftieth anniversary of her death, a public address was given by Sinead de Valera in which she stated that “Among women poets Ethna Carbery would always hold the foremost place and, even though her life was short, it was full of devotion and idealism” (''Irish Press'' 2/4/1952).
Works
*''The Four Winds of Eirinn'' (1902) - poems
*''The Passionate Hearts'' (1903) - stories
*''In the Celtic Past'' (1904) - hero tales
*''We Sang for Ireland: Poems of Ethna Carbery, Séamus MacManus, Alice Milligan'' (1950) - poetry
*''The Love-Talker'' - poetry
*''Death of Sweet Roses'' - poetry
See also
*List of Irish writers
This is a list of writers either born in Ireland or holding Irish citizenship, who have a Wikipedia page. Writers whose work is in Irish are included.
Dramatists A–D
*John Banim (1798–1842)
* Ivy Bannister (born 1951)
*Sebastian Barry (born ...
References
External links
''The Four Winds of Eirinn: Poems by Ethna Carbery''
Dublin: M. H. Gill And Son, Ltd. Jas. Duffy And Co., Ltd. 1906 a
A Celebration of Women Writers
The Story of Seamus MacManus
- Emerald Reflections - June 2008
The Shan Van Vocht Online
at th
UCD Digital Library
at University College Dublin
University College Dublin (commonly referred to as UCD) ( ga, Coláiste na hOllscoile, Baile Átha Cliath) is a public research university in Dublin, Ireland, and a collegiate university, member institution of the National University of Ireland ...
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Carbery, Ethna
1864 births
1902 deaths
Irish folklorists
Women folklorists
Irish women poets
People from Ballymena
19th-century poets
19th-century Irish women writers
19th-century Irish writers
Cumann na mBan members