Peadar Ó Doirnín (c. 1700 - 1769), also known in English as Peter O'Dornin, 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 ...

schoolteacher,

Irish language Irish ( Standard Irish: ), also known as Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Insular Celtic branch of the Celtic language family, which is a part of the Indo-European language family. Irish is indigenous to the island of Ireland and was ...

poet and songwriter who spent much of his life in south-east

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 ...

Biography

Ó Doirnín was born c.1700 possibly near

Dundalk Dundalk ( ; ga, Dún Dealgan ), meaning "the fort of Dealgan", is the county town (the administrative centre) of County Louth, Ireland. The town is on the Castletown River, which flows into Dundalk Bay on the east coast of Ireland. It is h ...

County Louth County Louth ( ; ga, An Lú) is a coastal county in the Eastern and Midland Region of Ireland, within the province of Leinster. Louth is bordered by the counties of Meath to the south, Monaghan to the west, Armagh to the north and Down to the ...

. He was a teacher and the master of a number of

hedge school Hedge schools ( Irish names include '' scoil chois claí'', ''scoil ghairid'' and ''scoil scairte'') were small informal secret and illegal schools, particularly in 18th- and 19th-century Ireland, designed to secretly provide the rudiments of ...

s in Counties Louth and Armagh. He died at

Forkill Forkhill or Forkill ( , ; ) is a small village and civil parish in south County Armagh, Northern Ireland. It is within the Ring of Gullion and in the 2011 Census it had a recorded population of 498. It lies within the former barony of Orior Up ...

in 1769 and his elegy was composed by fellow poet

Art Mac Cumhaigh Art Mac Cumhaigh (or Mac Cobhthaigh) (1738–1773), or Art McCooey, was among the most celebrated of the south Ulster and north Leinster poets in the eighteenth century. He was part of the Airgíalla tradition of poetry and song. Origin It is c ...

. Ó Doirnín is buried in Urnaí graveyard in north

. The Forkhill Peadar Ó Doirnín GAA club was named to commemorate the poet.

Works

As a poet, and along with

, Cathal Buí Mac Giolla Ghunna and

Séamas Dall Mac Cuarta Séamas Dall Mac Cuarta (c. 1647? – 1733) was an Irish poet. He was the originator of a seventeenth and eighteenth century Irish language school of poets, centred on the south-east of the province of Ulster and north of Leinster.Kilberd, D. (20 ...

, Ó Doirnín was part of the

Airgíalla Airgíalla (Modern Irish: Oirialla, English: Oriel, Latin: ''Ergallia'') was a medieval Irish over-kingdom and the collective name for the confederation of tribes that formed it. The confederation consisted of nine minor kingdoms, all independe ...

tradition of poetry and song. His poetry and writings were recorded in the 19th and 20th centuries. One of his poems, ''

Mná na hÉireann "''Mná na hÉireann''" ( en, Women of Ireland) is a poem written by Ulster poet Peadar Ó Doirnín (1704–1796), most famous as a song, and especially set to an air composed by Seán Ó Riada (1931–1971). As a modern song, ''Mná na hÉire ...

'', was set to an air composed by

Seán Ó Riada Seán Ó Riada (; born John Reidy; 1 August 1931 – 3 October 1971), was an Irish composer and arranger of Irish traditional music. Through his incorporation of modern and traditional techniques he became the single most influential figur ...

and recorded by a number of 20th century artists including

Kate Bush Catherine Bush (born 30 July 1958) is an English singer, songwriter, record producer and dancer. In 1978, at the age of 19, she topped the UK Singles Chart for four weeks with her debut single "Wuthering Heights (song), Wuthering Heights", ...

and

Sinéad O'Connor Shuhada Sadaqat (born Sinéad Marie Bernadette O'Connor on 8 December 1966; ) is an Irish singer-songwriter. Her debut album, ''The Lion and the Cobra'', was released in 1987 and charted internationally. Her second album, ''I Do Not Want What ...

. Other songs, such as ''Úrchnoc Chéin mhic Cáinte'', make classic Gaelic appeals for a return to the solitude of nature. Reputedly, due to the sexual inferences of ''Úrchnoc Chéin mhic Cáinte'', Ó Doirnín was removed from one of his teaching jobs. Other poems by Ó Doirnín are described (for example in his

Dictionary of Irish Biography The ''Dictionary of Irish Biography'' (DIB) is a biographical dictionary of notable Irish people and people not born in the country who had notable careers in Ireland, including both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.

Collections

* *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:O Doirnin, Peadar 1700 births 1769 deaths Irish poets Irish Jacobites Irish-language poets Place of birth missing History of literature 18th-century Irish people

Biography

Works

Collections

See also

References