Séamas Dall Mac Cuarta (c. 1647? – 1733) was an Irish poet. He was the originator of a seventeenth and eighteenth century

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 ...

school of poets, centred on the south-east of the province 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 ...

and north of

Leinster Leinster ( ; ga, Laighin or ) is one of the provinces of Ireland, situated in the southeast and east of Ireland. The province comprises the ancient Kingdoms of Meath, Leinster and Osraige. Following the 12th-century Norman invasion of Ir ...

.Kilberd, D. (2001) ''Irish Classics'', Harvard UP, p.54 Mac Cuarta's work emerged from a region in which there was no previous strong poetic tradition, unlike in north-western Ulster, and inspired a number of followers such as

Peadar Ó Doirnín Peadar Ó Doirnín (c. 1700 - 1769), also known in English as Peter O'Dornin, was an Irish schoolteacher, Irish language poet and songwriter who spent much of his life in south-east Ulster. Biography Ó Doirnín was born c.1700 possibly near Dund ...

and

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 co ...

:Kilberd, D. (2001) ''Irish Classics'', Harvard UP, p.54 the emergence of the work of Mac Cuarta and his followers may have been a conscious response to local pressures of

anglicisation Anglicisation is the process by which a place or person becomes influenced by English culture or British culture, or a process of cultural and/or linguistic change in which something non-English becomes English. It can also refer to the influen ...

, and the collapse of the traditional Gaelic social order. Older English translations of his works often use the English form of his name, James McCuairt, or occasionally James Courtney.

Background

Mac Cuarta was possibly born in

Omeath Omeath (; or ''Uí Meth'') is a village on the Cooley Peninsula in County Louth, Ireland, close to the border with Northern Ireland. It is roughly midway between Dublin and Belfast, very near the County Louth and County Armagh / County Down bor ...

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 ...

, although Kilkerley to the north-west of Dundalk is also mentioned as bearing links to his life; he appears to have spent most of his life moving around this area and the

Boyne Valley The River Boyne ( ga, An Bhóinn or ''Abhainn na Bóinne'') is a river in Leinster, Ireland, the course of which is about long. It rises at Trinity Well, Newberry Hall, near Carbury, County Kildare, and flows towards the Northeast through C ...

. As his name suggests, he was either blind or had seriously impaired vision and, at a time when gentry patronage of the poetic class was on the wane, this placed more emphasis on his literary skills rather than the traditional poetic tools of flattery towards their patrons. He was, by all accounts, very sociable and among his friends were fellow musicians and poets

Niall Óg Mac Mhurchaidh Niall is a male given name of Irish origin. The original meaning of the name is unknown, but popular modern sources have suggested that it means "champion" (derived from the Old Irish word ''niadh''),. According to John Ryan, Professor of Early an ...

, Pádraig Mac Giolla Fhiondáin (1665–1733), and Toirdhealbhach Ó Cearbhalláin (1670–1738).

Works

His works display a close affiliation with the older literary traditions, as well as the influence of contemporary popular song and balladry. In the words of

Nollaig Ó Muraíle Nollaig Ó Muraíle is an Irish scholar. He published an acclaimed edition of Dubhaltach Mac Fhirbhisigh's ''Leabhar na nGenealach'' in 2004. He was admitted to the Royal Irish Academy in 2009. Life and career A native of Knock, County Mayo, Ó ...

, "Mac Cuarta's poetry reflects a familiarity with Irish literature and history, the classics (Greek and Latin), and the Bible."

Political influences

His poems also bear a very strong resonance to the political turmoil of the period or, as Ó Muraíle put it, 'Much of Mac Cuarta's work echoes the political events of his time, such as the catastrophic battle of Aughrim (1691)—which inspired '' Tuireamh Shomhairle Mhic Dónaill'' (a lament for a Catholic leader who fell in that battle)—and the subsequent subjugation of his people by the English, who are condemned both as foreigners and heretics.' ''Tuireamh Mhurcha Cruis'' is about a Jacobite soldier, one of the first Normans to setlle in Ireland. Among Séamas's patrons were chieftains of

Gaelic Gaelic is an adjective that means "pertaining to the Gaels". As a noun it refers to the group of languages spoken by the Gaels, or to any one of the languages individually. Gaelic languages are spoken in Ireland, Scotland, the Isle of Man, and Ca ...

and

Norman Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norm ...

origin, and he dedicated poems to, among others, Toirealach Ó Néill, Brian Mac Naois, Brian Mac Eoghain, Mac Airt Uí Néill,

Baron Slane Baron Slane was a title in the Peerage of Ireland. It was created in 1370 for the Fleming family but forfeited in 1691. Origins The Flemings of Slane descend from Erchenbald, otherwise referred to as "Archembald le Fleming", of Bratton Flemin ...

. He lamented in particular the overthrow of the Ó Néill chiefs of the Fews in south Armagh, whose castle in Glasdrummond lay deserted at the time of his writing. However, despite his praise of these nobles, Séamas dismissed nobles who he believed did not resist the English sufficiently; instead, he promoted men without noble lineage but who resisted the English conquest.

Nature influences

His poetry also displays a great love of nature, despite his blindness—a love most poignantly shown in 'Fáilte don éan' from c. 1707. His best poems are those in the form of Trí Rainn agus Amhrán: three stanzas in loose syllabic verse and one stanza in song form, where both traditions are finely merged. Unlike the classic poetry of most of his contemporaries, Mac Cuarta's work displays a strong feeling for nature, a tendency which marked the

Early Irish The history of the Irish language begins with the period from the arrival of speakers of Celtic languages in Ireland to Ireland's earliest known form of Irish, Primitive Irish, which is found in Ogham inscriptions dating from the 3rd or 4th cen ...

poets. Other poems praise women, although these are not considered to be among his most passionate poems. Some fifty of Mac Cuarta's poems still survive. They are contained in about 130 manuscripts, the earliest of which is from 1690.

Death

Séamas Dall Mac Cuarta died in 1733, and is buried in an unmarked grave in the old graveyard at

Monknewton Monknewtown (), historically called ''Rathenskin'', is a townland 3 km east of Slane in County Meath, Ireland. It stands on the right bank of the Mattock River, which feeds several historic watermills nearby and which forms approximately t ...

Co. Meath County Meath (; gle, Contae na Mí or simply ) is a county in the Eastern and Midland Region of Ireland, within the province of Leinster. It is bordered by Dublin to the southeast, Louth to the northeast, Kildare to the south, Offaly to the s ...

.Christianity Down The Years In Monknewton
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Notes

References

External links

* http://www.newryjournal.co.uk/content/view/2341/41/ * http://www.cregganhistory.co.uk/ofiaichcentre/creggan.htm * http://sources.nli.ie/Record/MS_UR_052539 * http://www.slanegfc.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=51:iomainnaboinne1712&catid=38:history&Itemid=59 * http://eprints.maynoothuniversity.ie/7800/ {{DEFAULTSORT:Mac Cuarta, Seamas Dall 1640s births 1733 deaths Irish poets Irish Jacobites Irish-language poets People from County Louth People from County Meath History of literature 18th-century Irish people