Robert Dwyer Joyce (1830–1883) 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 ...

poet, writer, and collector of

traditional Irish music Irish traditional music (also known as Irish trad, Irish folk music, and other variants) is a genre of folk music that developed in Ireland. In ''A History of Irish Music'' (1905), W. H. Grattan Flood wrote that, in Gaelic Ireland, there w ...

Life

He was born in

County Limerick "Remember Limerick" , image_map = Island_of_Ireland_location_map_Limerick.svg , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Ireland , subdivision_type1 = Province , subdivision_name1 = Munster , subdivision ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

, where his parents, Garret and Elizabeth (née O'Dwyer) Joyce, lived in the northern foothills of the

Ballyhoura Mountains The Ballyhoura Mountains ( ga, An Sliabh Riabhach) are located in south-east County Limerick and north-east County Cork in central Munster, running east and west for about 6 miles on the borders of both counties. Features The southern part of th ...

, west of Ballyorgan. Robert had three brothers: Michael, John and

Patrick Patrick may refer to: * Patrick (given name), list of people and fictional characters with this name * Patrick (surname), list of people with this name People * Saint Patrick (c. 385–c. 461), Christian saint *Gilla Pátraic (died 1084), Patrick ...

, a noted scholar. The family claimed descent from one

Seán Mór Seoighe Seán Mór Seoighe () was an Irish steward, stonemason, and builder. He was the ancestor of many of the Joyce families of County Kerry, County Limerick, and County Cork, including that of the author James Joyce, Patrick Weston Joyce and Rob ...

(''

fl. ''Floruit'' (; abbreviated fl. or occasionally flor.; from Latin for "they flourished") denotes a date or period during which a person was known to have been alive or active. In English, the unabbreviated word may also be used as a noun indicatin ...

'' 1680), a stonemason from

Connemara Connemara (; )( ga, Conamara ) is a region on the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast of western County Galway, in the west of Ireland. The area has a strong association with traditional Irish culture and contains much of the Connacht Irish-speak ...

County Galway "Righteousness and Justice" , anthem = () , image_map = Island of Ireland location map Galway.svg , map_caption = Location in Ireland , area_footnotes = , area_total_km2 = ...

. Robert Joyce became a civil servant and succeeded his brother Patrick as principal of the Model School,

Clonmel Clonmel () is the county town and largest settlement of County Tipperary, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The town is noted in Irish history for its resistance to the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland, Cromwellian army which sacked the towns of Dro ...

. He was a collector of Irish traditional music and contributed many airs, which were included in ''The Petrie Collection of the Ancient Music of Ireland'', published in 1855. To finance his studies he contributed poems, stories and articles to a number of periodicals, including the ''Nation'' and the ''Harp''. He produced a volume of poems, but remains most famous for contributions to Irish music. " The Wind that Shakes the Barley", "The Blacksmith of Limerick", and "The Boys of Wexford" are some of his better-known works. He studied medicine in Queens College, Cork and became a doctor in 1865. In this year he was appointed Professor of English at the Catholic University, Dublin. Disappointed with the results of the 1866

Fenian The word ''Fenian'' () served as an umbrella term for the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB) and their affiliate in the United States, the Fenian Brotherhood, secret political organisations in the late 19th and early 20th centuries dedicated ...

rising in Ireland, he emigrated to

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

, where he practised medicine. He had literary success with ''Ballads of Irish Chivalry'' (1872) and ''Deirdre'' (1876). This latter sold 10,000 copies in its first week of publication. He returned in 1883 to

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

, where he died the same year. A plaque inscribed in Irish and English marks the house in Glenosheen where the Joyce brothers lived. It is signposted from the road between Ardpatrick and

Kildorrery Kildorrery () is a village in north County Cork, Ireland. It lies at the crossroads of the N73 road from Mallow to Mitchelstown and the R512 from Kilmallock to Fermoy. This hilltop village has views to the east of the Galtee Mountains and Kn ...

. His poem "

The Battle of Benburb "The Battle of Benburb" is an Irish song commemorating the 1646 Battle of Benburb. The tune was composed by Tommy Makem, with the lyrics drawn from a nineteenth century poem by Robert Dwyer Joyce.Manganiello p.54 On 5 June 1646 Owen Roe O'Neill, ...

" commemorating a victory of

Owen Roe O'Neill Owen Roe O'Neill (Irish: ''Eoghan Ruadh Ó Néill;'' – 1649) was a Gaelic Irish soldier and one of the most famous of the O'Neill dynasty of Ulster. O'Neill left Ireland at a young age and spent most of his life as a mercenary in the Spanish ...

in the

Irish Confederate Wars The Irish Confederate Wars, also called the Eleven Years' War (from ga, Cogadh na hAon-déag mBliana), took place in Ireland between 1641 and 1653. It was the Irish theatre of the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, a series of civil wars in the kin ...

was later set to music as a popular

ballad A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads derive from the medieval French ''chanson balladée'' or ''ballade'', which were originally "dance songs". Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and ...

. The title of his poem, " The Wind That Shakes the Barley", was borrowed for the

Ken Loach Kenneth Charles Loach (born 17 June 1936) is a British film director and screenwriter. His socially critical directing style and socialist ideals are evident in his film treatment of social issues such as poverty (''Poor Cow'', 1967), homelessne ...

film, which won the

Palme d'Or The Palme d'Or (; en, Golden Palm) is the highest prize awarded at the Cannes Film Festival. It was introduced in 1955 by the festival's organizing committee. Previously, from 1939 to 1954, the festival's highest prize was the Grand Prix du Fe ...

at the

Cannes Film Festival The Cannes Festival (; french: link=no, Festival de Cannes), until 2003 called the International Film Festival (') and known in English as the Cannes Film Festival, is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films o ...

in 2006.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Joyce, Robert Dwyer 1830 births 1883 deaths Irish poets 19th-century Irish medical doctors 19th-century poets Alumni of University College Cork Irish folk-song collectors Musicians from County Limerick 19th-century musicologists