Dáibhí Ó Bruadair (1625 – January 1698) was a 17th-century

Irish language Irish (Standard Irish: ), also known as Irish Gaelic or simply Gaelic ( ), is a Celtic language of the Indo-European language family. It is a member of the Goidelic languages of the Insular Celtic sub branch of the family and is indigenous ...

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...

who was probably received his training in a Bardic school . He lived through a period of change in

Irish history The first evidence of human presence in Ireland dates to around 34,000 years ago, with further findings dating the presence of ''Homo sapiens'' to around 10,500 to 7,000 BC. The receding of the ice after the Younger Dryas cold phase of the Qua ...

, and his work reflects the demise of the old Irish cultural and political order and the decline in position of poets in Irish society. His ode, ''D'Aithle Na bhFileadh'' ("The High Poets are Gone"), written upon the death of a fellow poet, laments this decline and reflects that Ireland was now a far less educated place due to it.

Biography

Ó Bruadair was born in Barrymore,

County Cork County Cork () is the largest and the southernmost Counties of Ireland, county of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, named after the city of Cork (city), Cork, the state's second-largest city. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster ...

''An Duanaire 1600-1900: Poems of the Dispossessed'', p 108 and spent much of his adult life in

County Limerick County Limerick () is a western Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and is located in the Mid-West Region, Ireland, Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Reg ...

, receiving the patronage of both Irish and

Anglo-Irish Anglo-Irish people () denotes an ethnic, social and religious grouping who are mostly the descendants and successors of the English Protestant Ascendancy in Ireland. They mostly belong to the Anglican Church of Ireland, which was the State rel ...

landowners. This patronage was vital, as Ó Bruadair was the first of the 17th-century poets to attempt to live purely from his poetry, in the manner of the professional bards of the medieval period. It would seem that this attempt was not particularly successful, as his poem ''Is mairg nár chrean le maitheas saoghalta'' indicates that he was reduced to working as a farm labourer. He died in poverty and, as poems such as ''Mairg nach fuil 'na Dhubhthuata'' ("O It's best be a total boor") show, with bitterness on him towards the 'blind ignorant crew' that was the uneducated peasantry. This view was also reflected by poets such as Brian Mac Giolla Phádraig. As well as Irish, Ó Bruadair knew

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

and English. As a poet, he wrote on historical and political subjects, as well as producing elegies on a number of his patrons, satires on

Cromwellian Oliver Cromwell (25 April 15993 September 1658) was an English statesman, politician and soldier, widely regarded as one of the most important figures in British history. He came to prominence during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, initially a ...

planters, religious poems and, almost uniquely amongst Gaelic poets, at least two

epithalamia An epithalamium (; Latin form of Greek ἐπιθαλάμιον ''epithalamion'' from ἐπί ''epi'' "upon," and θάλαμος ''thalamos'' "nuptial chamber") is a poem written specifically for the bride on the way to her marital chamber. This fo ...

. His versification was also varied, and he wrote in both syllabic and assonantal

metres The metre (or meter in US spelling; symbol: m) is the base unit of length in the International System of Units (SI). Since 2019, the metre has been defined as the length of the path travelled by light in vacuum during a time interval of of ...

Bibliography

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Notes

External links

Statue in Broadford Co. Limerick

entry in ainm.ie (in Irish)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Obruadair, Daibhi 1625 births 1698 deaths Writers from County Cork 17th-century Irish poets Irish male poets 17th-century Irish-language poets People from Carrigtwohill Writers from County Limerick