Máire Bhuí Ní Laoghaire (1774–c.1848) was an Irish

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 ...

from

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 ...

, Ireland. Ní Laoghaire's works were composed in the

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 ...

and, delivered as part of an

oral tradition Oral tradition, or oral lore, is a form of human communication in which knowledge, art, ideas and culture are received, preserved, and transmitted orally from one generation to another.Jan Vansina, Vansina, Jan: ''Oral Tradition as History'' (19 ...

, covered cultural and political topics of early 19th century Ireland.

Early life and family

Ní Laoghaire was born in Túirín na nÉan in Uibh Laoghaire (Iveleary), near

Ballingeary Ballingeary (, ) is a village in the Shehy Mountains in County Cork, Ireland. The village is located within the Muskerry ''Gaeltacht'' (Irish-speaking area). According to the 2016 census, over 42% of the population speak Irish on a daily basi ...

. She was from a family of five sons and three daughters who lived on her father's fifty acre farm. In 1792, she married Séamus de Búrca (Burke), a

Skibbereen Skibbereen (; ) is a town in County Cork, Ireland. It is located in West Cork on the N71 national secondary road. The River Ilen runs through the town; it reaches the sea about 12 kilometres away, at the seaside village of Baltimore. Located ...

horsetrader. The couple had eight children, and by 1821 they had settled on a holding they purchased near Céim an Fhia/Keimaneigh. While they were known for their generosity, their fortunes had declined by 1847 and they were unable to pay rent increases applied by their landlord. At least two of their sons were arrested for membership of a secret agrarian organisation, and mounting debts led to their eviction. Ní Laoghaire died soon afterwards and was buried in

Inchigeelagh Inchigeelagh () is a small village, townland and civil parish in County Cork, Ireland. The village is just outside a Gaeltacht area. Inchigeelagh is part of the Dáil constituency of Cork North-West. The River Lee passes through the village. T ...

Works

Ní Laoghaire was illiterate in both English and Irish, and learned through the

in the ceilidh houses. Her poems sometimes allude to

classical mythology Classical mythology, also known as Greco-Roman mythology or Greek and Roman mythology, is the collective body and study of myths from the ancient Greeks and ancient Romans. Mythology, along with philosophy and political thought, is one of the m ...

, as is often seen in the

Munster Irish Munster Irish (, ) is the dialect of the Irish language spoken in the province of Munster. Gaeltacht regions in Munster are found in the Gaeltachtaí of the Dingle Peninsula in west County Kerry, in the Iveragh Peninsula in south Kerry, in ...

oral poetry Oral poetry is a form of poetry that is composed and transmitted without the aid of writing. The complex relationships between written and spoken literature in some societies can make this definition hard to maintain. Background Oral poetry is ...

of the era. Her songs and poems survived via the oral tradition of the area, as did compositions by her contemporaries such as

Antoine Ó Raifteiri Antoine Ó Raifteirí (also Antoine Ó Reachtabhra, or Anthony Raftery; 30 March 1779 – 25 December 1835) was an Irish language poet who is often called the last of the wandering bards. Biography Antoine Ó Raifteirí was born in Killedan, n ...

. Her best-known composition is ''Cath Chéim an Fhia'' (The Battle of Keimaneigh), which provides an account of a fight between the local yeoman militia and the

Whiteboys The Whiteboys () were a secret Irish agrarian organisation in 18th-century Ireland which defended tenant-farmer land-rights for subsistence farming. Their name derives from the white smocks that members wore in their nighttime raids. Becaus ...

in 1822. A number of Ní Laoghaire's sons were involved in the movement to defend tenant-farmer land-rights, and had been involved in the fight. In the 1930s, Father Donagh O'Donoghue compiled and published an Irish-language book of O'Leary's poetry titled "''Filiocht Mhaire Bhuidhe Ni Laoghaire''". It was first published in 1931, with a second printing in 1933 and finally in 1950. A later English translation, titled "The Poetry of Maura Bwee O'Leary", was published with input from Fr. Sean Sweeney of the

Society of African Missions The Society of African Missions (; ), also known as the SMA Fathers, is a Catholic religious society of apostolic life of pontifical right for men founded by Melchior de Marion Brésillac in 1856. They serve the people of Africa and those of ...

and Fr. Richard P. Burke of the College of the Holy Cross, Worcester, Massachusetts. A further book, ''Songs of An Irish Poet: The Mary O'Leary Story'', was published by Brian Brennan in 2007.

References

1774 births 1848 deaths 18th-century Irish-language poets 19th-century Irish-language poets Writers from County Cork Irish women poets Irish poets {{Ireland-poet-stub

Early life and family

Works

Further reading

References