Seán Mac Aoidh (a.k.a. Sean McHugh), 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 ...

, fl. 1820s. Mac Aoidh was a native of

Islandeady Islandeady () is a village in County Mayo, Ireland, about halfway between the towns of Castlebar and Westport. The parish of Islandeady meets Castlebar to the east, Westport and Newport to the west, and Aughagower and Killawalla to the sout ...

, near

Castlebar Castlebar () is the county town of County Mayo, Ireland. Developing around a 13th-century castle of the de Barry family, from which the town got its name, the town now acts as a social and economic focal point for the surrounding hinterland. Wi ...

County Mayo County Mayo (; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. In the West Region, Ireland, West of Ireland, in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht, it is named after the village of Mayo, County Mayo, Mayo, now ge ...

, who was married to Sail Óg Rua Ní Mháille (Sally O'Malley), who died early in their marriage. His in-laws suspected him of killing Sail Óg, and approached his house one night intending to kill him. However, upon hearing his lament for his wife, '' Sail Óg Rua'', they concluded he was innocent, and let him be. Another account has him composing it in Castlebar or Dolliwista jail as proof of his innocence. In "County Mayo in Gaelic Folksong" (1982),

Brian O'Rourke Sir Brian O'Rourke (; c. 1540 – 1591) was first king and then lord of West Bréifne in the west of Ireland from 1566 until his execution in 1591. He reigned during the later stages of the Tudor conquest of Ireland and his rule was marked by ...

states "All one can say is that if, in addition to being a murderer, Mac Aoidh was a cynical hypocrite, then he was a brilliant one, for 'Sail Óg Rua' has all the accents of genuine grief"."County Mayo in Gaelic Folksong", Brian O'Rourke, pp. 183–85, ''Mayo: Aspects of its Heritage'', ed. Bernard O'Hara, 1982.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mac Aoidh, Sean Irish folklore Irish folk songs 19th-century Irish-language poets Writers from County Mayo