ࡱ> BDA%` ,bjbjNN .0,,X    8X$|2+:*******$l,h.*9**** J& *+02+/{//(^L**R2+D $  The Book of Irish Writers, Chapter 12 - Aodhagn Rathaille, Around 1670-1729 At the same time that some Irish writers were making a name for themselves in Ireland, England and even the wider world - a profound shock ran through Irish language writing. The case of Aodhagn Rathaille demonstrates this breaking of the old customs as it was called. In his late poem Cabhair n ghairfead (which translates as No help Ill call) Rathaille looks forward only to death, as his whole way of life has been destroyed: Our proud royal line is wrecked; on that account( the water ploughs in grief down from my temples In the grave with this cherished chief I ll join those kings my people served before the death of Christ. That last line may sound familiar from its echo in W.B. Yeatss The Curse of Cromwell. Rathaille was born into a rather different world than the one inhabited by his fellow poet Yeats. His family leased lands in Sliabh Luachra, in co. Kerry, from the MacCarthys. Though little is know about Rathailles people, the MacCarthys were an old Gaelic family - who were in turn tenants of Sir Nicholas Browne, the viscount of Kenmare. Rathailles social position at birth was relatively privileged: he was educated by the MacCarthys, and had access to the houses of the remaining Gaelic aristocracy around the Kerry and Cork border. From childhood, Rathaille was raised to be a poet! His initial training would have been similar to that of Gaelic professional poets going back over centuries. Though in Rathailles case he would also have had access to Classical and contemporary English and European literature. Rathailles idyll of study came to an end when Sir Nicholas Brownes lands were confiscated. Sir Nicholas had found himself on the losing side as a supporter of King James II against William of Orange. Sir Nicolass tenants, including the Rathailles and the MacCarthys, were evicted. The old Gaelic social order, which had been increasingly weakened by the pressure of English colonialism, was effectively ended after Williams victory at the Boyne in 1690. The brutally ant-Catholic Penal Laws were introduced and, what came to be know as the Protestant Ascendancy emerged. The direct effect of this on literature was that poets no longer had patrons! For hundreds of years Irish poets had been supported by a Gaelic aristocracy - for whom they wrote praise poems and genealogies. Rathaille now around 20 years of age is caught between two worlds, the one in which he had been educated, where some remnants of the old order survived - and the new one, in which the land was poor, afflicted, lonely, and tortured. Despite these new, hard times, Rathaille continues to see the old Gaelic families as aristocrats. This is evident in a number of his elegies. These hold to the old tradition of establishing a more or less royal lineage for the deceased - and following it all the way back to Adam over perhaps 80 lines of verse. If this is Rathaille looking backwards to the old order - he also writes about where he now finds himself. Without the protection and patronage of the MacCarthys, he and his family have been forced out of their own place and thrown on the mercy of a rough world: The drenching night drags on: no sleep or snore, no stock, no wealth of sheep, no horned cows. This storm on the waves nearby has harrowed my head All thats left to the poet in these circumstances is his imagination and the visions that it can produce, as in one of his best-known poems, Gile na Gile or Brightness of Brightness. Gile na gile do chonnarc ar sl in uaigneas, Criostal an chriostail a goirmroisc rinn-uaine, Binneas an bhinnis a friotal nr chronghruama, Deirge is finne do fionnadh na grosghruannaibh. The brightest of the bright met me on my path so lonely; The Crystal of all Crystals was her flashing dark-blue eye; Melodious more than music was her spoken language only; And glorious were her cheeks of a brilliant crimson dye. However, not even imagination is a refuge. This vision is snatched away from the poet. He pursues her and finds that shes a prisoner in a magic castle held captive by brutish clown. The poet pleads with her to escape. But in what seems to be an odd twist, he doesnt make a case for himself to be her rescuer, but for a fine man of Scottish blood. The poem is an aisling. Aisling means dream in Irish and the term describes a vision-poem about Ireland where shes a beautiful woman, held captive by England and waiting to be rescued by the descendants of the Scottish King James. Rathaille doesnt invent the form - but he gives it a political edge which will continue through the eighteenth century. 01<EOPfj  ѷѣu`J`J`J`2/h2hG.CJOJQJ\^J_H aJmH sH +h2hG.6CJOJQJ^JaJmH sH (h2hG.CJOJQJ^JaJmH sH +h2h25CJOJQJ^JaJmH sH .h2hG.5>*CJOJQJ^JaJmH sH &h2hG.5>*CJOJQJ^JaJ2h2hG.5>*CJOJQJ^J_H aJmH sH 5h2hG.5>*CJOJQJ\^J_H aJmH sH &h2h25>*CJOJQJ^JaJOP    \ 7 \yz7^7gd2gd2,,  ! 4 Q v  | ~  6 7 B i j   ()FѼьѦtѼ\\\/h2hG.6CJOJQJ^J_H aJmH sH /h2hG.6CJOJPJQJ^JaJmH sH 2h2hG.6CJOJQJ\^J_H aJmH sH +h2hG.6CJOJQJ^JaJmH sH (h2hG.CJOJQJ^JaJmH sH /h2hG.CJOJQJ\^J_H aJmH sH ,h2hG.CJOJQJ^J_H aJmH sH $FIFT)U` ;F^W] \лЦxxx^x^x^x2h2hG.6CJOJQJ\^J_H aJmH sH /h2hG.CJOJQJ\^J_H aJmH sH +h2hG.6CJOJQJ^JaJmH sH (h2hG.CJOJQJ^JaJmH sH (h2hG.CJOJQJ^JaJmH sH ,h2hG.CJOJQJ^J_H aJmH sH /h2hG.6CJOJQJ^J_H aJmH sH $,bL|U,-xxgd27^7gd2gd2\b<E28V_,,,,,,,,,,,,鷟韷韝h bjh bU#h,jh)5CJOJQJ^JaJU/h2hG.CJOJQJ\^J_H aJmH sH 2h2hG.6CJOJQJ\^J_H aJmH sH /h2hG.6CJOJQJ^J_H aJmH sH ,h2hG.CJOJQJ^J_H aJmH sH %On his death Rathaille was buried in Muckross Abbey in Killarney, the burial place of the MacCarthys so, at last, his vision of joining his cherished chief in the grave was fulfilled.     ,,,,,,,,,,,,gd2xxgd2 ,1h. 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