A wonderful Irish poem and popular song, “She Moved Through the Fair” by Padraic Colum (1881-1972). Colum wrote most of the words to an old air he and Herbert Hughes collected in Donegal, and it was published in Hughes’s Irish Country Songs in 1909. It later got taken up by many singers, including Celtic Woman and Sinead O’Connor. The poem comes in at number 59 on the top 100 Irish poems list.
It is a beautiful poem about a man waiting to marry his true love. Whether you listen to or read the poem, it is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful poems ever written. I found an incredible cover by Celtic Woman that I have included at the end of this post. A must-listen, although I would recommend reading my notes first and then putting the clip on. Enjoy this excellent piece of Irish history.
She moved through the Fair
Colum’s words are still in copyright, so they are not reproduced here, but you will find my notes on the song below.
“She Moved Through the Fair” is a ballad of courtship and loss. It tells of a young man whose sweetheart promises they will soon be wed. There is a shadow over the song from the very start, and by the end the wedding he longs for has become something far more haunting.
The song has deep roots in Ulster tradition. Padraic Colum and the musician Herbert Hughes collected pieces of it, with its air, in County Donegal. Colum later said he wrote all but the final verse, which came from the old song. It was published in Hughes’s Irish Country Songs in 1909, and it later appeared in Colum’s Wild Earth and Other Poems (1916).
Its lonely, drifting melody is what most people know. It has been sung by Margaret Barry, Van Morrison with the Chieftains, Sinéad O’Connor and Celtic Woman, among many others.
You will find Colum’s words in Irish Country Songs, edited by Herbert Hughes (Boosey, 1909), and in Padraic Colum’s Wild Earth and Other Poems.
After reading my notes, enjoy Celtic Woman singing it below. What a performance! Any other covers you think that would deserve a special mention?
Sandra Haigh
Friday 9th of September 2022
Better sang by Sinead O'Connor
Sandra Haigh
Friday 9th of September 2022
A beautiful,haunting poem and song, played at the end of the film Michael Collins as Kitty Kiernan waits for her love to return to her looking at wedding dresses unaware that he has been killed.