Another week another great Irish poem. If you would like to get a new Irish poem to your inbox every week be sure to subscribe to my weekly dose of Irish here.
So what is this week’s top Irish poem?
The Irish poet Francis Ledwidge (1887-1917) wrote Lament for Thomas MacDonagh for his friend.
He was a fellow Irish poet Thomas MacDonagh (1878-1916), who was executed on May 3, 1916, for his role in the Easter Rising.
What was the Easter Rising?
On Easter Monday, April 24, 1916, MacDonagh and his fellow revolutionaries took over key buildings in Dublin with the intent of severing ties with England.
The British responded by sending in the army and for seven days.
Dublin was ablaze with gunfire and shelling as the rebels and English army battled.
This event has come to be known as the Easter Rising.
You can tell from the tone in this poem that Ledwidge was angry at his friend’s execution. He also was conflicted about his own role as a soldier in the British army. The angry tone of the poem is matched by an optimistic and defiant ending.
The poem comes in at number 24 on the top 100 Irish poems.
It is also one of the shortest Irish poems on the list.
Thomas McDonagh
He shall not hear the bittern cry
In the wild sky, where he is lain,
Nor voices of the sweeter birds,
Above the wailing of the rain.
Nor shall he know when loud March blows
Thro’ slanting snows her fanfare shrill,
Blowing to flame the golden cup
Of many an upset daffodil.
But when the Dark Cow leaves the moor
And pastures poor with greedy weeds
Perhaps he’ll hear her low at morn
Lifting her horn in pleasant meads.
Lament for Thomas MacDonagh: meaning and analysis
What it means
Ledwidge wrote this short lament in 1916 for his friend and fellow poet Thomas MacDonagh, one of the leaders of the Easter Rising, executed at Kilmainham Gaol on 3 May 1916. The poem imagines that MacDonagh cannot hear the bittern calling across the wet fields, and longs for the return of spring and the ‘Dark Cow’, a traditional name for Ireland in Irish-language poetry, coming home.
The poem is all the more striking because Ledwidge, a nationalist from Slane in County Meath, was serving in the British Army at the time. He was killed at the Third Battle of Ypres on 31 July 1917, aged 29.
Key themes
- Grief and friendship
- Irish nature and the seasons
- Ireland as a symbol
More Irish poems
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