Seán "Clárach" Mac Domhnaill

Seán Clárach Mac Domhnaill
Occupation	Poet
Literary movement	The Maigue Poets
Notable works	Mo Ghile Mear

Seán "Clárach" Mac Domhnaill (1691–1754) was an Irish language poet in the first half of the 18th century.

Early life

Seán Clárach was born in the year 1691 in Churchtown, County Cork, Ireland. However, he lived out his life in Kiltoohig (Cill Tuathaigh), Charleville, so this is the town with which he is most associated. Very litte is known about his youth or his family. He did, however, receive a comprehensive education, in spite of the Penal Laws of the time. Either in the home or in a hedge school, he learned Latin, Ancient Greek and English as well as Irish, his native tongue. This fact is borne out by the epitaph on his gravestone.

Also, Seán Clárach is reputed to have stayed in London for a time.

Career

Seán Clárach was one of the Maigue Poets, a circle of 18th century Gaelic Poets in County Limerick. Under his chairmanship, they met in the ancient ringfort Lios Ollium, in Bruree. His own house in Charleville was also sometimes a meeting place.

Seán Clárach soon won the admiration of the other Munster poets, who gave him the title Príomh-Éigeas na Mumhan or Chief Poet of Munster.

In Croom, Seán Clárach frequented the public house of Seán Ó Tuama, a good friend and another of the Maigue Poets. He could not, however, make a living out of his poetry, as previous poets had done, but had to work as a farm labourer and teacher from time to time.

He was also known to visit a poetic circle in Carrignavar, County Cork.

In 1754, Seán Clárach died and was laid to rest in Holy Cross Cemetery, Charleville. His grave is situated in the center of the graveyard, on the site of the medieval parish church.

Works

Many of Seán Clárach's poems are characterised by a longing for the coming of a just, preferably Catholic, King to the throne of England. Ireland had been conquered by the English in the 17th century much to the despair of the poets, who lost the patronage of their defeated or exiled Gaelic lords. Seán Clárach and others were forced to work as spailpíní, or migratory labourers. Eyes therefore turned to Stuart Kings of England, in the hope that help would come from them.

Mo Ghile Mear is his most famous poem. It is a lament or caoineadh that was written after the defeat of the Bonnie Prince Charles at the Battle of Culloden, Scotland, in 1746. The Irish poets had pinned their hopes on this revolutionary prince and his flight was a crushing blow to the long-suffering Gaeil of both Éire and Scotland. Their exasperation and despair is vividly portrayed in this poem. Like all other Gaelic poems of the time, Mo Ghile Mear would have been sung rather than recited; indeed, the melody is well-known today. Here is the chorus:

'Sé mo laoch, mo ghile mear, 'Sé mo Shaesar, gile mear; Ní bhfuaireas féin aon tsuan ar séan Ó chuaigh i gcéin mo ghile mear.

— Mo Ghile Mear by Seán Clárach Mac Domhnaill

In 1723, on the death of Philip, Duke of Orleans, he wrote a poem reproaching him for indifference towards Ireland.

His other works include: De Bharr na gCnoc and Gráinne Mhaol.

Poetic Style

While not a true bardic poet like Dáibhí Ó Bruadair, Seán Clárach did keep to a complex ryhming scheme. His language can be ornate but it is certainly not the Classical Irish of the bards. By the 18th century this literary language had been abandoned in favour of the modern dialects. It had not become unfashionable or anything, it was just disused after the strict bardic schools closed down and a literary standard became impossible to maintain across the country.

Seán Clárach's poems are often allegorical. For example, in Mo Ghile Mear, the defeat of Bonnie Prince Charles is alluded to through the silencing of the the cuckoo. Pathetic Fallacy is also common in his poems.

Miscellaneous

- It is said that the nickname Clárach might have come about if the poet's family was from County Clare (An Clár), but there is no evidence for this. Clárach could also be interpreted to mean flat, suggesting that Seán Mac Domhnaill had a flat face!

- Charleville G.A.A. Club is named after Séan Clárach.

See also

• Charleville
• Aogán Ó Rathaille
• Piaras Feiritéar
• Dáibhí Ó Bruadair
• Cathal Buí Mac Giolla Ghunna
• Peadar Ó Doirnín
• Séamas Dall Mac Cuarta
• Art Mac Cumhaigh
• Brian Mac Giolla Phádraig

External links

• Mo Ghile Mear (Popular Version)
• "The Poets and Poetry of Munster" by John Clarence Mangan and Seán Ó Dálaigh