Genealogy research by Mark Humphrys.
The poet's grave, Muckross Abbey
The Curse of Cromwell by Yeats Kerry Poets Monument, Killarney
|
"O'Rathaille's Grave" by Gan Ainm |
View from the Lawrence Collection, c.1890.
From here.
Location of O'Rahilly tomb.
Photo 2000.
See larger
and full size.
See other scan.
And light adjusted.
See other shot.
Location of O'Rahilly tomb.
Photo 2000.
See larger
and full size.
See other scan.
And light adjusted.
See close-up.
Close-up of the plaque on the wall above the O'Rahilly tomb, Muckross Abbey.
It is a plaque to the
Four Kerry Poets.
See full size.
From Gan Ainm.
Plan of Muckross Abbey.
See full size.
From p.161
of
Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland,
5th series, vol.2, 1892.
Note
in [Dineen and O'Donoghue, 1911]
from
The O'Rahilly
about the inscription on the tomb.
The Gaelic inscription was translated by the Ordnance Survey around 1840 as:
"This tomb belongs to the race of
Daniel
son of
Morgan Rahily from Raheen".
It is now indecipherable.
It refers to the poet Aodhagán Ó Rathaille's deathbed poem.
YOU ask what - I have found, and far and wide I go:
Nothing but Cromwell's house and Cromwell's murderous crew,
The lovers and the dancers are beaten into the clay,
And the tall men and the swordsmen and the horsemen, where are they?
And there is an old beggar wandering in his pride -
His fathers served their fathers before Christ was crucified.
O what of that, O what of that,
What is there left to say?
All neighbourly content and easy talk are gone,
But there's no good complaining, for money's rant is on.
He that's mounting up must on his neighbour mount,
And we and all the Muses are things of no account.
They have schooling of their own, but I pass their schooling by,
What can they know that we know that know the time to die?
O what of that, O what of that,
What is there left to say?
But there's another knowledge that my heart destroys,
As the fox in the old fable destroyed the Spartan boy's
Because it proves that things both can and cannot be;
That the swordsmen and the ladies can still keep company,
Can pay the poet for a verse and hear the fiddle sound,
That I am still their servant though all are underground.
O what of that, O what of that,
What is there left to say?
I came on a great house in the middle of the night,
Its open lighted doorway and its windows all alight,
And all my friends were there and made me welcome too;
But I woke in an old ruin that the winds howled through;
And when I pay attention I must out and walk
Among the dogs and horses that understand my talk.
O what of that, O what of that,
What is there left to say?
Erected in 1940 in memory of
Piaras Feiritear
and
Geoffrey O'Donoghue
and
Aodhagán Ó Rathaille
and
Eoghan Ruadh Ó Súilleabháin.
Statue is the
"Speir Bhean"
(Beautiful Woman),
who personifies Ireland.
Wider view of
Kerry Poets Monument, Killarney.
Photo 2000.
See larger
and full size.
See wider view.
See view from behind.
Photos 2000.
See
street view.
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