Micheal O'Siadhail
Encyclopedia
Micheal O'Siadhail is an Irish
poet. Among his awards are The Marten Toonder Prize and The Irish American Culture Institute Prize for Literature.
and worked most of his life in Dublin, and his mother was a Dubliner with roots in County Tipperary
. Both of them are portrayed in his work in several poems such as "Kinsmen" and "Promise".
From the age of twelve O'Siadhail was educated at the Jesuit boarding school Clongowes Wood College, an experience he was later to describe in a sequence of poems "Departure" (The Chosen Garden). At Clongowes he was influenced by his English teacher the writer Tom McIntyre who introduced him to contemporary poetry. At thirteen he first visited the Aran Islands
. This pre-industrial society with its large-scale emigration had a profound impact on him. His earlier work reflects this tension between his love of his native Dublin and his emotional involvement with those outlying communities and which features in the sequence "Fists of Stone" (The Chosen Garden).
and Máirtín Ó Cadhain
. He was elected a Scholar of the College and took a First Class Honours Degree. His circle in Trinity included David McConnell
(later professor of genetics), Mary Robinson
and David F. Ford
(later Regius Professor at Cambridge University). O'Siadhail subsequently on a government exchange scholarship studied folklore and Icelandic
at the University of Oslo
. He has retained life-long contacts with Norwegian friends and sees Scandinavian literature
as a major influence.
In 1970 he married Bríd Ní Chearbhaill, who was born in Gweedore
in County Donegal
. She was for most of her life a teacher and later head mistress in an inner city Dublin primary school until her retirement in 1995 due to Parkinson's disease
. She has been a central figure in O'Siadhail's oeuvre celebrated in the sequence "Rerooting" in The Chosen Garden and in Love Life which is a meditation on their life-long relationship.
For seventeen years O'Siadhail earned his living as an academic; firstly as a lecturer at Trinity College (1969–73) where he was awarded a MLitt in 1971 and then as a research professor at the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies
. During these years he gave named lectures in Dublin and at Harvard University
and Yale University
and was a visiting professor at the University of Iceland
in 1982. In 1987 he resigned his professorship to devote himself to writing poetry which he described as "a quantum leap".
He served as a member of the Arts Council of the Republic of Ireland (1987–93), of the Advisory Committee on Cultural Relations (1989–97) and was editor of Poetry Ireland Review
. He was the founding chairman of ILE (Ireland Literature Exchange). As a founder member of Aosdána
(Academy of Distinguished Irish Artists) he is part of a circle of artists and has worked with his friend the composer Seóirse Bodley
, the painters Cecil King and Mick O'Dea and in 2008 he gave a reading as part of Brian Friel
's eightieth birthday celebration.
He represented Ireland at the Poetry Society
's European Poetry Festival in London in 1981 and at the Frankfurt Book Fair
in 1997. He was writer-in-residence at the Yeats Summer School in 1991 and writer in residence at the University of British Columbia
in 2002.
During his years as an academic, O'Siadhail, writing under the Irish spelling of his name, published works on the linguistics
of Irish and a textbook for learners of Irish.
Ford lists the characteristic themes in O'Siadhail's work which emerge from early on as: "despair, women, love, friendship, trust, language, school, vocation, music city life, science, Irish and other cultures and histories". He adds that "there is a wrestling for meaning, with no easy solutions – both the form and the content are hard-won". Several critics have highlighted how O'Siadhail uses a vast variety of classic forms including sonnet
s, terza rima
, villanelle
s, haiku
s etc. along side an array of new intricate forms as fits his themes.
His work has been compared by some commentators to Dante
, John Milton
and Patrick Kavanagh
but most often to John Donne
. Recent criticism has drawn attention to the depth and range of his intellectual engagements. Mary O'Donnell traced the influence of the philosopher Emmanuel Levinas
in A Fragile City and the academic and critic Eugene O'Brien, editor of The Irish Book Review, described his work as "that rare combination of the intellectual and the emotional".
In 1978 O'Siadhail published his first poetry collection The Leap Year (originally written in Irish) which was a meditation on healing and nature set against an urban background . This was followed in 1980 by Rungs of Time (originally in Irish) which in an almost Edda-like style announced many of the characteristic themes that would dominate his work; and in 1982 Belonging (the last of this trio originally written in Irish) emphasied, by its title, relationships as a major theme. There were two more collections which contain a few of his best known poems, Springnight in 1983 and The Image Wheel in 1985, before he went full-time and began a series of books based on broad themes.
The Chosen Garden which appeared in 1990 he himself described as " an effort to face my own journey, to comprehend and trace one's own tiny epic". In 1992 he published Hail! Madam Jazz: New and Selected Poems which include the new sequence The Middle Voice. In 1995 came A Fragile City which is a meditation in four parts on the theme of trust. Our Double Time published three years later in 1998 explores the liberation of facing human finitude in a way that allows a greater intensity of living. Then in 2002 The Gossamer Wall, was published. It evokes the Holocaust from its origins to its aftermath in a book-length sequence of stark intensity and was shortlisted for the Jewish Quarterly-Wingate Literary Prize
. In Love Life in 2005 O'Siadhail reflects on and rejoices in a long marriage. This was followed in 2007 by Globe which ponders the dynamics of history in a fast changing world, its tragedies and achievements as well as its potential.
Linguistics/language pedagogy
Irish people
The Irish people are an ethnic group who originate in Ireland, an island in northwestern Europe. Ireland has been populated for around 9,000 years , with the Irish people's earliest ancestors recorded having legends of being descended from groups such as the Nemedians, Fomorians, Fir Bolg, Tuatha...
poet. Among his awards are The Marten Toonder Prize and The Irish American Culture Institute Prize for Literature.
Early life
Micheal O'Siadhail was born into a middle class Dublin family. His father, a chartered accountant, had been born in County MonaghanCounty Monaghan
County Monaghan is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Border Region and is also located in the province of Ulster. It is named after the town of Monaghan. Monaghan County Council is the local authority for the county...
and worked most of his life in Dublin, and his mother was a Dubliner with roots in County Tipperary
County Tipperary
County Tipperary is a county of Ireland. It is located in the province of Munster and is named after the town of Tipperary. The area of the county does not have a single local authority; local government is split between two authorities. In North Tipperary, part of the Mid-West Region, local...
. Both of them are portrayed in his work in several poems such as "Kinsmen" and "Promise".
From the age of twelve O'Siadhail was educated at the Jesuit boarding school Clongowes Wood College, an experience he was later to describe in a sequence of poems "Departure" (The Chosen Garden). At Clongowes he was influenced by his English teacher the writer Tom McIntyre who introduced him to contemporary poetry. At thirteen he first visited the Aran Islands
Aran Islands
The Aran Islands or The Arans are a group of three islands located at the mouth of Galway Bay, on the west coast of Ireland. They constitute the barony of Aran in County Galway, Ireland...
. This pre-industrial society with its large-scale emigration had a profound impact on him. His earlier work reflects this tension between his love of his native Dublin and his emotional involvement with those outlying communities and which features in the sequence "Fists of Stone" (The Chosen Garden).
Career
He studied at Trinity College Dublin (1964–68) where his teachers included David H. GreeneDavid H. Greene
David Herbert Greene was an author and professor at Harvard University, Boston University, The College of New Rochelle, the U.S. Naval Academy and New York University, where he was chairman of the English Department. He was the official biographer of the Irish playwright J.M...
and Máirtín Ó Cadhain
Máirtín Ó Cadhain
Máirtín Ó Cadhain was one of the most prominent Irish language writers of the twentieth century.-Career:Born in Connemara, he became a schoolteacher but was dismissed due to his IRA membership. In the 1930s he served as an IRA recruiting officer, enlisting fellow writer Brendan Behan...
. He was elected a Scholar of the College and took a First Class Honours Degree. His circle in Trinity included David McConnell
David McConnell
David McConnell is a southern Californian musician, most notable for his involvement as collaborator, producer and engineer for Elliott Smith's final album, From a Basement on the Hill as well as his involvement with the Summer Hymns and Folk Implosion/ Lou Barlow. He also plays solo under his own...
(later professor of genetics), Mary Robinson
Mary Robinson
Mary Therese Winifred Robinson served as the seventh, and first female, President of Ireland from 1990 to 1997, and the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, from 1997 to 2002. She first rose to prominence as an academic, barrister, campaigner and member of the Irish Senate...
and David F. Ford
David F. Ford
David Frank Ford is an academic and public theologian. He has been the Regius Professor of Divinity at the University of Cambridge since 1991...
(later Regius Professor at Cambridge University). O'Siadhail subsequently on a government exchange scholarship studied folklore and Icelandic
Icelandic language
Icelandic is a North Germanic language, the main language of Iceland. Its closest relative is Faroese.Icelandic is an Indo-European language belonging to the North Germanic or Nordic branch of the Germanic languages. Historically, it was the westernmost of the Indo-European languages prior to the...
at the University of Oslo
University of Oslo
The University of Oslo , formerly The Royal Frederick University , is the oldest and largest university in Norway, situated in the Norwegian capital of Oslo. The university was founded in 1811 and was modelled after the recently established University of Berlin...
. He has retained life-long contacts with Norwegian friends and sees Scandinavian literature
Scandinavian literature
Scandinavia literature or Nordic literature is the literature in the languages of the Nordic countries of Northern Europe. The Nordic countries include Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway , Sweden and associated autonomous territories .The majority of these nations and regions use North Germanic...
as a major influence.
In 1970 he married Bríd Ní Chearbhaill, who was born in Gweedore
Gweedore
Gweedore is an Irish-speaking district located on the Atlantic coast of County Donegal, part of the Province of Ulster in Ireland. Gweedore stretches some 16 miles from Meenaclady in the north to Crolly in the south and around 9 miles from Dunlewey in the east to Magheraclogher in the west, and...
in County Donegal
County Donegal
County Donegal is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Border Region and is also located in the province of Ulster. It is named after the town of Donegal. Donegal County Council is the local authority for the county...
. She was for most of her life a teacher and later head mistress in an inner city Dublin primary school until her retirement in 1995 due to Parkinson's disease
Parkinson's disease
Parkinson's disease is a degenerative disorder of the central nervous system...
. She has been a central figure in O'Siadhail's oeuvre celebrated in the sequence "Rerooting" in The Chosen Garden and in Love Life which is a meditation on their life-long relationship.
For seventeen years O'Siadhail earned his living as an academic; firstly as a lecturer at Trinity College (1969–73) where he was awarded a MLitt in 1971 and then as a research professor at the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies
Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies
The Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies Dublin, Ireland was established in 1940 by the Taoiseach of the time, Éamon de Valera under the . The Institute consists of 3 schools: The , the and the . The directors of these schools are currently Professor Werner Nahm, Professor Luke Drury and...
. During these years he gave named lectures in Dublin and at Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
and Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
and was a visiting professor at the University of Iceland
University of Iceland
The University of Iceland is a public research university in Reykjavík, Iceland, and the country's oldest and largest institution of higher education. Founded in 1911, it has grown steadily from a small civil servants' school to a modern comprehensive university, providing instruction for about...
in 1982. In 1987 he resigned his professorship to devote himself to writing poetry which he described as "a quantum leap".
He served as a member of the Arts Council of the Republic of Ireland (1987–93), of the Advisory Committee on Cultural Relations (1989–97) and was editor of Poetry Ireland Review
Poetry Ireland Review
Poetry Ireland Review is a journal of Irish poetry published quarterly by Poetry Ireland, the national Irish poetry organization.Poetry Ireland Review publishes the work of both emerging and established Irish and international poets. In line with keeping the journal fresh, vibrant and progressive...
. He was the founding chairman of ILE (Ireland Literature Exchange). As a founder member of Aosdána
Aosdána
Aosdána is an Irish association of Artists. It was created in 1981 on the initiative of a group of writers and with support from the Arts Council of Ireland. Membership, which is by invitation from current members, is limited to 250 individuals; before 2005 it was limited to 200...
(Academy of Distinguished Irish Artists) he is part of a circle of artists and has worked with his friend the composer Seóirse Bodley
Seóirse Bodley
Seóirse Bodley is an Irish composer and former associate professor of music at University College Dublin . He has been Saoi of Aosdána since 2008.-Biography:...
, the painters Cecil King and Mick O'Dea and in 2008 he gave a reading as part of Brian Friel
Brian Friel
Brian Friel is an Irish dramatist, author and director of the Field Day Theatre Company. He is considered to be the greatest living English-language dramatist, hailed by the English-speaking world as an "Irish Chekhov" and "the universally accented voice of Ireland"...
's eightieth birthday celebration.
He represented Ireland at the Poetry Society
Poetry Society
The Poetry Society is a membership organisation, open to all, whose stated aim is "to promote the study, use and enjoyment of poetry".The Society was founded in London in February 1909 as the Poetry Recital Society, becoming the Poetry Society in 1912...
's European Poetry Festival in London in 1981 and at the Frankfurt Book Fair
Frankfurt Book Fair
The Frankfurt Book Fair is the world's largest trade fair for books, based on the number of publishing companies represented. As to the number of visitors, the Turin Book Fair attracts about as many visitors, viz. some 300,000....
in 1997. He was writer-in-residence at the Yeats Summer School in 1991 and writer in residence at the University of British Columbia
University of British Columbia
The University of British Columbia is a public research university. UBC’s two main campuses are situated in Vancouver and in Kelowna in the Okanagan Valley...
in 2002.
During his years as an academic, O'Siadhail, writing under the Irish spelling of his name, published works on the linguistics
Linguistics
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. Linguistics can be broadly broken into three categories or subfields of study: language form, language meaning, and language in context....
of Irish and a textbook for learners of Irish.
Content and context
David F. Ford points out in Musics of Belonging (Carysfort Press, Dublin 2007) how "beside the new architectonics since the move to full-time writing there has also been an alternation between more personal and more public themes".Ford lists the characteristic themes in O'Siadhail's work which emerge from early on as: "despair, women, love, friendship, trust, language, school, vocation, music city life, science, Irish and other cultures and histories". He adds that "there is a wrestling for meaning, with no easy solutions – both the form and the content are hard-won". Several critics have highlighted how O'Siadhail uses a vast variety of classic forms including sonnet
Sonnet
A sonnet is one of several forms of poetry that originate in Europe, mainly Provence and Italy. A sonnet commonly has 14 lines. The term "sonnet" derives from the Occitan word sonet and the Italian word sonetto, both meaning "little song" or "little sound"...
s, terza rima
Terza rima
Terza rima is a rhyming verse stanza form that consists of an interlocking three-line rhyme scheme. It was first used by the Italian poet Dante Alighieri.-Form:Terza rima is a three-line stanza using chain rhyme in the pattern A-B-A, B-C-B, C-D-C, D-E-D...
, villanelle
Villanelle
A villanelle is a poetic form that entered English-language poetry in the 19th century from the imitation of French models. The word derives from the Italian villanella from Latin villanus . A villanelle has only two rhyme sounds...
s, haiku
Haiku
' , plural haiku, is a very short form of Japanese poetry typically characterised by three qualities:* The essence of haiku is "cutting"...
s etc. along side an array of new intricate forms as fits his themes.
His work has been compared by some commentators to Dante
DANTE
Delivery of Advanced Network Technology to Europe is a not-for-profit organisation that plans, builds and operates the international networks that interconnect the various national research and education networks in Europe and surrounding regions...
, John Milton
John Milton
John Milton was an English poet, polemicist, a scholarly man of letters, and a civil servant for the Commonwealth of England under Oliver Cromwell...
and Patrick Kavanagh
Patrick Kavanagh
Patrick Kavanagh was an Irish poet and novelist. Regarded as one of the foremost poets of the 20th century, his best known works include the novel Tarry Flynn and the poems Raglan Road and The Great Hunger...
but most often to John Donne
John Donne
John Donne 31 March 1631), English poet, satirist, lawyer, and priest, is now considered the preeminent representative of the metaphysical poets. His works are notable for their strong and sensual style and include sonnets, love poetry, religious poems, Latin translations, epigrams, elegies, songs,...
. Recent criticism has drawn attention to the depth and range of his intellectual engagements. Mary O'Donnell traced the influence of the philosopher Emmanuel Levinas
Emmanuel Lévinas
Emmanuel Levinas was a Lithuanian-born French Jewish philosopher and Talmudic commentator.-Life:Emanuelis Levinas received a traditional Jewish education in Lithuania...
in A Fragile City and the academic and critic Eugene O'Brien, editor of The Irish Book Review, described his work as "that rare combination of the intellectual and the emotional".
Development
The trajectory in O'Siadhail's work first moves beyond the sense of despair which haunted his youth, through the collections of once-off poems into the architectonics of his larger thematic books. Each book seemed to push forward both in the breadth of his concerns and in his technical development.In 1978 O'Siadhail published his first poetry collection The Leap Year (originally written in Irish) which was a meditation on healing and nature set against an urban background . This was followed in 1980 by Rungs of Time (originally in Irish) which in an almost Edda-like style announced many of the characteristic themes that would dominate his work; and in 1982 Belonging (the last of this trio originally written in Irish) emphasied, by its title, relationships as a major theme. There were two more collections which contain a few of his best known poems, Springnight in 1983 and The Image Wheel in 1985, before he went full-time and began a series of books based on broad themes.
The Chosen Garden which appeared in 1990 he himself described as " an effort to face my own journey, to comprehend and trace one's own tiny epic". In 1992 he published Hail! Madam Jazz: New and Selected Poems which include the new sequence The Middle Voice. In 1995 came A Fragile City which is a meditation in four parts on the theme of trust. Our Double Time published three years later in 1998 explores the liberation of facing human finitude in a way that allows a greater intensity of living. Then in 2002 The Gossamer Wall, was published. It evokes the Holocaust from its origins to its aftermath in a book-length sequence of stark intensity and was shortlisted for the Jewish Quarterly-Wingate Literary Prize
Jewish Quarterly-Wingate Literary Prize
JQ Wingate Prize is an annual British literary prize inaugurated in 1977. It is named after the host Jewish Quarterly and the prize's founder Harold Hyam Wingate...
. In Love Life in 2005 O'Siadhail reflects on and rejoices in a long marriage. This was followed in 2007 by Globe which ponders the dynamics of history in a fast changing world, its tragedies and achievements as well as its potential.
Books
Poetry- 1978: The Leap Year/An Bhliain Bhisigh (An Clóchomar, Dublin )
- 1980: Rungs of Time/Runga (An Clóchomhar, Dublin )
- 1982: Belonging/Cumann (An Clóchomhar, Dublin)
- 1985: Springnight (Bluett, Dublin)
- 1990: The Image Wheel (Bluett, Dublin)
- 1990: The Chosen Garden (Dedalus, Dublin)
- 1992: Hail! Madam Jazz : New and Selected Poems including The Middle Voice (Bloodaxe, Newcastle upon Tyne)
- 1995: A Fragile City (Bloodaxe, Newcastle upon Tyne 1995)
- 1998: Our Double Time (Bloodaxe, Newcastle, upon Tyne)
- 1999: Poems 1975-1995 (Bloodaxe, Newcastle upon Tyne)
- 2002: The Gossamer Wall (Time Being Books (North American publisher) and Bloodaxe, Tarset)
- 2005: Love Life (Bloodaxe, Tarset)
- 2007: Globe (Bloodaxe, Tarset)
Linguistics/language pedagogy
- 1978: Téarmaí tógálá agus tís as Inis Meáin (Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies)
- 1983: (with Arndt Wigger) Córas Fuaimeanna na Gaeilge (Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies)
- 1988: Learning Irish (Yale University Press)
- 1989: Modern Irish: Grammatical Structure and Dialectal Variation (Cambridge University Press)
About O'Siadhail and his work
- 2007: The Musics of Belonging: The Poetry of Micheal O'Siadhail Ed. Marc Caball and David F. Ford, Carysfort Press, Dublin
- 2008: A Hazardous Melody of Being: Seóirse Bodley's Song Cycles on the Poems of Micheal O'Siadhail Edited by Lorraine Byrne Bodley, Carysfort Press, Dublin
- 2009: An Unexpected Light: Theology and Witness in the Poetry and Though of Charles Williams, Micheal O'Siadhail and Geoffrey Hill, David C. Mahan, Pickwick Publications Eugene
Works set to music
- 1987: The Naked Flame, poem suite (music: Seóirse Bodley) RTÉ commissioned for performance and broadcasting
- 1993: Summerfest poem suite (Music: Colman Pearce) RTÉ commissioned for performance and broadcasting
- 2000: Earlsfort Suite song cycle (Music: Seóirse Bodley) commissioned for Irish Government Department of Arts, the Gaeltacht, Heritage and the Islands as part of the Millennium Frozen Music celebration
- 2000: A Fall set by Dan Tucker, commissioned by the Chicago Humanities Festival,
- 2002: Dublin Spring, poem suite (music: James Wilson) commissioned for performance.
- 2006: Twee gedichten van Micheal O'Siadhail for Choir 2006 by Kees van Ersel
- 2007: Squall set by Seóirse Bodley
Discography
- The Naked Flame, poem suite (music: Seóirse Bodley) recorded by Aylish E. Kerrigan accompanied on piano by the composer Seóirse Bodley and available from Ein Klang, Christophestaße, Stuttgart 70178
- Cosmos from Hail! Madam Jazz recorded by Helen Shapiro on Jazz Poetry ABM