Antoine Ó Raifteiri (also Antoine Ó Reachtabhra, English: Anthony Raftery) (1784 - 1835) was an Irish language poet who is often called the last of the wandering bards. A native of Kiltimagh, County Mayo, Ó Raifteiri was blinded by smallpox as a child. He lived by playing his fiddle and performing his songs and poems in the mansions of the Anglo-Irish gentry. His work, which draws on the forms and idiom of Irish folk poetry, is widely regarded as marking the end of the literary tradition of the bardic schools.[citation needed] None of his poems were written down during the poet's lifetime, but they were collected from those he taught them to by Douglas Hyde, Lady Gregory and others, who later published them.[1] Ó Raifteiri's most enduring poems include Eanach Dhuin, Cill Aodain which are still learned by Irish schoolchildren. Although many people think it is he who wrote ' "Mise Raifteirí an File" it was in fact written in America toward the end of the 19th C by Seán O Ceallaigh. The first four lines of Mise Raifteiri an File appeared on the reverse of the Series C Irish five pound note.
i am raftery the poet
I am Raftery the poet.
Full of hope and love.
My eyes without sight,
My mind without ...[read poem]
 |
|
|
|
|
 | ||||
Full of hope and love.
My eyes without sight,
My mind without ...
Continue in Joseph Campbell »»»
Page 1 of 1