Patrick Kelly, 1879-1940
Patrick Kelly, known during his lifetime as the Bard of Connemara, was born in Mount Talbot, Co. Roscommon to Joseph Donnellan Kelly and Mary Anne Galvin. He grew up in Lehanagh South in Cashel-in- Connemara where his parents were teachers. Though the son of a Fenian, his poems were not political but celebrated the beauty that surrounded him in the west of Ireland, and the people he knew.
Harry Kernoff named him the Ballad Man, indeed many of his poems are in ballad form. Emily Hughes of the Irish Standard wrote that his "words irresistibly suggest the rhythm of music." His ballads The Rocks of Bawn and the Bogs of Shonaheever are recorded and still sung though few might know that he wrote them. His poems were published in the Irish Statesman among other periodicals, and in The Dublin Magazine where he was also sought after to write opinion pieces.
Kelly left Cashel for Dublin as a young man to work in the Civil Service. He also served with the Dublin Fusiliers in the trenches of France during the Great War. Returning to Cashel after his years in Dublin, he continued to write poetry that celebrates the beauty of the West of Ireland. Encouraged by literary friends and reviewers, he worked throughout 1939 compiling a collection of his poems for publication.
Sadly, Patrick Kelly did not live to see his anthology in print. He died in Cashel-in-Connemara in 1940 at the age of 61. On his death, the Seen, Heard and Noted column in the Irish Press featured a lament based on Kelly's Rocks of Bawn; the last verse is presented here:
Harry Kernoff named him the Ballad Man, indeed many of his poems are in ballad form. Emily Hughes of the Irish Standard wrote that his "words irresistibly suggest the rhythm of music." His ballads The Rocks of Bawn and the Bogs of Shonaheever are recorded and still sung though few might know that he wrote them. His poems were published in the Irish Statesman among other periodicals, and in The Dublin Magazine where he was also sought after to write opinion pieces.
Kelly left Cashel for Dublin as a young man to work in the Civil Service. He also served with the Dublin Fusiliers in the trenches of France during the Great War. Returning to Cashel after his years in Dublin, he continued to write poetry that celebrates the beauty of the West of Ireland. Encouraged by literary friends and reviewers, he worked throughout 1939 compiling a collection of his poems for publication.
Sadly, Patrick Kelly did not live to see his anthology in print. He died in Cashel-in-Connemara in 1940 at the age of 61. On his death, the Seen, Heard and Noted column in the Irish Press featured a lament based on Kelly's Rocks of Bawn; the last verse is presented here:
Poor Granuaile is lonely for her poet gone away,
The broken harp is silent in Carna all the day,
We trudge the road to Cruffin but he found the heavenly dawn,
For Paddy sweet and gentle has ploughed the Rocks of Bawn.
The broken harp is silent in Carna all the day,
We trudge the road to Cruffin but he found the heavenly dawn,
For Paddy sweet and gentle has ploughed the Rocks of Bawn.
