CELT document E840000-007

Lament for the Princes of Tyrone and Tyrconnell (Buried in Rome)

James Clarence Mangan

Edited by D. J. O'Donoghue

Whole text

     p.17

    Lament for the Princes of Tyrone and Tyrconnell (Buried in Rome). 1

  1. O Woman of the Piercing Wail,
    Who mournest o'er yon mound of clay
    With sigh and groan,
    Would God thou wert among the Gael!
    Thou wouldst not then from day to day
    Weep thus alone.
    'Twere long before, around a grave
    In green Tirconnell, one could find
    This loneliness;
    Near where Beann-Boirche's banners wave
    Such grief as thine could ne'er have pined
    Companionless.
  2.  p.18
  3. Beside the wave, in Donegall,
    In Antrim's glens, or fair Dromore,
    Or Killilee,
    Or where the sunny waters fall,
    At Assaroe, near Erna's shore,
    This could not be.
    On Derry's plains—in rich Drumclieff—
    Throughout Armagh the Great, renowned
    In olden years,
    No day could pass but Woman's grief
    Would rain upon the burial-ground
    Fresh floods of tears!
  4. O, no!—from Shannon, Boyne, and Suir,
    From high Dunluce's castle-walls,
    From Lissadill,
    Would flock alike both rich and poor,
    One wail would rise from Cruachan's halls
    To Tara's hill;
    And some would come from Barrow-side,
    And many a maid would leave her home
    On Leitrim's plains,
    And by melodious Banna's tide,
    And by the Mourne and Erne, to come
    And swell thy strains!
  5. O, horses' hoofs would trample down
    The Mount whereon the martyr-saint 2
    Was crucified.
    From glen and hill, from plain and town,
    One loud lament, one thrilling plaint,
    Would echo wide. p.19
    There would not soon be found, I ween
    One foot of ground among those bands
    For museful thought,
    So many shriekers of the keen3
    Would cry aloud, and clap their hands,
    All woe-distraught!
  6. Two princes of the line of Conn
    Sleep in their cells of clay beside
    O'Donnell Roe:
    Three royal youths, alas! are gone,
    Who lived for Erin's weal, but died
    For Erin's woe!
    Ah! could the men of Ireland read
    The names these noteless burial-stones
    Display to view,
    Their wounded hearts afresh would bleed,
    Their tears gush forth again, their groans
    Resound anew!
  7. The youths whose relics moulder here
    Were sprung from Hugh, high Prince and Lord
    Of Aileach's land.
    Thy noble brothers, justly dear,
    Thy nephew, long to be deplored
    By Ulster's bands.
    Theirs were not souls wherein dull Time
    Could domicile Decay or house
    Decrepitude!
    They passed from earth ere Manhood's prime,
    Ere years had power to dim their brows
    Or chill their blood.
  8.  p.20
  9. And who can marvel o'er thy grief,
    Or who can blame thy flowing tears,
    That knows their source?
    O'Donnell, Dunnasava's chief,
    Cut off amid his vernal years,
    Lies here a corse
    Beside his brother Cathbar, whom
    Tirconnell of the Helmets mourns
    In deep despair—
    For valour, truth, and comely bloom,
    For all that greatens and adorns,
    A peerless pair.
  10. O, had these twain, and he, the third,
    The Lord of Mourne, O'Niall's son,
    Their mate in death—
    A prince in look, in deed, and word—
    Had these three heroes yielded on
    The field their breath,
    O, had they fallen on Criffan's plain,
    There would not be a town or clan
    From shore to sea
    But would with shrieks bewail the Slain,
    Or chant aloud the exulting rann4
    Of jubilee!
  11. When high the shout of battle rose,
    On fields where Freedom's torch still burned
    Through Erin's gloom,
    If one, if barely one of those
    Were slain, all Ulster would have mourned
    The hero's doom! p.21
    If at Athboy, where hosts of brave
    Ulidian horsemen sank beneath
    The shock of spears,
    Young Hugh O'Neill had found a grave,
    Long must the North have wept his death
    With heart-wrung tears!
  12. If on the day of Ballach-myre
    The Lord of Mourne had met, thus young,
    A warrior's fate,
    In vain would such as thou desire
    To mourn, alone, the champion sprung
    From Niall the Great!
    No marvel this—for all the Dead,
    Heaped on the field, pile over pile,
    At Mallach-brack,
    Were scarce an eric5 for his head,
    If Death had stayed his footsteps while
    On victory's track!
  13. If on the Day of Hostages
    The fruit had from the parent bough
    Been rudely torn
    In sight of Munster's bands—Mac-Nee's—
    Such blow the blood of Conn, I trow,
    Could ill have borne.
    If on the day of Ballach-boy
    Some arm had laid, by foul surprise,
    The chieftain low,
    Even our victorious shout of joy
    Would soon give place to rueful cries
    And groans of woe!
  14.  p.22
  15. If on the day the Saxon host
    Were forced to fly—a day so great
    For Ashanee 6
    The Chief had been untimely lost,
    Our conquering troops should moderate
    Their mirthful glee.
    There would not lack on Lifford's day,
    From Galway, from the glens of Boyle,
    From Limerick's towers,
    A marshalled file, a long array
    Of mourners to bedew the soil
    With tears in showers!
  16. If on the day a sterner fate
    Compelled his flight from Athenree,
    His blood had flowed,
    What numbers all disconsolate
    Would come unasked, and share with thee
    Affliction's load!
    If Derry's crimson field had seen
    His life-blood offered up, though 'twere
    On Victory's shrine,
    A thousand cries would swell the keen,
    A thousand voices in despair
    Would echo thine!
  17. Oh, had the fierce Dalcassian swarm
    That bloody night on Fergus' banks,
    But slain our Chief,
    When rose his camp in wild alarm—
    How would the triumph of his ranks
    Be dashed with grief! p.23
    How would the troops of Murbach mourn
    If on the Curlew Mountains' day,
    Which England rued,
    Some Saxon hand had left them lorn,
    By shedding there, amid the fray,
    Their prince's blood!
  18. Red would have been our warriors' eyes
    Had Roderick found on Sligo's field
    A gory grave,
    No Northern Chief would soon arise
    So sage to guide, so strong to shield,
    So swift to save.
    Long would Leith-Cuinn 7 have wept if Hugh
    Had met the death he oft had dealt
    Among the foe;
    But, had our Roderick fallen too,
    All Erin must, alas! have felt
    The deadly blow!
  19. What do I say? Ah, woe is me!
    Already we bewail in vain
    Their fatal fall!
    And Erin, once the Great and Free,
    Now vainly mourns her breakless chain,
    And iron thrall!
    Then, daughter of O'Donnell! dry
    Thine overflowing eyes, and turn
    Thy heart aside!
    For Adam's race is born to die,
    And sternly the sepulchral urn
    Mocks human pride!
  20.  p.24
  21. Look not, nor sigh, for earthly throne,
    Nor place thy trust in arm of clay—
    But on thy knees
    Uplift thy soul to God alone,
    For all things go their destined way
    As He decrees.
    Embrace the faithful Crucifix,
    And seek the path of pain and prayer
    Thy Saviour trod;
    Nor let thy spirit intermix
    With earthly hope and worldly care
    Its groans to God!
  22. And thou, O mighty Lord! whose ways
    Are far above our feeble minds
    To understand,
    Sustain us in these doleful days,
    And render light the chain that binds
    Our fallen land!
    Look down upon our dreary state,
    And through the ages that may still
    Roll sadly on,
    Watch Thou o'er hapless Erin's fate,
    And shield at least from darker ill
    The blood of Conn!

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Title statement

Title (uniform): Lament for the Princes of Tyrone and Tyrconnell (Buried in Rome)

Author: James Clarence Mangan

Editor: D. J. O'Donoghue

Responsibility statement

Electronic edition compiled by: Beatrix Färber and Ruth Murphy

Proof corrections by: Ruth Murphy

Edition statement

1. First draft, revised and corrected.

Extent: 4165 words

Publication statement

Publisher: CELT: Corpus of Electronic Texts: a project of University College Cork

Address: College Road, Cork, Ireland—http://www.ucc.ie/celt

Date: 2008

Distributor: CELT online at University College, Cork, Ireland.

CELT document ID: E840000-007

Availability: Available with prior consent of the CELT programme for purposes of academic research and teaching only.

Notes statement

Mangan's poem is ultimately based on the Irish poem A bhean fuair faill ar a bhfeart composed by Eoghan Ruadh Mac an Bhaird c.1608. The English version appeared in the Irish Penny Journal, 17th October 1840. Lord Jeffrey was greatly struck with this poem when he saw it in Duffy's Ballad Poetry of Ireland, 1845. (D.J. O'Donoghue.)

Source description

Mangan's Works

  1. James Clarence Mangan, Ballad-Poetry of Ireland (Dublin: Duffy 1845).
  2. James Clarence Mangan, Specimens of the early native poetry of Ireland: in English metrical translations by Miss Brooke, Dr. Drummond, Samuel Ferguson, J. C. Mangan, T. Furlong, H. Grattan Curran, E. Walsh, J. D'Alton and J. Anster, with historical and biographical notices by Henry R. Montgomery (Dublin: James McGlashan; London: W.S. Orr and Co. 1846).
  3. James Clarence Mangan, The Book of Irish Ballads, ed. Denis Florence McCarthy (Dublin: J. Duffy 1846).
  4. James Clarence Mangan, Miscellany (Dublin: Celtic Society 1849).
  5. James Clarence Mangan, The poets and poetry of Munster: A selection of Irish songs by poets of the last century, with poetical translations by the late James Clarence Mangan, now for the first time published with the original music and biographical sketches of the authors 1st ed. (Dublin:John O'Daly 1849; Poole, England: Woodstock Books 1997).
  6. James Clarence Mangan, Romances and Ballads of Ireland, ed. Hercules Ellis (Dublin: J. Duffy 1850).
  7. James Clarence Mangan, The tribes of Ireland: a satire by Aenghus O'Daly; with poetical translation by the late James Clarence Mangan; together with an historical account of the family of O'Daly; and an introduction to the history of satire in Ireland by John O'Donovan (Dublin: John O'Daly 1852; Reprint Cork: Tower Books 1976).
  8. James Clarence Mangan, Poems by James Clarence Mangan, with biographical introduction by John Mitchel (New York: Haverty 1859).
  9. James Clarence Mangan, Anthologia Germanica; or a garland from the German poets and miscellaneous poems, 2 vols (Dublin: Duffy 1884).
  10. James Clarence Mangan, Essays in prose and verse by J. Clarence Mangan, ed. Charles P. Meehan. (Dublin: Duffy 1884).
  11. James Clarence Mangan, Irish and Other Poems: With a selection from his translations [The O'Connell Press Popular Library] (Dublin: O'Connell Press 1886).
  12. James Clarence Mangan, James Clarence Mangan, his selected poems; with a study by the editor, ed. Louise Imogen Guiney (London: Lamson, Wolffe & Co. 1897; Montana: Kessinger Publishing Co. 2007).
  13. James Clarence Mangan, Poems of James Clarence Mangan (many hitherto uncollected), ed. with preface and notes by D.J. O'Donoghue; introduction by John Mitchel (Dublin: O'Donoghue, 1903; Reprint New York: Johnson 1972).
  14. James Clarence Mangan, The prose writing of James Clarence Mangan, ed. D.J. O'Donoghue. (Dublin: O'Donoghue 1904).
  15. James Clarence Mangan, Autobiography edited from the manuscript by James Kilroy [Chapel Books Series] (Dublin: Dolmen Press 1968).
  16. James Clarence Mangan, Selected Poems of James Clarence Mangan, ed. Michael Smith with a foreword by Anthony Cronin (Dublin: Gallery Press 1973).
  17. James Clarence Mangan, The collected works of James Clarence Mangan: Poems Vol. 1 1818–1837, ed. Jacques Chuto et al. (Dublin: Irish Academic Press 1996).
  18. James Clarence Mangan, The collected works of James Clarence Mangan: Poems Vol. 2 1838–1844, ed. Jacques Chuto et al. (Dublin: Irish Academic Press 1996).
  19. James Clarence Mangan, The collected works of James Clarence Mangan: Poems Vol. 3 1845–1847, ed. Jacques Chuto et al. (Dublin: Irish Academic Press 1997).
  20. James Clarence Mangan, The collected works of James Clarence Mangan: Poems Vol. 4 1848–1912, ed. Jacques Chuto et al. (Dublin: Irish Academic Press 1997).
  21. James Clarence Mangan, Anthologia Germanica: Selection on a German Theme from the Verse of the Poet of Young Ireland (Ireland & Germany), ed. with an introduction by Brendan Clifford (London: Athol Books 2001).
  22. James Clarence Mangan, The collected works of James Clarence Mangan: Prose Vol. 1 1832–1839, ed. Jacques Chuto et al. (Dublin: Irish Academic Press 2002).
  23. James Clarence Mangan, The collected works of James Clarence Mangan: Prose Vol. 2 1840–1882: correspondence, ed. Jacques Chuto et al. (Dublin: Irish Academic Press 2002).
  24. James Clarence Mangan, Selected Poems of James Clarence Mangan, foreword by Terence Brown, ed. Jacques Chuto et al. (Dublin: Irish Academic Press, bicentenary ed. 2003).
  25. James Clarence Mangan, Poems, ed. with an introduction by David Wheatley (Oldcastle: Gallery Press 2003).
  26. James Clarence Mangan, Selected Prose of James Clarence Mangan. ed. Jacques Chuto, Peter van de Kamp (Dublin: Irish Academic Press, vicentenary ed. 2004).
  27. James Clarence Mangan, James Clarence Mangan: Selected writings, ed. with an introduction by Sean Ryder (Dublin: University College 2004).

Secondary Literature

  1. W. B. Yeats, 'Clarence Mangan, 1803–1849' [Irish Authors and Poets series]. In: Irish Fireside 12 March 1877; reprinted in John Frayne, Uncollected Prose of W. B Yeats, Vol. 1 (London: Macmillan 1970).
  2. W. B. Yeats, 'Clarence Mangan's Love Affair'. In: United Ireland 22 August 1891.
  3. D. J. O'Donoghue, Life and Writings of James Clarence Mangan (Edinburgh: Geddis; Dublin: M. H. Gill 1897).
  4. Ellen Shannon-Mangan, James Clarence Mangan: a biography (Dublin: Irish Academic Press 1996).
  5. Henry Edward Cain, James Clarence Mangan and the Poe-Mangan question, A dissertation (Washington: Catholic University Press 1929).
  6. James Joyce, James Clarence Mangan: from St. Stephen's, Dublin, May, 1902 (Dublin: Ulysses Bookshop 1930).
  7. John D. Sheridan, Famous Irish lives: James Clarence Mangan (Dublin: Phoenix Publishing 1937).
  8. P. S. O'Hegarty, 'A bibliography of James Clarence Mangan'. In: Dublin Magazine 16 (1941) 56–61.
  9. Séamus Ó Casaide, 'James Clarence Mangan and his Meath relatives: new light on the poet's circumstances'. In: Father Matthew Record 35:6 (1941) 4–5.
  10. Roibeárd Ó Faracháin, 'James Clarence Mangan'. In: Thomas Davis and Young Ireland, ed. M. J. MacManus (Dublin: The Stationery Office 1945), 61–67.
  11. Marvin Magalaner, 'James Mangan and Joyce's Dedalus family'. In: Philological Quarterly (1952).
  12. Patrick Diskin, 'The poetry of James Clarence Mangan'. In: University Review: A Journal of Irish Studies 2:1 (1960) 21–30.
  13. Rudolf Patrick Holzapfel, James Clarence Mangan: A Check-List Of Printed And Other Sources (Dublin: Scepter Publishing 1969).
  14. Jacques Chuto, 'Mangan's "Antique Deposit" in TCD Library'. In: Long Room 2 (1970) 38–39.
  15. James Kilroy, James Clarence Mangan (Lewisburg, N.J.: Bucknell University Press 1970).
  16. Jacques Chuto, 'Mangan and the "Irus Herfner" articles in the Dublin University Magazine'. In: Hermathena 106 (1971) 55–57.
  17. Henry J. Donaghy, James Clarence Mangan. [English Authors Series] (Macmillan Library Reference, 1974). James Liddy, 'An Introduction to the Poetry of James Mangan'. In: Lace Curtain 5 (1974) 55–56.
  18. John McCall, The life of James Clarence Mangan. (Dublin; T. D. Sullivan 1887; Blackrock: Carraig Books 1975).
  19. Jacques Chuto, 'Mangan, Petrie, O'Donovan and a few others: the poet and the scholars'. In: Irish University Review 6:2 (1976) 169–187.
  20. James Kilroy, 'Bibliography of Mangan'. In: Anglo-Irish Literature: A Review of Research, ed. Richard J. Finneran (New York: Modern Language Association 1976) 43–44.
  21. Robert Welch, ''In wreathed swell': James Clarence Mangan, translator from the Irish'. In: Éire-Ireland 11:2 (1976) 36–56.
  22. Peter MacMahon, 'James Clarence Mangan: the Irish language and the strange case of the tribes of Ireland'. In: Irish University Review 8:2 (1978) 209–222.
  23. Anthony Cronin, 'James Clarence Mangan: The Necessary Maudit'. In: Heritage Now: Irish Literature in the English Language (Dingle: Brandon 1982), 47–50.
  24. David Lloyd, 'Great gaps in Irish song: James Clarence Mangan and the ideology of the nationalist ballad'. In: Irish University Review 14 (1984) 178–190.
  25. Patrick Smith, James Clarence Mangan: the conscious victim. [Unpublished M.A. Thesis, Dept. of English, UCC, 1986].
  26. David Lloyd, Nationalism and minor literature: James Clarence Mangan and the emergence of Irish cultural nationalism [The new historicism: studies in cultural poetics, 3]. (Berkeley: California University Press 1987).
  27. Brendan Clifford, The Dubliner: the lives, times and writings of James Clarence Mangan (Belfast: Athol Books 1988).
  28. Ellen Shannon-Mangan, 'New letters from James Clarence Mangan to John O'Donovan'. In: Irish University Review 18 (1988) 207–214.
  29. Sean Ryder, 'Male autobiography and Irish cultural nationalism: John Mitchel and James Clarence Mangan'. In: The Irish Review 13 (1992-93) 70–77.
  30. Jacques Chuto, 'James Clarence Mangan and the Beauty of Hate'. In: Éire-Ireland 30: 2 (1995) 173–81.
  31. Heyward Ehrlich, 'Inventing patrimony: Joyce, Mangan, and the self-inventing self'. In: Joyce through the ages: a nonlinear view, ed. Michael Patrick Gillespie (Gainesville: University Press of Florida 1999).
  32. Jacques Chuto, James Clarence Mangan: a bibliography (Dublin: Irish Academic Press 1999).
  33. Anne MacCarthy, James Clarence Mangan, Edward Walsh and Nineteenth-century Irish literature in English [Studies in Irish Literature] (Lewiston: Edwin Mellen Press, 2000).
  34. David Lloyd, 'James Clarence Mangan's Oriental Translations and the Question of Origins'. In: Comparative Literature 38:1 (1986), 20–55.
  35. Dr. Elie Bouhereau, 'Mangan and the worst of woes'. In: Borderlands: essays on literature and medicine in honour of J.B. Lyons, ed. Davis Coakley and Mary O'Doherty (Dublin: Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, 2002).
  36. Peter van de Kamp, 'Hands off! Joyce and the Mangan in the Mac'. In: Costerus 147 (2003) 183–214.

Mangan, James Clarence (1967). ‘The Poems of James Clarence Mangan’. In: The Poems of James Clarence Mangan (many hitherto uncollected)‍. Ed. by D.J. O’Donoghue. 31 South Anne Street, Dublin, Ireland: O’Donoghue & Co., pp. 17–24.

You can add this reference to your bibliographic database by copying or downloading the following:

@incollection{E840000-007,
  author 	 = {James Clarence Mangan},
  title 	 = {The Poems of James Clarence Mangan},
  editor 	 = {D.J. O'Donoghue},
  booktitle 	 = {The Poems of James Clarence Mangan (many hitherto uncollected)},
  publisher 	 = {O'Donoghue \& Co.},
  address 	 = {31 South Anne Street, Dublin, Ireland},
  date 	 = {1967},
  pages 	 = {17–24}
}

 E840000-007.bib

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Pages 17–24.

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Creation: by James Clarence Mangan

Date: 1840

Language usage

  • The text is in English. (en)
  • Some words are in Irish, however some are in anglicised spelling. (ga)

Keywords: literary; poetry; 19c

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(Most recent first)

  1. 2008-06-30: SGML and HTML files created. (ed. Beatrix Färber)
  2. 2008-06-26: Structural markup checked and added to; file parsed. (ed. Beatrix Färber)
  3. 2008-06-25: Bibliographical details compiled. (ed. Ruth Murphy)
  4. 2008-06-11: File proofed (1), structural, content markup applied and header created. (ed. Ruth Murphy)
  5. 2008-05-27: Text captured. (ed. Beatrix Färber)

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  1. From the Irish of Hugh Macward. 🢀

  2. St. Peter. This passage is not exactly a blunder, though at first it may seem one; the poet supposes the grave itself transferred to Ireland, and he naturally includes in the transference the whole of the immediate locality around the grave. 🢀

  3. Funeral lament. 🢀

  4. Song. 🢀

  5. A fine or tribute. 🢀

  6. Ballyshannon. 🢀

  7. The northern part of Ireland. 🢀

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