Máire Mhac an tSaoi facts for kids

Máire Mhac an tSaoi (born April 4, 1922 – died October 16, 2021) was a very important Irish writer. She was a diplomat for the Irish government and wrote poetry in the Irish language. She also wrote a memoir, which is a type of autobiography.

Máire Mhac an tSaoi was known for her modern style of poetry. She was one of three poets who changed Irish language poetry in the 1940s and 1950s.

Early Life and Family

Máire MacEntee was born in Dublin, Ireland, in 1922. Her father, Seán MacEntee, was a hero of the Easter Rising and the Irish War of Independence. He also fought in the Irish Civil War. He helped start a political party called Fianna Fáil and was a long-serving member of the Irish parliament.

Máire's mother, Margaret Browne, was a teacher from County Tipperary. She was also an Irish republican, meaning she supported an independent Ireland. Máire had two famous uncles. One was Pádraig de Brún, a scholar who studied the Irish language. Her other uncle was Michael Browne, a very important leader in the Dominican Order of the Catholic Church.

Growing Up with Irish Language

Máire grew up surrounded by the Irish language. Her mother taught Irish, and Máire learned about old Irish poetry. She was also greatly influenced by her uncle, Monsignor De Brún. She often visited him in Dún Chaoin, a place where people spoke Irish every day.

In Dún Chaoin, Máire saw how people used the Irish language in their daily lives. They were proud of their language and its history. This experience deeply shaped her own poetry and her love for the Irish language.

Education and Studies

Máire studied Modern Languages and Celtic Studies at University College Dublin. After that, she continued her research at the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies. She also studied in Paris, France, at the Sorbonne.

Literary Career and Poetry

After World War II, Máire Mhac an tSaoi spent two years studying in Paris. Then, she joined the Irish diplomatic service. She worked at the Irish embassy in Madrid, Spain, during Franco's rule. It was there that she decided to focus on writing poetry in Irish. She was inspired by the works of a Spanish poet named Federico Garcia Lorca.

Her early poems often explored the feelings between religious beliefs and personal desires. She used traditional Irish language styles in her poems. She was known for bringing literary modernism back into Irish literature. This was a new way of writing that had not been common in Irish poetry for a while.

Style and Language

Máire Mhac an tSaoi's poetry used the everyday language spoken by native Irish speakers in West Kerry. She also used older forms of Irish poetry. This mix of modern speech and old traditions made her poems sound very powerful. It felt like her voice carried the history of the Irish language.

Later in her career, she explored different poetry styles. But she always remembered the dialect of Dún Chaoin. Her deep knowledge of older Irish literature also influenced her work.

Recognition and Resignation

In 1996, Máire was chosen to be a member of Aosdána. This is a group that honors Irish artists. However, she resigned in 1997. She disagreed with the decision to honor another writer, Francis Stuart. Máire believed Stuart had helped Nazi Germany during World War II.

Máire Mhac an tSaoi always loved the Irish language. She was one of the top experts on the Munster Irish dialect.

Published Works

In 2001, Máire Mhac an tSaoi wrote a novel called A Bhean Óg Ón.... This book won an award. It was about a 17th-century poet from County Kerry, Piaras Feiritéar, and the woman he loved.

Some of her poems and her novel have been part of the Leaving Certificate Irish course. This is a big exam for students in Ireland.

Personal Life

In 1962, Máire married Conor Cruise O'Brien. He was an Irish politician, writer, and historian. They got married in a Catholic ceremony in Dublin. Máire became the stepmother to Conor's children from his first marriage.

Máire was against the Vietnam War. She even attended a protest against it in 1969.

Life Abroad

She traveled with her husband to the Congo. Conor worked there for the United Nations. After that, they lived in New York City, where Conor taught at NYU. Later, they moved back to Dublin.

Máire and Conor adopted two children, Patrick and Margaret.

List of Works

Máire Mhac an tSaoi wrote many books of poetry and other works:

• Margadh na Saoire (1956)
• Codladh an Ghaiscigh (1973)
• An Galar Dubhach (1980)
• An Cion go dtí Seo (1987)
• "Writing In Modern Irish — A Benign Anachronism?", The Southern Review (1995)
• The Same Age as the State (2000)
• Cérbh í Meg Russell? (2008)
• Scéal Ghearóid Iarla (2010)

Máire Mhac an tSaoi and Conor Cruise O'Brien wrote one book together:

• A Concise History of Ireland (1972)

Máire Mhac an tSaoi also translated a famous work by Rainer Maria Rilke:

• Marbhnaí Duino (2013)