Raghnall Dall Mac Domhnaill facts for kids
Raghnall Dall Mac Domhnaill (who lived around 1681 to 1715) was an Irish poet. He is known for his powerful poems, even though only a few of them have survived to today. He was part of a group of talented poets in his area.
Biography
Raghnall Dall Mac Domhnaill was good friends with other poets nearby. These included Art Mac Cumhaigh, Pádraig Mac a Liondain, and Séamus Mór Mac Murchaidh. Many of these poets were buried in the Creggan graveyard.
Mac Domhnaill is mainly remembered for two poems that still exist. These are Brian Ó Cuagáin and A Chreagáin Uaibhrigh, which means 'O Proud Creggan'. The poem A Chreagáin Uaibhrigh was very popular. People copied it by hand, and six copies are known to exist. The oldest copy was made in 1759, and the newest in 1856.
The poem A Chreagáin Uaibhrigh was about a very old and large tree. This tree was planted in 1490 by Art, the son of Hugh O'Neill. It stood near the old Creggan church. Its branches spread out over the burial place of a powerful family. The tree was cut down on January 7, 1715. This made the family very unhappy.
Some people mistakenly thought Mac Domhnaill was from Donegal. However, another poet, Art Mac Cumhaigh, clearly said that Mac Domhnaill was an important local poet. He was considered as great as other famous poets like Séamas Dall Mac Cuarta.
It's hard to find many details about Mac Domhnaill's life. This is because people didn't pass down stories or memories of him. His family, the MacDonnells, had settled in the Fews area by the early 1600s. Records from 1664 show a "Roland MacDonnell" living in a place called Knockavannon.
Another poet from Omeath, Niall óg Mha' Mhurchaidh, wrote a poem praising his friend Raghnall Dall Mac Domhnaill. This poem was called Admhuighim Ós Árd, meaning 'I Publicly Acknowledge'. A note in an old copy of this poem says that Mac Domhnaill "went away to Co Down". He might have also traveled abroad. This could have been to avoid trouble around the time of Archbishop Oliver Plunkett's trial in 1681.
Mac Domhnaill also wrote another poem called Brian Ó Cuagáin. He wrote this one with his friend Pádraig Mac a Liondain. It was a sharp, funny poem about a rival poet from County Meath. This poem is thought to have been written around 1691.
Raghnall Dall Mac Domhnaill was clearly a very skilled poet. His friends and later poets admired his work. Niall óg Mha' Mhurchaidh even called him Oide na nDán, which means 'Tutor of the Poems'. Mha' Mhurchaidh's poem praising Mac Domhnaill seems to have been written when Mac Domhnaill left the Fews area around the early 1700s. A line in the poem, Chuaigh a thaisteal na bóchna, suggests he might have traveled "across the ocean". Many of his relatives had gone to other countries to escape difficult times.
Niall óg Mha' Mhurchaidh died in 1714. This event might have led Mac Domhnaill to return to the Fews. His poem about Creggan shows he was in the area in 1715. However, it seems he stopped writing poetry after that and likely left the area again. There is no record of other poets writing a special poem to honor Mac Domhnaill after his death. After his friend Pádraig Mac a Liondain died in 1732, Raghnall Dall Mac Domhnaill's fame slowly faded away.
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