MacDonagh, Thomas and Donagh

(1878-1968)

   • Thomas, the father (1878-1916)

   Born in Cloughjordan, County Tipperary, the son of schoolteachers, he was educated by the Holy Ghost Fathers. He graduated M.A. in literature from the National University, Dublin, where he became professor of English. He joined the Gaelic League and became friends with Pádraic Pearse, with whom he helped found St. Enda's School for boys in Rathfarnham, a suburb of Dublin. There, through the use of firearms and the medium of the Irish language, pupils were inspired to be "Gaelic and Free." In 1911 he helped found the Irish Review with Padraig Colum and David Houston. In 1913 MacDonagh joined the Irish Republican Army and put his name to the Proclamation of the Irish Republic. Following the 1916 Rising he was imprisoned in Kilmainham Gaol, Dublin, tried by field general court martial and executed by firing squad on May 3, 1916. Francis Ledwidge (see entry) wrote the "Lament for Thomas MacDonagh." Some of his poems: "Ideal," "John-John," "The Lifting of the Cloud," "The Man Upright," "The Night Hunt," "To Death," "Wishes for My Son."

   • Donagh, the son (1912-1968)

   Born in Dublin, he graduated M.A. in English literature from University College, Dublin, and concurrently read for the bar at King's Inn in Dublin. He practiced law from 1936 to 1946 and was a district judge from 1946 to 1968. He was a leading Irish poet, playwright, ballad writer and prominent figure of lively Irish entertainment in the mid-20th century. He died in Dublin. His son writes, "His plays are all written in verse, but are hardly serious. Even the tragedy, Lady Spider (based on the story of Deirdre of the Sorrows) is as funny as it is tragic." (http://members.tripod.com/IrishBornMan/DMacD.html). Some of his publications: Veterans and Other Poems, 1941. Happy as Larry, 1946 (comedy). God's Gentry, 1951 (comedy). Step-in-the-Hollow, 1962 (comedy). The Oxford Book of Irish Verse, 1958 (editor, with E.S. Lennox Robinson). Some of his poems: "A Warning to Conquerors," "Ballade which Villon Made," "Charles Donnelly," "Dublin Made Me," "Galway," "Going to Mass Last Sunday," "Just an Old Sweet Song," "Love's Language," "On the Bridge of Athlone: A Prophecy," "The Hungry Grass."

   Sources: A Little Book of Irish Verse. Chronicle Books, 1993. An Anthology of Irish Verse: The Poetry of Ireland from Mythological Times to the Present. Padraic Colum, ed. Liveright, 1948. Biography and poetry of Donagh MacDonagh (http://www.turlach.net/macdonagh/dmacd/dmacd.htm). Contemporary Irish Poetry: An Anthology. Anthony Bradley, ed. University of California Press. New and rev. ed., 1988. Encyclopædia Britannica Ultimate Reference Suite DVD, 2006. Ireland in Poetry. Charles Sullivan, ed. Harry N. Abrams, 1990. Lament for Thomas MacDonagh (http://www.cs.rice.edu/MacDonagh, Thomas and Donaghssiyer/minstrels/poems/1608.html). Lyra Celtica: An Anthology of Representative Celtic Poetry. E.A. Sharp and J. Matthay, eds. John Grant, 1924. New Irish Poets. Devin A. Garrity, ed. Devin-Adair, 1948. Searc's Web Guide to 20th Century Ireland -Thomas MacDonagh (http://www.searcs-web.com/mcdonagh.html). Songs Collected by Donagh MacDonagh (http://songbook1.tripod.com/). Stephen's Study Room: British Military & Criminal History in the period 1900 to 1999 (http://www.stephenstratford.co.uk/thos_macdonagh.htm). The 1916 Rebellion, Thomas MacDonagh (http://www.1916rising.com/pic_tom_mcdonagh.html). The Columbia Granger's Index to Poetry. 11th ed. The Columbia Granger's World of Poetry, Columbia University Press, 2005 (http://www.columbia grangers.org). The Oxford Book of Irish Verse: XVIIth Century-XXth Century. Donagh MacDonagh and Leenox Robinson, eds. Oxford University Press, 1958. Treasury of Irish Religious Verse. Patrick Murray, ed. Crossroad, 1986.