O'Hussey, Eochaidh

(c. 1574-c. 1630)

   He was an Irish poet (in Irish, Ua hEodhasa) who came from a long line hereditary poets and historians, of which the earliest famous member was Aenghus, who died in 1350. The family were chief poets to Clan Maguire of Fermanagh. Eochaidh started writing at a young age and his earliest poem-of 228 verses (1593)-is on the escape of Aedh ruadh O'Donnell from Dublin Castle in 1592. He wrote four poems of 508 verses in all on Cuchonacht Maguire, Lord of Fermanagh, and seven poems on his son, Hugh Maguire, Lord of Fermanagh (died 1600). He also wrote two verses on Tadhg O'Rourke of Breifne; on Eoghan óg MacSweeny of Donegal; on Feidhlimidh O'Beirne, and on Richard de Burgo MacWilliam of Connaught. He wrote a poetic address of 152 verses to Hugh O'Neill, the great earl of Tyrone (?1540-1616), and one of forty-four verses to Rory O'Donnell, earl of Tyrconnel (1575-1608). Some of his poems: "A Change in Style," "Hugh Maguire," "Mag Uidhir's Winter Campaign," "O'Hussey's Ode to the Maguire," "O Man of Ill-health!"

   Sources: An Antholog y of Irish Literature. David H. Greene, ed. H. Modern Library, 1954. An Antholog y of Irish Verse: The Poetry of Ireland from Mythological Times to the Present. Padraic Colum, ed. Liveright, 1948. Clan Maguire (http://www.cov44.freeserve.co.uk/clanmag.htm). Dictionary of National Biography. Electronic Edition 1.1. Oxford University Press, 1997. The Columbia Granger's Index to Poetry. 11th ed. The Columbia Granger's World of Poetry, Columbia University Press, 2005 (http://www.columbiagrangers.org). The New Oxford Book of Irish Verse. Thomas Kinsella, ed. Oxford University Press, 1986.