B’as an nGeata Bán, an Obair, Co. na Mí, don fhile seo a bhfuil ceann dá dhánta i gcló ag Seosamh Laoide in Duanaire na Midhe, 1914. Tá cuntas air ag Séamus Mac Gabhann, ‘Forging identity: Michael Clarke and the hidden Ireland’, in Ríocht na Midhe, 1996. Chuir sé dhá leabhar á gclóbhualadh: Man’s Final end: translated from Críoch Deighionach an Duine written originally in Irish (According to the best Authorities) by the Rt Rev. J. O’Connell, Bishop of Kerry, who lived in the sixteenth Century, 1824 (athchló i nDroichead Átha in 1851) agus Ireland’s Dirge, an Historical Poem written in Irish by the Right Rev. John O’Connell, Bishop of Kerry. Translated into English verse by Michael Clarke, 1827. An dara leabhar is mó atá faoi thrácht ag Mac Gabhann. Is é atá ann: ‘Tuireamh na hÉireann’ le Seán Ó Conaill, file in Uíbh Ráthach nárbh aon easbag é (tá an leagan is údarásaí den téacs i gcló ag Cecile O’Rahilly in Five Seventeenth Century Political Poems, 1946); aistriúchán Béarla atá bunaithe ar aistriúchán nár de dhéantús Uí Chléirigh é agus nach bhfuil ag teacht go hiomlán leis an leagan áirithe Gaeilge sa leabhar; nótaí staire a thugann stair na hÉireann anuas go dtí 1691, cé nach bhfuil an dán féin ag dul níos faide ná aimsir Chromail; ‘The Author’s Tour’, dán barrúil ina gcuireann Ó Cléirigh síos ar na daoine, sagairt go háirithe, a thug cabhair dó; liosta na síntiúsóirí.

Tá cur síos ag Mac Gabhann ar an áitiú a rinne John McCall in The Irish Emerald in 1896-7 gur ag an bhfile James Martin a bhí an lámhscríbhinn de ‘Tuireamh na hÉireann’ agus gurbh é a rinne an t-aistriúchán. Tuairimíonn sé gurbh fhéidir gur rannpháirtithe san obair an bheirt fhilí. ‘The question of authorship, which so exercises McCall is, however, of secondary importance compared to the fact of the publication of the book. Its real significance is as a social and cultural document, emanating from the vital bilingual society of pre-famine Meath. The work seeks to mediate between the Gaelic and English traditions, drawing on the Gaelic as a source of nourishment for a sense of Irish identity.’

Thug Ó Cléirigh cúnamh d’Éadbhard Ó Raghallaigh chun cuntas a scríobh ar Thoirdhealbhach Ó Cearbhalláin ina A Chronological Account of Nearly Four Hundred Irish Writers with a descriptive Catalogue of their Works, 1820. Is cosúil go raibh caidreamh aige freisin le James Hardiman.

Diarmuid Breathnach

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