Tadg Óg Ó hÚigínn

Tadg Óg Ó hÚigínn (died 1448) was an Irish poet.

Life and background

Ó hÚigínn was a member of a well-known Irish family of bards, based in Connacht. His father, Tadhg, died in 1391, while all that is known of his mother is her first name, Aine. He had an elder brother, Fearghal Ruadh O hUiginn, whose early death he laments in Me a dhearbhrathair 's a dhalta. Marc Caball (p. 578) believes him to have been a great-grandson of Tadhg O hUiginn, a celebrated poet who died in 1315.

Further personal details are few, but he did marry and have issue. His descendants included an Archbishop of Tuam, and the poet Tadhg Dall Ó hÚigínn (died c.1591). The Irish annals state that he kept a guest house for scholars and pilgrims, and died at Kilconla in the barony of Dunmore, County Galway, in 1448. He was buried in the priory of Strade, County Mayo.

His school at Kilconla was still functioniong in 1574, overseen by his descendant, Domnall O hUiginn.

Poetic works

O hUiginn enjoyed a great professional reputation within his own lifetime, and was regarded as a master poet. His work enjoyed a wide range of appreciation, which apparent from the long list of prominent Gaelic-Irish and Anglo-Irish lords who were subjects of his work:

Marc Caball (p. 579) draws attention to his successfully "composing works of affective power and elegance ... nothwithstanding the somewhat formulaic configuration of the bardic form."

Devotional poems of his formed part of the Yellow Book of Lecan. Extracts of his verse were cited as models of poetic excellence in bardic school and tutorial tracts.

Select works

See also

References

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