Danny Boy by Malachy McCourt

Author:Malachy McCourt [McCourt, Malachy]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 9780762455003
Publisher: Running Press

The valley’s hushed and white with snow

The Land of Derry

What is it about Derry or Londonderry to put an air to? The town maintains historic political implications, even the name itself. (Protestant loyalists call it Londonderry, Catholic nationalists call it Derry.) Our Londonderry or Derry is a city in the province of Ulster, located in the northernmost part of Ireland. The whole country is divided into four provinces, the aforementioned Ulster to the north, Leinster in the east, Connaught to the west, and Munster to the south. These provinces, in turn, are divided into counties, thirty-two in all, of which six are part of Ulster and under British rule. Long ago, the rebellious Northern Irish resisted British rule, provoking fears of a revolution. After an abortive and prolonged war on the invaders, the O’Neills and the O’Donnells were defeated and went off into exile in Italy and Spain. Their lands were confiscated and given to Scots Presbyterians who, it was assumed, were better farmers than the natives. The Irish retreated to the hills and mountains and in furious raging raids, they attempted to kill off the usurpers, much the same as the Indians did in America. ’Twas thus they gained a reputation for savagery and later, terrorism.

That area of Ireland produced not only warriors, but bards and poets. It also provided the setting for one of the greatest Irish epics known as the Cattle Raid of Cooley and the death of the mythical hero Cuchulainn. An ancient poem, “Summer is Gone,” sometimes attributed to Finn, and sometimes listed as Anonymous in the ninth century, laments the passing of the summer:

I have tidings for you: the stag bells; winter pours;

summer has gone;

Wind is high and cold; the sun low; its course is short

the sea runs strongly;

Bracken is very red; its shape has been hidden; the call

Of the barnacle-goose has become usual;

Cold has seized the wings of birds; season of ice: these are my tidings.

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