Dallan Forgaill

Dallan Forgaill Poems

Dallan Forgaill Biography

Dallán Forgaill (also Dallán Forchella; Dallán of Cluain Dalláin, fl. AD 597) was an early Christian Irish poet best known as the writer of the Amra Choluim Chille ("Eulogy of Colm Cille"). He was the Chief Ollam of Ireland .The early Irish poem Rop tú mo baile, the basis of the modern English hymn Be Thou My Vision, is sometimes attributed to him. According to the Life of St. Dallán in the Acta Sanctorum Hiberniae, he was the son of Colla, son of Erc, a descendant of the legendary High King Colla Uais. His mother was called Forchella, and his given name was Eochaid. His first cousin was St.Mogue and his fourth cousin was Saint Tigernach of Clones. The Acta and the preface to the Amra Choluim Chille agree he was born in Maigen (now Ballyconnell), the eastern edge of the territory of the Masraige of Magh Slécht in modern County Cavan. He was not a member of the Masraige but belonged to a branch of the Airgíalla called the Fir Lurg who were in the process of spreading southwards into Fermanah and Cavan. The barony of Lurg in County Fermanagh was named after them. The Liber Sanctorum says he studied so intensively he lost his sight, earning the nickname Dallán ("little blind one"). The preface to the Amra also says he was chief poet (ollamh) of Ireland as well as a scholar of Latin scriptural learning. Geoffrey Keating's History of Ireland states that Dallan helped to reform the Bardic Order at the Convention of Drumceat. He is best known for eulogies attributed to him, on the subject of contemporaneous Irish saints, namely the Amra Choluim Chille on St. Columba, Amra Senain on St. Senan, and Amra Connaill for St. Connall. The poems, rarely translated, were of such obscure language that subsequent scribes included copious glosses on the poems. The best example is the Amra Choluim Chille, wherein the glosses contain poems in themselves, some of which deal with the Fenian Cycle.[citation needed] He is said to have written the Amra Choluim Chille shortly after the death of Colm Cille in 597, because Colm Cille had successfully saved the poets from expulsion from Ireland at the assembly of Druim Cett in 575. He is said to have died in 598, when pirates broke into the island monastery of Inniskeel, County Donegal, where he is buried, and was beheaded. It is also said that God reattached his head to his body after being martyred. He was acclaimed a saint in the early 11th century, during the reign of the High King Máel Sechnaill mac Domnaill A medieval poem entitled "On the breaking up of a School" composed by Tadhg Og O Huiginn, c.1400, refers to the death of Dallán which caused his school to break-up and the students disperse as they would accept no other master.[6] In a list of ancient Irish authors contained in the Book of Ballymote, p. 308, 26, Dallán is called “grandson of testimony”: "Dallán hua Forgaill in fil ut .i. Dallan mac Alla meic Eirc, meic Feradaigh gan tinii ardollam Erenn gan on, is e ro mol Cohan cille." ('Dallán son of Alla, son of Erc son of Feradach without fear, chief-ollave of Erin without disgrace, 'tis he that praised Columba.'))

The Best Poem Of Dallan Forgaill

Ode To Aodh, Son Of Duach

Bounteous and mighty Aotlh ! whose potent shield
Glares like a fatal star upon the field—
Fierce as the stooping hawk, or following hound,
Resistless as the ocean-billow's bound—
Thy shield I sing—the warrior's best relief—
Avenger of the fall of sept and chief;
Brighter than foam that shrouds the bursting wave,
That glorious shield that heroes, monarchs crave,
Renown'd o'er all that warlike arm may wield
Amid the failing ranks ! dread speckled shield ;
That guardian shield where Duach's son up-rears,
Awe-struck, the daring heart no longer dares.
Oh, would the prince our bardic spell requite
With that proud shield—dread portent of the fight;
Aodh's glorious name through Erin's plains should ring,
While Dallan's hand could wake the trembling string.

Dallan Forgaill Comments