Padraic Fiacc
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Padraic Fiacc (1924- ) is an Irish poet.
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[edit] Biographical Information
[edit] Beginnings
He was born Patrick Joseph O'Connor in Belfast April 15, 1924, to Bernard O'Connor and Annie Christian McGarry. His father, a barman from a family of shop-keepers left for America while Fiacc was very young. At this time, Fiacc resided with his maternal grandparents who had recently moved to the Markets area of Belfast after having been forced to leave their home in Lisburn due to a fiery anti-Catholic demonstration in which all their furniture was burned. His family emigrated to the United States in 1929 to join his father in Manhattan. Fiacc grew up in Hell's Kitchen, New York City. The multicultural influences, coupled with the poverty and violence of the neighborhood impacted Fiacc's oullok and his writing, especially his early writing.
[edit] Education and Early Writing
Padraic attended Commerce High School and later changed to Haaren High School in order to learn Latin. While at school, he produced several original plays and his first collection of poetry titled Innisfail Lost. The poems were reviewed by Padraig Colum who became a mentor to Fiacc, directing him away from themes of coming to America and encouraging him to research and write about his own people's history. Fiacc had already developed a distaste for America and found himself longing for Ireland as he dug deeper into its history and literary technique and style. Seminary was Padraic's next step. He attended St. Joseph's Seraphic Seminary and later studied with the Irish Capuchin Order for a total of five years spanning 1941-1946. He includes in his main reasons for leaving the path to priesthood his lack of disciplinary habits and longing for a freer existence. The morbidity of his poems written during this time period may also have had an effect.
[edit] Change of Place
On leaving the seminary, and to avoid signing up for military service, he returned to Belfast in 1946 where he lived for four years during which time his poetry was published in several magazines and the 1948 volume of New Irish Peots. Fiacc was the youngest poet in that edition. Publications of Fiacc's work from this time may be found in Irish Bookman, Irish Times, Poetry Ireland, and Rann. In 1952, upon the death of his mother, Fiacc returned to New York to look after his alcoholic father and younger siblings. It was during this time that he met his wife Nancy, who had read and enjoyed some of his early writings. Nancy left her own path to become a Benedictine nun to be with Padraic. They moved to Ireland, were married in August of 1956, and settled in Glengormley a suburb of North Belfast where they welcomed a baby girl in 1962.
[edit] Life in Belfast
Fiacc continued to write and won the 1957 AE Memorial Award. 1969 was a momentous year for Fiacc. The publishing of his first volume of poetry came alongside the return of pervasive violence. The breakdown of his marriage and his nerves, and the murder of a close friend, Gerry McLaughlin, ensued, as did his edited collection of poetry by his contemporaries surrounding the topic of the troubling times in Northern Ireland, The Wearing of the Black. In the early 1970's, he met Gerald Dawe, a younger poet, with whom he met regularly, corresponded, and later acted as mentor. Dawe, in the company of other contemporary Irish poets served as a supportive group of peers for Fiacc. He published a steady stream of poetry and other pieces, and still resides in Belfast. He is a member of Aosdána, the Irish Arts Academy.
[edit] Work
Fiacc's readers do not approach his work expecting to encounter fairy tales, though he draws on Gaelic mythology and mythical characters. Neither do they expect butterflies and rainbows, but rather stark tragedy. To say the least, Fiacc's poetry is found to be intense.
[edit] Themes
Themes in Fiacc's Poetry include fear, childhood, hatred, violence, danger, poverty, Ireland's history, bloodshed, Hell's kitchen (early work), suffering, hostility, the urban landscape, darkness and rebellion.
[edit] Style
Fiacc employs a stacatto method and vernacular speech to deliver his messages. He writes realism, but with a modern approach. Black humor and melodrama play into his tempestuous works as well.
[edit] Books
- Woe to the Boy (1957)
- By the Black Stream (Dublin, The Dolmen Press, 1969)
- Odour of Blood (Kildare, The Goldsmith Press, 1973)
- Nights in the Bad Place (Belfast, The Blackstaff Press, 1977)
- The Selected Padraic Fiacc (The Blackstaff Press, 1979)
- Missa Terriblis (The Blackstaff Press, 1986)
- Ruined Pages: Selected poems (edited by Gerald Dawe and Aodán Mac Póilin). Belfast: Blackstaff Press, 1994
- Semper vacare (Belfast, The Lagan Press, 1999)
- Red Earth (The Lagan Press).
- The Wearing of the Black (Editor; The Blackstaff Press, 1974).
[edit] Awards
- Æ Memorial Award (1957)
- Poetry Ireland Award (1981)
[edit] External links
[edit] Refereces
- Brown, John. In the Chair: Interviews with Poets from the North of Ireland. Salmon Publishing, 2002.
- Fiacc, Padraic. Ruined Pages: Selected poems. Eds Gerald Dawe and Aodán Mac Póilin. Belfast: Blackstaff Press, 1994.
