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IN MAY THIS year, Ireland’s favourite folk song was revealed to be On Raglan Road, made famous by Luke Kelly’s unforgettable rendition.
The song is based on a poem by Patrick Kavanagh, but as with many of the Monaghan writer’s works, he had a tune in mind when composing it – a traditional melody called The Dawning of the Day.
The link between these two was mentioned to Luke Kelly one evening in The Bailey, when Kavanagh gave him permission to perform it.
Cultural resonance
But what is it that makes this song resonate with so many people?
Our image of Kavanagh as the older, bespectacled man is shaped by the RTÉ interviews he gave in the sixties and the statue of him by the Grand Canal.
But in 1936, when the Irish Press announced the publication of his first collection, they described a tall, tanned, dark-haired Ulsterman, still in his twenties (an incorrect detail, possibly of Kavanagh’s own concoction) and well-built from farm work.
The story of the impoverished farm worker with the soul of a writer who walked all the way from Inishkeen to Dublin with his manuscript under his oxter, hell-bent on getting published, resonated widely and established his reputation as an uncompromising man.
Kavanagh in a rut
Despite a flourish of attention upon his arrival on the scene and getting internationally published very quickly, by the early 1940s Kavanagh found himself in a rut.
He was excluded from a major collection of contemporary Irish poetry for his work being “no more Irish than Louis MacNeice or Cecil Day-Lewis”.
He was sued for libel by Oliver St John Gogarty on account of a passage in The Green Fool.
And he was getting better known for his cruelly witty film reviews than for his poetry.
“I saw her first and knew…”
It was around this time that he saw Hilda Moriarty, a medical student from An Daingean.
She was a lover of poetry with a creative streak and had wanted to study literature in college, but her father, a G.P., would not hear of it.
The elder Dr. Moriarty was a serious man with a deep sense of duty, held in the highest regard by his Gaeltacht patients; stories of him risking treacherous waters to attend to sick children on the Blasket were remembered by a community all too used to neglect.
He told his daughter that her intelligence gave her a duty to study something useful to the community, and that he wanted to leave her something more lasting than money.
Moriarty obediently enrolled in UCD but couldn’t abandon her creative urges completely.
She went to auditions, getting called for a screen test in Hollywood but losing out to someone called Maureen O’Hara. She read widely.
And she became the 1940s equivalent to what we now call an influencer, with boutiques around Dublin sending her dresses and jewellery in the expectation that her photograph in the papers would boost their sales.
Meeting to talk about art
So when an established poet and film critic like Kavanagh was interested in meeting her to talk about books and art, she was only delighted.
They met regularly for the chats, with Kavanagh inviting criticism and suggestions from her on his unfinished work.
When he vented to her about his frustrations with publishing, she suggested he consider writing about something other than farms and muck sometime.
That’s when he told her he’d write a poem about her sometime.
Like most polite people, Moriarty mentioned that Kavanagh visit her if he was ever passing through her home town.
Unlike most people, Kavanagh actually took this invitation at face value and turned up in An Daingean one evening.
Unsurprisingly, her father was unimpressed by the impecunious, hard-drinking, confrontational poet and sent him on his way.
Parental disapproval
This parental intervention wasn’t completely contrary to the daughter’s wishes: Hilda Moriarty was very fond of Kavanagh, but just not in that way.
Besides, she had recently attended a Munster rugby game where she caught the eye of one of the star players, who wrote her an eight-page letter in green ink telling her how much he liked her, what a great guy he was, and why they should definitely go out.
His name was Donogh O’Malley. They were married in 1947.
Kavanagh lost out to O’Malley
The final insult for Kavanagh was that O’Malley wasn’t threatened by him in the slightest and thought that it was gas that his wife knew a famous poet.
He even invited Kavanagh out to dinner with them while the heartbroken poet seethed with rage (but not so much rage that he’d turn out some free drinks).
In their conversations, O’Malley was impressed by Kavanagh’s intelligence and moved to think of how unfair it was that children born in the North would have access to free secondary school education but, mere miles across the border, children with his gifts would not.
Years later, in 1967, Donogh O’Malley was the Minister who introduced free secondary school education in the Republic.
He and Kavanagh both died that year.
Widowed with two children, Hilda returned to medicine, specialising in psychiatry where her fascination with the mind dovetailed with her vocation.
Irish poetry is a story often told from the perspective of the unrequited lover, but rarely from one who goes in to the affair knowing it is doomed (“let grief be a fallen leaf”) and leaves with no ill will (“my reason must allow that I…”) for the other.
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Seriously! If some psychologists cannot spot it how do the expect teachers to spot it. Where do they get the time? Maybe it’ll be like the voice training they get in the dip, 1 lesson is highly effective.
How about restoring guidance and counselling hours???
A counsellor only gets to see you for a few minutes during an occasional appointment . The teacher who has six hours a day with the child will be able to document behavioural changes and how they interact with others, and can be of assistance to counsellors other professionals in determining the child’s needs.
It’ll be easy to spot in a 35 min class.
Such a training program should be available to all free of charge. It seems that the teachers will again be burdened with it. Ah! Sure the teachers can solve all society’s ills!!! Very important though for the opinionated to kick their asses when the teachers raise valid concerns at their Easter Conferences.
There seems to be a hypocritical attitude when it comes to laying the burdens of society on our teachers while at the same time denying them a decent wage and leaving our young teachers with years of uncertainty by having them hop from one little contract to another. An effective teacher is of value to a community if the job is permanent. That way accumulated knowledge will enable the teacher to be effective beyond the narrow confines of curriculum. The backhanded compliment that the teacher should solve all ills simply illustrates the critical importance of the teacher’s commitment to society because the school environment gives certainty in a very uncertain phase of a child’s life. Very often the whole area benefits because of the teachers’ value to the society beyond the narrow confines of the classroom. Parents will invariably place more trust long term in the teacher where their children are concerned because they will be treated honestly. The teacher unions advocate yes for better pay but also yes for better benefits for their pupils. They give a service to the state which goes beyond that of the ordinary worker who only seeks personal benefit. Value our teachers.
Why can’t parents do a course surely they have a better chance of spotting these signs than teachers in a class of many student . It’s a terrible responsibility to put on teachers after a few hours training
Very welcome idea,one suicide is one to many
If one is one too many, the true figure 550 per annum is a grim figure indeed.
It’s so important that every teacher is trained that it’s only going to cost you
50 Euro to do a half day course .
If Console were really serious about this idea for teachers why not train them all nationwide for FREE.
Why doesn’t the govt pay
This is wrong on so many levels. It seems like just another “schools should…” initiative but the topic here is far more serious than most such calls.
It misunderstands the role of teachers in society and in the lives of children. It’s not actually like “Waterloo Road” or “Home and Away” where Sir or Miss is always available and spends as much time worrying about their charges’ emotions and home-lives as they do teaching them.
To say that a half-day course enables anyone “to respond effectively” to mental distress serious enough to lead to suicide is ludicrous. It is not callous to say this is not teachers’ jobs; we would be doing children a disservice with amateur intervention instead of referral to fully-trained professionals.
The analogy to CPR is unwarranted. CPR takes place in response to a catastrophic event, in a situation where even a few minutes delay can mean the difference between life and death.
There is also a danger of a pattern emerging where enthusiastic graduates of this course intervene with students on the basis that doing makes the teacher a life-saving hero. The question will soon be “Do I have to say I’m suicidal to get help around here?” Students need teachers to be a calm, approachable presence in their lives and part of being a professional is knowing where your job ends and some-one else’s begins.
Great idea. We need a real focus on suicide prevention in this country.
So a half day course will make teachers experts in spotting a potential suicide? Either do it right or not at all.
No doubt this training will happen while the teachers should be actually teaching rather than doing it during their 3 months holidays.
From your own extensive knowledge on the matter, what other training occurs when teachers should actually be teaching? Enlighten us please
Do you do your training in your own time? It will be part of teacher training and part of CPD as part of Haddington Rd. Hours. 43 hours extra I do a year UNPAID!!! Do you work 43 hours unpaid? Fair play to you.
I take it then that you would happily give up your holidays to do a similar training course. Or maybe you would have the children get four weeks holiday in the year which would mean you cannot bring your child on holiday because of the need for your child to be in school. Which might have the side effect of decimating the tourist industry and any other industry which depends on creating for children out of school!!!! The fact is teachers do not decide how much holidays the children receive. That is done by the Dept. of Education and Science following consultation and agreement between it, the Unions and the parents. During the “great snow closures” parents clamoured for the restoration of the lost days. The “solution” was that three days be in some way held back in case of snow. This meant that parents could not book a holiday for the midterm week in February because if it snowed in January they would lose the three days in February. If they had taken the chance to book a holiday would they then cancel in the interest of not losing three days of their child’s education? Also many teachers give up the first week of their summer vacation to attend a plethora of courses for which they can take some personal leave days at the discretion of their Board of Management. Would you do likewise with your holiday? Maybe if you really envy and begrudge the conditions of service of a teacher you should have become one any tried to change the system from within instead of sniping.
We all experience periods of stress, sadness, and self-doubt. ‘These don’t make us mentally ill, they define us as human.’ ~ Dr Howard Forman
We all have a biochemistry but it requires daily work to keep our physical / mental health in good shape. Starting with a good nights sleep and good nutrition. Lots of other things that can help and that can be worked on in schools ~ Yoga, meditation, mindfulness, exercise, emotional resilience, how to deal with bullying, building self-esteem etc Talk therapy can help. Also being with nature. And getting enough daylight and sunshine (when possible).
I went to a lecture by 86 yr old Prof Ivor Browne last week. The lecture theatre was packed. Such an interesting presentation. If only the mental ‘health’ system could see our emotional well being on a more holistic level. The mind and body are very much interconnected. Instead of the predominant biomedical / drugging approach.
The “Refer” part. Is what I would worry about in QPR. I hope that doesn’t mean where the GP puts a teenager on mind altering psychoactive drugs ie “anti-depressants” instead helps in developing their long term needs. Emotional well being is something that needs a life long approach and not some “quick fix” drug that can have severe adverse effects. Something I learned from experience.
Young people in particular should not be on these mind altering drugs, due to the suicide risk. Hence these psychoactive drugs carry a black box warning in the US ~
http://www.fda.gov/Drugs/DrugSafety/InformationbyDrugClass/UCM096273
{ Do not stop or change prescribed psychoactive drugs without talking to a good doctor, due to the dangers of withdrawal }
PS Any change that TheJournal could change the stereotypical picture ? Looks like someone who got too much drugs and is hiding in the corner of a mental institution ! That is not really how emotional distress looks like or feels like for most and there are some people who are trying to change the whole “head clutching” culture. Or in this case “shin clutching”.
TED Talk ~ The role of nutrition in mental health by Julia Rucklidge ~ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dqXHHCc5lA
WRAP App demo ~ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0BK_jLMToeM (Wellness Recovery Action Plan)
About time, this country is MILES behind in relation to spotting mental health issues
Michael ,what is this “holiday” thing of which u speak ,must only b available to the few. Have had such bad experience with “teachers” through my own school years and my children’s school years ,that I think it would b wiser to send teachers on courses to prevent people from becoming suicidal ,by learning to communicate in an agreeable manner , Its so easy for a teacher to wreck a child’s self confidence ,and it’s this lack of self confidence that starts the decline in a child’s mental well being .
Eilish, if a child is a brat then there will be problems with the teacher. There’s your issue I’m sure. A little bit of parenting goes a long way.
Speaking as someone who tried to end my life, the period when I was planning my death I became very calm and content because I knew that the end was coming for the intolerable emotional pain I was experiencing. Nobody could have forseen that I had a plan to end my life. Suicidal people are not always going around with a sad face. this training will not help teachers.
Why don’t parents just give their children to schools after birth so they don’t have to do any child care at all.Schools are for educating your children.Teachers get enough flak for not teaching properly now they must become counsellors aswell – in one day !
For anyone suffering from depression, I recommend the http://destroydepression.com/info.php system. Written by a former depression & PTSD sufferer, it teaches 7 natural steps which help to eliminate depression from your life and the success rate is very high.
This thread appears to have gone viral among teachers… They are red thumbing all over the place…
Shur their on there 2 week Easter hols… With another mid term coming up before their 12 week summer hols I guess it’s only right that they do this course during term time… Bless their over worked souls.
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