Patrick Galvin (1927- 2011)

national | anti-capitalism | news report

Wednesday May 11, 2011 09:56

by Kevin Doyle - WSM - Cork

Renowned poet and socialist has died.

Yesterday/ In Castle Street/ I saw two goblins at my feet/ I saw a horse without a head/ Carrying the dead/ To the graveyard/ Near Turner's Cross/ I am the madwoman of Cork/ No one talks to me (From The Mad Woman Of Cork)

Patrick Galvin, the renowned Cork writer and socialist, has died. Born in Margaret Street in Cork in 1927, Paddy was a prodigious and accomplished writer producing many works in poetry and drama, as well as writing the memoir The Raggy Boy Trilogy. He was also a most accomplished balladeer and many of his early works were in this form.

Galvin’s early life was spent in and around the Barrack Street area of Cork – an place that he described as ‘desperately poor’ but ‘highly atmospheric’. Following charges of ‘being disruptive’ he was sentenced in the 1930s to a term of three years at St. Conleth's Industrial School in Co. Offaly - an experience that was to mark him hugely and make him into the lifelong socialist and an advocate for the oppressed. On his return to Cork, following this harrowing experience, he worked as a newspaper boy, a messenger and as a projectionist at Cork’s Washington Street Cinema. In 1943, using a forged birth certificate, he went to Belfast and joined the RAF at the age of sixteen. Following service during WW2, he was demobilised and worked in London at various odd jobs. He later travelled around Europe.

He began writing poetry, by his own admission, in the late 1940s. However under the influence of Seamus Ennis, the traditional uileann piper, he first made his mark as a folk singer going on to record over 7 LPs of songs and ballads. Among many fine compositions, there is of course his renowned version of ‘James Connolly’, a song later popularised by Christy Moore.

Patrick Galvin’s first book of poems – Heart Of Grace – was published in London in 1959. He later went on to produce Christ In London (1960), The Wood Burners (1973), Man On The Porch (1979) and Folk Tales For The General (1989). New And Selected Poems (1996) established his position as a major poet of his generation. In the introduction to this work he was described as “a poet who combines a very strong sense of the community that shaped and formed him, and gave him his voice, with a broad set of human concerns that range from social idealism through pity for the victims of power, to anger at wrongs done”.

Galvin was also a very fine dramatist. He wrote and produced many works for, among others, the Lyric Theatre and the BBC. He also worked on many adaptations for the BBC and also as a writer in residence in England, Ireland and in Spain. In the 90s he returned to Cork and played a pivotal role with Mary Johnson, his partner with whom he had two children, in establishing the Munster Literature Centre in Cork. In 2003 with his reputation on the rise he was struck down by a debilitating stroke. He survived and recovered with the loving support of his family but his ability to continue writing was severely curtailed – a factor which was to become a huge burden for him.

Patrick Galvin was angered by the publication of the Ryan Report in 2009 into the abuses at the Irish Industrial Schools. Not only did the Report remind him of his own period of incarceration, it also reminded him of reality that he was one of the first to speak out about what was going on in these institutions – and was pilloried for doing so. He had always been incensed at the vile and cruel abuses that went on in these institutions, and had long contended that they had occurred under the ever watchful and approving eye of the Irish State and the Catholic Church.

In an ironic testament to his lifelong commitment to socialism Patrick Galvin spent nearly twenty hours waiting on a hospital trolley at CUH (in Cork) on what was to be the last weekend of his life – this weekend just gone. Despite receiving excellent care he died peacefully at CUH late last night. He will be remembered not only for beautiful and evocative writing, but also for his opposition to capitalism and his lifelong commitment to struggle for a just workers society.

Reposing at Connolly Hall tomorrow, Thursday, from 4pm until 8pm (May 12th), fittingly, on the anniversary of the execution of James Connolly. Cremation on Friday at 2pm at the Island Crematorium, Ringaskiddy.

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Comments (4 of 4)

A loss

by Diarmuid Breatnach - Personal Capacity

Wed May 11, 2011 21:18

Sorry to hear of this death. I never met him but a sad loss. I would like to mark his passing by singing one of his songs at Mac Turcaill's in Dublin this Sunday. Can someone supply a list of his song titles and maybe any song book he had published?

comment

by Dave Lordan

Wed May 11, 2011 23:17

A very nice piece kevin. one of the many reasons to honour and remember Patrick Galvin is the extraodinary eloquence and rare courage with which he spoke out against the mass incarceration and abuse of poor children in Ireland by the forces of church and state. most writers, to their shame, chose to ignore that, though it was common knowledge. His life and work is proof that one can have high standards in both morality and aesthetics.

James Connolly

by pat c

Fri May 13, 2011 14:47

Patrick Galvins song James Connolly was heard twice last night at the Repudiate The Debt Campaign Demo outside the Dail. First a recorded version by Liam Weldon and then a live version by Eric Fleming. Imho Christy Moore is the ultimate interpreter of that song. I hope he sings it at the cremation.

Heres a piece from the Irish Times.

Mourners pay tribute to poet Patrick Galvin

CORK’S CONNOLLY Hall provided a fitting venue for mourners to pay tribute to poet and playwright Patrick Galvin yesterday, on the 95th anniversary of his hero James Connolly’s death.

The maverick writer became the first to lie in repose at the trade union headquarters, as a steady stream of musicians, artists, writers and poets arrived to pay their respects.

His remains were carried through the streets of his native Cork from his Douglas home in a horse-drawn carriage, echoing a line from The Madwoman of Cork , one of his best-known poems:

I saw a horse without a head

Carrying the dead

To the graveyard

Near Turner’s Cross.

“He was an amazing man, a renaissance man. In my estimation he was able to cross the lines of so many disciplines and score. He was a true maverick,” his wife, Mary Johnson Galvin, said.

Mourners listened to Galvin’s voice reciting his poetry as he lay in an open casket, a half-dozen roses at his intertwined fingers.

A slide show of images replayed the many memorable moments of his lifetime, and posters documenting his life’s work adorned the walls.

“Hopefully this honours him in the way he would have wanted,” Ms Johnson Galvin said.

He lived a “fantastic quality of life”, despite suffering a stroke that left him wheelchair-bound in 2003, and his voracious appetite for literature and documentaries never faltered.

“The hardest job with him was keeping his mind stimulated. He wanted to write, though his arm would not let him, but he did plenty in his days,” Ms Johnson Galvin said.

His artist daughter, Gráinne Galvin, described him an a brilliant dad and an inspiration.

“He was a bit of genius. I feel incredibly lucky to have had a father like him,” she said.

Friends paid tribute to Galvin as an inspirational figure, principled, yet modest, accomplished and encouraging of emerging talent.

Historian and author Donal Ó Drisceoil said Galvin had an incredible sense of history. “You could rely on him always; he kept the drive and spirit of resistance and rebellion alive in Cork.

“He was an inspiring character, committed to his work and so principled, yet so humble.”

Galvin was writer in residence at University College Cork in the 1990s.

Galvin’s long-time friend Christy Moore is expected to join a number of colleagues and friends to pay tribute to the late poet at today’s cremation ceremony in Ringaskiddy.

many fine renditions of James Connolly ballad

Sun May 15, 2011 03:03

The Ballad of James Connolly was also sung at the Góilín singers' club in Dublin on Friday night. I have heard a number of fine renditions of this song and some at least as good as Christy Moore's (he can't be best at every song!).

By coincidence, it had also been sung the previous week at the Clé Club, after a reading of an article by Connolly against the planned visit in 1911 by King George V.

Interesting how difficult it is to get a list of Galvin's songs and recordings, while his poetry and plays are listed in Wikepedia and all the obituaries.

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Patrick Galvin (1927- 2011)

Comments (4 of 4)