Francis Ledwidge
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Francis Ledwidge (19 August 1887 – 31 July 1917) was an Irish poet, killed in action during World War I.
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[edit] Early life
Ledwidge was born at Slane in Ireland, into a large and poverty-stricken family. His parents believed in giving their children the best education they could afford, but Francis' father died when he was only five, and he was sent out to work at an early age, eventually finding employment in a copper mine.
[edit] Early work
Ledwidge was a keen poet, and his works were published in local newspapers for some time before he won the patronage of the writer, Lord Dunsany, who introduced him into literary circles and prepared his first collection of poetry Songs of the Fields.
[edit] Home Rule and WWI
He was a keen patriot. His effort to found a branch of the Gaelic League in Slane were thwarted. He managed to act as a founding member of the Slane Branch of the Irish Volunteers, a defence force sworn to defend Home Rule, by force if need be. The Irish Volunteers were split into two factions in 1914: those who wished to fight in World War I and those who didn't. Francis was originally of the latter party, however, within a week, he joined the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers in Dublin, against the urgings of Lord Dunsany, who offered him a stipend to support him if he stayed away from the war - some have speculated because his sweetheart Ellie Vaughey had found a new lover, John O'Neill, whom she later married.
Ledwidge seems to have fitted into Army life well, and achieved promotion to corporal and then lance corporal. In 1915, he saw action at Suvla Bay in Turkey, where he suffered severe rheumatism. Having survived Gallipoli, he became ill on a tough mountain journey in Serbia.
Ledwidge was dismayed by the news of the Easter Rising, and was court-martialled and demoted for overstaying his home leave and being drunk in uniform. Returned to the front, Ledwidge received back his corporal's stripe in January 1917. He continued to write when feasible throughout the war years, though he lost much work, for example, in atrocious weather in Serbia. He sent much of his output to Lord Dunsany, himself moving on war assignments, as well as to readers among family, friends and literary contacts.
On 31st July 1917, a group from Ledwidge's Battalion of the Royal Inniskillen Fusiliers were repairing the road to Pilkem, near the village of Boezinghe, northwest of Ieper (Ypres). While Ledwidge was making tea, a shell exploded alongside the unit, killing the poet and five others. A chaplain, Father Devas, arrived soon after, and recorded "Ledwidge killed, blown to bits." The dead were buried at Carrefour de Rose, and later reinterred in the nearby Artillery Wood Military Cemetery. A stone tablet commemorates Ledwidge in the Island of Ireland Peace Park, Messines, Belgium.
[edit] Publication and reception
The only work published during Ledwidge's lifetime was the original Songs of the Fields, which was very well received. The critic Edward Marsh printed three of them in the magazine Georgian Poetry, and remained a correspondent for the remainder of Ledwidge's life. Following the war, his patron and friend Lord Dunsany arranged for more of Ledwidge's work to be published, first in two new volumes, and then later in an anthology in 1955; he commented on the work with words such as:
"[I was] astonished by the brilliance of that eye and that had looked at the fields of Meath and seen there all the simple birds and flowers, with a vividness which made those pages like a magnifying glass, through which one looked at familiar things for the first time."
Later collections, first by Alice Curtayne, who also wrote a biography of the poet, and later by Liam O'Meara, each added some previously unpublished work, and in 2006, a few more poems were released in a commemorative volume, "The Minstrel Boy" by Hubert Dunn.
[edit] Quotes
- Oh what a pleasant world 'twould be,
- How easy we'd step thro' it,
- If all the fools who meant no harm,
- Could manage not to do it!
- He shall not hear the bittern cry
- in the wild sky, where he is lain,
- Nor voices of the sweeter birds
- Above the wailing of the rain
- Nor shall he know when the loud March blows
- Thro' slanting snows her fanfare shrill,
- Blowing to flame the golden cup
- Of many an upset daffodil. - Lament for Thomas MacDonagh
[edit] Works
[edit] Other contacts
- Ledwidge corresponded for some years with Irish writer Katharine Tynan
[edit] External link
- FrancisLedwidge.com
- Fermanagh Herald, 31 Jan 2007, Books, Michael Breslin
