`I belong to the Gaelic poets and they to me." In one line Michael Hartnett summed up what made him a unique voice in contemporary Irish poetry. He had a deep understanding of his place in the literary scheme of things. Where many lesser poets think that poetry begins with Yeats, Michael Hartnett, through his unwavering search to develop a peerless voice, mapped a genealogy in which he laid claim to English verse and, more importantly, to the 17th century Gaelic tradition. In the works of Aogan O Rathaille, Daibhi O Bruadair and Padraigin Haicead, he found a voice which he made his own.
Although he spent the latter part of his life in Dublin, Michael Hartnett belonged to Limerick and Munster. His work in translating Irish-speaking Ireland into English was an act of reclaimation, respect and defiance. Too often Irish-language poetry of previous centuries inhabits "the hidden Ireland": rarely glimpsed exotica. For Michael Hartnett, however, it was paramount for his development as a poet to acknowledge and honour his forebearers; to give them a new voice and, in so doing, articulate an aestheticism which challenged anaemic and self-regarding verse.
Born in Newcastle West, Co Limerick, in 1941, he was the eldest of eight children. His father was a house painter and his mother a housewife. He attended Scoil Ide in Newcastle West before spending a single year (1962-1963) at UCD studying philosophy and logic. He spent the 1960s between London, Spain and Dublin until finally settling down once again in Co Limerick between 1974 and 1984. In 1985 he moved to Dublin and it was there that he died last Wednesday, aged 58.
The death of any poet of stature is always to be lamented. Michael Hartnett's, at a relatively young age, is even more untimely. Mention his name to many people and they will automatically refer to his very public declaration in 1975 to forsake poetry in English and to write in Irish in order "to court the language of my people". He moved his wife and family to Teampall an Ghleanntain,
Co Limerick, in order to "court" the language and its people more intimately.
It is testament to his conviction as a writer that he chose the mid1970s to distance himself from English just as poetry in that language was coming into the ascent - thanks in no little measure to a rapidly developing Northern canon.
His works are impressive in both languages. Anatomy of a Cliche (1968) gave us love poems; A Farewell to English (1975) offered a challenge to Irish poets, while Inchicore Haiku (1985) announced his return to the English language. And all the while, there were translations: he translated the Hungarian poet Ferenc Juhasz into Irish and O Bruadair, Haicead, O Rathaile and Nuala Ni Dhomhnaill into English.
Unquestionably, A Necklace of Wrens (1987) is one of his most important books. It is a profound and lucid collection in which Michael Hartnett simultaneously blurs and expands the borders of poetry. The original poems from his Irish-language collections Adharca Broic (1978), An Phurgoid (1983), Do Nuala: Foighne Chrainn (1984) and An Lia Nocht (1985) were published side by side with his own English translations. Who then is the Irish poet? What language does he speak? Who is his audience?
Michael Hartnett said of himself that "I happen to think in two languages. I wake up at night thinking in two languages. It breaks my heart." It is to his credit that he succeeded in moulding a vibrant and lyrical vision of Ireland, in two languages, which will stand the test of time.
He is survived by his partner Angela, daughter Lara, son Niall, their mother, Rosemary, brothers and sister.
Michael Hartnett: born 1941; died October, 1999