The Fiddler of Dooney
When I play on my fiddle in Dooney,
Folk dance like a wave of the sea;
My cousin is priest in Kilvarnet,
My brother in Mocharabuiee.
I passed my brother and cousin:
They read in their books of prayer;
I read in my book of songs
I bought at the Sligo fair.
When we come at the end of time
To Peter sitting in state,
He will smile on three old spirits,
But call me first through the gate;
For the good are always the merry,
Save by an evil chance,
And the merry love the fiddle,
And the merry love to dance:
And when the folk there spy me,
They will all come up to me,
With 'Here is the fiddler of Dooney!'
And dance like a wave of the sea.
-W.B. Yeats
"The Fiddler of Dooney" is a poem by William Butler Yeats first published in 1892.[1][2]
The word "Dooney" refers to Dooney Rock, a small hill overlooking Lough Gill near Sligo.[3][4]
Influences
The poem gives its name to a fiddle competition held annually in County Sligo, first held in 1975.[5]
The poem is set to music by Angelo Branduardi (on Branduardi canta Yeats, 1986).
See also
References
- ^ "The Bookman". Hodder and Stoughton. 1 November 1892. Retrieved 1 November 2021 – via Google Books.
- ^ Yeats, W.B.(1992). Yeats Collected Poems. Vintage Classics, pp. ix
- ^ "Dooney Rock". Sligo Tourism. Retrieved 31 July 2021.
- ^ "The Fiddler of Dooney". Poetry Archive. Retrieved 31 July 2021.
- ^ "Sligo's Fiddler of Dooney contest an 'outstanding success'". Irish Independent. 2 November 2023. Retrieved 2 July 2024.
External links
- The collected public domain poetry of Yeats as an eBook at Standard Ebooks
- v
- t
- e
- Mosada (1886)
- The Land of Heart's Desire (1894)
- Diarmuid and Grania (1901)
- Cathleen ni Houlihan (1902)
- On Baile's Strand (1903)
- The Countess Cathleen (1911)
- At the Hawk's Well (1916)
- The Resurrection (1927)
- Purgatory (1938)
- The Works of William Blake: Poetic, Symbolic and Critical (1893; co-author)
- A Vision (1925)
- The Bounty of Sweden (1925)
- "The Curse of the Fires and of the Shadows"
- Oxford Book of Modern Verse 1892–1935 (editor)
- Georgie Hyde-Lees (wife)
- Anne Yeats (daughter)
- Michael Yeats (son)
- John Butler Yeats (father)
- Susan Pollexfen (mother)
- Jack Butler Yeats (brother)
- Elizabeth Yeats (sister)
- Lily Yeats (sister)
- Maud Gonne (lover)
- W. B. Yeats bibliography
- Rhymers' Club
- Dun Emer Press
- An Appointment with Mr Yeats
- "Troy"
- Thoor Ballylee
- Samhain magazine