Derek Mahon

File Éireannach ab ea Derek Mahon (23 Samhain, 1941 - 1 Deireadh Fómhair 2020). Rugadh i mBéal Feirste é, Tuaisceart na hÉireann.

Beathaisnéis 
Saolaíodh é mar an pháiste aonar ag tuistí oibre-aicme Aontachtóireach. Shaothraigh a athair agus a sheanathair ag "Harland and Wolffe" agus d'oibrigh a mháthair ag muileann lín áitiúla. Le linn a chuid pháisteacht, éilíonn sé gur thaithnaigh leis a bheith in a aonar ag aisling, go compordach in a chomhluadar fhéin agus gan bac don na rudaí mórthimpeall air. 

Bhí spéis aige sa litríocht ó aois óg, agus d'fhreastail sé ar Bhunscoil Skegoneil agus i ndiaidh sé sin, ar an Institiúid Acadaimh Ríogach Béal Feirste. Ag an dara áit, chas sé le mic léinn eile a raibh an dúl chéine san litríocht agus an fhilíocht acu fosta. Léirthigh an scoil irisleabhar in a raibh roinnt den luath-filíocht de chuid Mac Mathúna foilsithe. Rinne sé staidéar tríú leibhéal i gColáiste na Tríonóide, áit a bhfuair sé phost mar eagarthóir an nuachtlitir Icarus. Rinne sé cairdeas buaine le filí clúiteacha ansin mar Michael Longley, Eavan Boland agus Brendan Kenelly. Tháinig sé in inmhe mar fhile. D'fhág sé Coláiste na Tríonóide i 1965 chun dul ag staidéar sa Sorbonne i bPáras.

I ndiaidh fhágáil an tSorbonne i 1966 shaothraigh sé a bhealach fríd Ceanada agus Mheireceá. D'fhoilsigh sé a chéad bhailiúcháin filíocht i 1967 den tidil, Night Crossing. Mhúin sé i scoil i mBaile Átha Cliath agus d'oibrigh sé i Londain mar iriseoir saoire. Tá sé ina chónaí i gCionn Sáile, Contae Chorcaí faoi láthair. Ar an 23ú de Mhí Márta, 2007, bhronnú an gradam David Cohen air mar gheall ar a chuid litríocht.

Stíl 
Léannta go cruinn agus le tuiscint géar den traidisiún litríochta, tháinig Mac Mathúna amach as scleip Tuaisceart na hÉireann le glór formálta, measartha agus go fiú srianta sa bfhilíocht. I ré véarsa saoir, scríobh sé go minic i bfhoirmeanna faighte, le leagan fairsinge den stíl Iambic Pentamater curtha i bhfeidhm aige, cosúil leis an véarsa 'Sprung Foot' le Gerard Manley Hopkins. Bíonn rím in a chuid filíocht. Go fiú ní bhíonn an tírdreacht Éireannach a riamh rófhada ón stíl clasacach, cuir i gcás an dán 'Achill':

Croagh Patrick towers like Naxos over the water 
And I think of my daughter at work on her difficult art
And wish she were with me now between thrush and plover, 
Wild thyme and sea-thrift, to lift the weight from my heart.

Bhí tionchar mór aige ar go leor leor filí Éireannacha clúiteacha mar shampla Séamus Heaney, Eavan Boland agus Éamonn Grennan.

Saothar 
Filíocht
 1965: Twelve Poems. Festival Publications, Belfast
 1968: Night-Crossing. Oxford University Press
 1970: Ecclesiastes Phoenix Pamphlet Poets
 1970: Beyond Howth Head. Dolmen Press
 1972: Lives. Oxford University Press
 1975: The Snow Party. Oxford University Press
 1977: In Their Element. Arts Council of Northern Ireland
 1979: Poems 1962-1978. Oxford University Press
 1981: Courtyards in Delft. Gallery Press
 1982: The Hunt By Night. Oxford University Press
 1985: Antarctica. Gallery Press
 1990: The Chinese Restaurant in Portrush: Selected Poems. Gallery Press
 1991: Selected Poems. Viking
 1992: The Yaddo Letter. Gallery Press
 1995: The Hudson Letter. Gallery Press
 1997: The Yellow Book. Gallery Press
 1999: Collected Poems. Gallery Press
 2001: Selected Poems. Penguin
 2005: Harbour Lights. Gallery Press (winner of the 2006 Irish Times Poetry Now Award)
 2007: Somewhere the Wave. Gallery Press
 2008: Life on Earth. Gallery Press (shortlisted for the 2009 International Griffin Poetry Prize; winner of the 2009 Irish Times Poetry Now Award)
 2010: An Autumn Wind. Gallery Press

Aistriúcháin
 1982: The Chimeras (a version of Les Chimères, by Nerval), Gallery Press
 1985: High Time (a version of Molière's A School for Husbands), Gallery Press
 1988: The Selected Poems of Philippe Jaccottet, Viking, 1988.
 1996: The Bacchae of Euripedes, and Racine's Phaedra, Gallery Press
 2002: Birds (a version of Oiseaux, by Saint-John Perse), Gallery Press
 2004: Cyrano de Bergerac. (A version of the play by Edmond Rostand), Gallery Press
 2005: Oedipus (A conflation of Sophocles' Oedipus the King and Oedipus at Colonus), Gallery Press
 2006: Adaptations (A collection of versions, rather than translations proper, from poets such as Pasolini, Juvenal, Bertolt Brecht, Paul Valéry, Baudelaire, Rilke and Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill), Gallery Press

Prós
 1996: Journalism: selected prose, 1970-1995. Ed. Terence Brown. Gallery Press

Foinsí 
 This is Poetry 2007 (Used as an Irish Leaving Certificate Poetry Book)
 This is Poetry 2008 (Used as an Irish Leaving Certificate Poetry Book)
 Poetry Now 2008 - Ordinary or Higher Level (Used as an Irish Leaving Certificate Poetry Book)
 Poetry Now 2009 - Ordinary or Higher Level (Used as an Irish Leaving Certificate Poetry Book)

Léitheoireacht Bhreise 
 Allen Randolph, Jody. Derek Mahon: A Comprehensive Bibliography. Irish University Review: Special Issue: Derek Mahon 24.1 (Spring/Summer 1994): 131-156.
 Haughton, Hugh. The Poetry of Derek Mahon. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007.

Tagairtí 

Mahon, Derek
Filí na hÉireann
Básanna in 2020