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 háit, chas sé le mic léinn eile a raibh an dúl chéine sa 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 ghéar ar thraidisiún na litríochta, tháinig Mac Mathúna amach as scleip Thuaisceart Éireann le glór foirmeálta, measartha agus go fiú srianta sa bhfilíocht. I ré véarsa saoir, scríobh sé go minic i bhfoirmeacha oidhreachta, le leagan fairsinge de pheintiméadar iambach curtha i bhfeidhm aige, cosúil leis an véarsa 'Sprung Foot' le Gerard Manley Hopkins. Bíonn rím ina chuid filíochta. Go fiú ní bhíonn an tírdhreach Éireannach riamh rófhada ón stíl chlasaiceach, 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 Seamus 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
Catagóir:Filí na hÉireann
Catagóir:Básanna in 2020