The Fiddler of Dooney

The Fiddler of Dooney

When I play my fiddle in Dooney,
Folk dance like a wave of the sea;
My cousin is a 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 to 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 for 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 written in 1899.[1]

Immortalised in the poem, Dooney Rock is a small hill overlooking Lough Gill in County Sligo. The rock is located just outside Sligo itself.[2][3] The prestigious instrumental competition held in Sligo and known at the Fiddler of Dooney Competition is also named after the poem.[4]

Winners of the Fiddler of Dooney Competition 2016

Junior Winners
Senior Winners

See also

In his LP Branduardi canta Yeats (1986), Angelo Branduardi sings an italian version of this poem.

References

  1. ↑ Yeats, W.B.(1992). Yeats Collected Poems. Vintage Classics, pp. ix
  2. ↑ http://www.sligotourism.ie/attractions/dooney-rock/
  3. ↑ http://www.poetryarchive.org/poem/fiddler-dooney
  4. ↑ Fiddler of Dooney Competition Sligo Town Branch CCÉ Homepage
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