Michael Davitt: The death of Michael Davitt at the age of 55 is a grievous loss, not just to his loved ones but to the country's artistic community. Davitt was one of those unique figures who acted as a bridge and conduit from one age to another.
Born in Cork in 1950, the third child in a family of four, he attended North Monastery school coming under the influence of Br S.E. Ó Cearbhaill while there. Davitt was no middle-class fíor-Ghael. His father, Joe, was a bus driver and his mother, Hilda, was from Stoke-on-Trent. But Davitt was to discover himself in Irish and mould his adult life according to the language's cadences.
His years at University College Cork, where he earned a degree in Celtic studies, were hugely important to his development as an artist. His student days provided Davitt with inspiration that lasted a lifetime.
The poet Seán Ó Ríordáin worked in the department, the pioneering influence of the musician Seán Ó Riada was ever present, and Prof Seán Ó Tuama offered Davitt profound intellectual stimulus.
All three were steeped in the Irish language, but each in his own way sought to modernise and to re-invigorate tradition - Ó Ríordáin through his poetry, Ó Riada through music and Ó Tuama through literary criticism.
It is no surprise then that Davitt embraced this trinity of creativity in his own time. Poetry was his calling and the Munster dialect his medium; he was an accomplished guitar player (famed for his renditions of Bob Dylan songs) and, as a critic, he was never afraid to ask hard questions; be it in private conversation, in print or as a television producer.
Davitt's undergraduate years at UCC were marked by the rise of civil rights movements in the United States, Northern Ireland and the Gaeltacht.
He belonged to a generation that was politicised by witnessing events and by participation in events. In terms of the Irish language, he could be described as being a practical idealist. He saw Ireland and the world in all its faults and failings but refused to surrender.
He helped organise a march against plans by the Department of Education, to close Scoil Dhún Chaoin, Co Kerry, a move that would surely have destroyed that Gaeltacht region.
The fight for the school marked a fundamental shift in the way in which Irish-speakers viewed themselves. The passivity of earlier generations was challenged by the activism of a newer one, and Davitt was to the fore of those acts of progressive cultural reclamation.
Artistic activism inspired Davitt to co-found a poetry magazine, INNTI, in 1970. It was a radical publication, fittingly, and one which offered poets a critically-informed forum.
For a poet to see a poem in print in INNTI was to have won recognition and an endorsement. Davitt encouraged contributors to be creative and imaginative, and those traits were central to his work with Gael-Linn's Slógadh festival in the 1970s and in RTÉ, where he worked as a television producer during the 1980s.
He was not a prolific poet and his first collection, Gleann ar Ghleann, did not appear until 1982. Thereafter, he published another five volumes. However, each of Davitt's books was an event, an occasion to be cherished.
Davitt's work is the gold-standard of contemporary poetry. Few can match the originality of his language or the heart-wrenching compassion he displayed in so many poems.
He is survived by his partner Moira Sweeney, his wife Máire and three children.
We are the poorer for his passing but his words will endure. His faith in creativity was not misplaced.
Born: April 20th, 1950; died, June 19th, 2005