Séafraidh Ó Donnchadha

Séafraidh Ó Donnchadha an Ghleanna anglicised as Geoffrey O’Donoghue of the Glens (c.1620–1678), was a seventeenth century Irish clan chief and Irish language poet. He was one of the Four Kerry Poets, a collective name given to four 17th and 18th century poets from County Kerry.

Early life He was the son of Tadhg Ó Donnchadha an Ghleanna, who was the chief of lands centered around Glenflesk which contained 20 ploughlands. His mother was Eibhlín, daughter of Tadhg Óg Ó Cruadhlaoich. The family seat was Killaha Castle which was built in the 15th century. It overlooked the Flesk valley and the river below.

Later, the poet acceded to the chieftaincy around 1643 following his father's death. A grateful poet left a vivid picture of life in Killaha Castle during the days of the Revolution when the poet extended an open-hearted welcome to his brother bards:

In 1652 Kilaha Castle was hit with newly employed cannon by General Ludlow’s army during the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland. The castle was partially destroyed.

Family and death The poet married first (a.1643) Siobhán, second daughter of Domhnall Mac Fínghin and Elizabeth Stephenson, and later Alice, eldest daughter of Dominick Coppinger of Cork and Mary Coppinger (née Comine). Burke's The Landed Gentry of Ireland refers to him. He had three sons Domhnall, Fionán, Séafraidh. A translation into English by John Minahane was published in 2008.

There is a memorial to Séafraidh Ó Donnchadha an Ghleanna and the other three of the Four Kerry Poets from the Early Modern period, Piaras Feiritéar, Aodhagan Ó Rathaille and Eoghan Rua Ó Súilleabháin in the form of a sculpture of a spéirbhean (a dream woman, symbol of Ireland) with the names of all four poets carved into it in Killarney town.

Another memorial to the Four Kerry Poets, originally intended for Killarney, can today be seen in Merrion Square, Dublin is the work of Jerome Connor. It is a seated figure of Éire, the warrior queen, and her harp, sad but strangely defiant.

There is also a memorial to the Four Kerry Poets at Muckross Abbey.