James Casey (poet-priest)

Father James Kevin Casey (1824–1909) was an Irish priest in Ballygar and Athleague and principal of St John's seminary in Sligo.[1] He composed many didactic poems which were popular and published in collections.[1] Their subjects included materialism, devotion, the Irish language and, most especially, temperance.[1] An example is a verse of The Toper and his Bottle,[1]

I curse the day I met you, John,
I curse the luckless hour
I tasted first your flavoured cup,
And felt its magic power.

Father Casey was an inspiration for the "Poet of the Pick", Jem Casey, who was a character in Flann O'Brien's satirical novel At Swim-Two-Birds.[2] Jem Casey was a labourer who wrote "pomes" such as The Workingman's Friend,[3]

When money's tight and is hard to get
And your horse has also ran,
When all you have is a heap of debt –
A PINT OF PLAIN IS YOUR ONLY MAN.

References
  1. McTiernan, John C. (1989), "Canon James K. Casey" (PDF), The Corran Herald (17)
  2. Foley, John (2005), "The Historical Origins of Flann O'Brien's Jem Casey", Notes and Queries, 52 (1): 97–99, doi:10.1093/notesj/gji140, ISSN 0029-3970
  3. Carson, Niall (2017), "Irish Working-Class Poetry 1900–1960", A History of Irish Working-Class Writing, Cambridge University Press, pp. 253–254, ISBN 9781107149687


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