17/11/2025
The Official Opening of "To Be Dreamless" is on Saturday, November 29th at 2pm, which includes the screening of the film “Patrick Joseph O’Connor” and readings of the poet’s work. You can visit the exhibition in the Eden Gallery, Cavan County Museum, Ballyjamesduff, Co. Cavan A82 YP70 from 10am to 5pm Tuesdays to Saturdays.
Pádraic Fiacc (born Patrick Joseph O'Connor, 15 April 1924 – 21 January 2019) was a powerful and often controversial Irish poet whose work vividly captured the social and political turmoil of Northern Ireland. A member of Aosdána, the Irish Arts Academy, he is remembered for his raw, unflinching poetic style that diverged from traditional Irish lyricism.
Born in Belfast, his parents, Bernard and Annie O'Connor, originated from Arva in Co. Cavan. His family was forced to flee Lisburn due to anti-Catholic violence, and he spent part of his childhood with his maternal grandparents in the Markets area of Belfast. In 1929, the family emigrated to New York City. These early experiences of displacement, poverty, and cultural tension deeply influenced his worldview and writing.
After school, Fiacc intended to become a priest, however, he left the seminary in 1946, disillusioned with the church and longing for a freer life. He returned to Belfast, where he began publishing poetry and was included in the 1948 volume New Irish Poets. His early mentor was Padraic Colum, who encouraged him to explore Irish history and identity in his work.
Fiacc’s style was experimental and often unsettling, using violent imagery and fragmented forms to reflect the chaos of his environment. His work has been compared to continental poets like Rimbaud and Celan, and he was influenced by both American idioms and Gaelic poetic traditions. He won the AE Memorial Award and published several collections, including By the Black Stream (1969), The Wearing of the Black (1974), and Missa Terriblis (1986).
Despite periods of marginalisation by the literary establishment, Fiacc remained a vital voice in Irish poetry, often described as “the elephant at the literary tea party” for his uncompromising style. Scholars note that Fiacc’s work has been “critically neglected” despite its importance to Northern Irish poetry. His poetry challenges dominant narratives and assumptions about Irish poetic tradition, especially regarding the relationship between violence, history, and language.
While Fiacc didn’t write extensively about Arva itself, the legacy of his family’s roots in the town —described as “well-off shopkeepers” from Pound Street and Lower Main Street—offered him a contrast to the hardship and chaos he later experienced in New York and Belfast. His poetry frequently explores fractured identity, and the rural lineage from Arva may have contributed to his search for spiritual and cultural grounding. Though not always explicit, Fiacc’s work includes natural imagery—birds, fields, and elemental forces—that echo the landscape of rural Ireland, possibly inspired by stories or memories of Arva. Padraic Fiacc’s roots in Arva add a rich layer to understanding his identity and influences. His Cavan connections suggest a strong rural and commercial heritage that contrasts with Fiacc’s later urban and often gritty poetic themes.
