From RTE:

POET MICHAEL HARTNETT DIES AGED 58

The poet Michael Hartnett has died of kidney failure in Dublin; he was 58. A native of Newcastlewest in County Limerick, he was the eldest of eight children and spent several years in England after leaving school. On his return, he wrote, "A Farewell To English", in which he devoted himself to the Irish language and writing.

Truly sad news, of the premature death of such an important voice in Irish poetry.

Hartnett did indeed, btwn 1975 & 1985, chose to devote himself to writing only in Irish, as he announced in "A Farewell to English." Both before & after that period, however, he published in English as well. His poems appear in many anthologies of modern Irish verse.

His poetry was often sad & angry @ once, tho always because he strove mightily for a view of life that was broader, happier, & more perceptive than seemed to be the common lot. In "Dán Do Rosemary," below, that stance is beautifully illustrated - as is his careful attention to certain traditions of form & reference from much older folk poetry, including the wistful image of lovers fleeing unhappiness & to a new land (sometimes Spain, sometimes America).

As an saol lofa seo
gabhaim leat leithscéal:
as an easpa airgid atá
ár síorsheilg thar pháirc
ár bpósta mar Fhionn
gan trua gan chion
ag bagairt ar do shacs-chroí bog ceanúil.
Gabhaim leat leithscéal
as an teach cloch-chlaonta
as fallaí de chré is de dheora déanta -
do dheora boga:
an clog leat ag cogarnach
ag insint bréag,
an teallach ag titum as a chéile.
Téim chugat ar mo leithscéal féin:
M'anam tuathalach, m'aigne i gcéin,
An aois i ngar dom, le dán i ngleic,
i mo gheocach ca tóbhairne ag ól is ag reic.
Thréig mé an Béarla
ach leatsa níor thug mé cúl:
caithfidh mé mo cheird
a ghearradh as coill úr:
mar tá mo gharrán Béarla
crann-nochta seasc:
ach tá súil agam go bhfuil
lá do shonais ag teacht.
Cuirfidh mé síoda do mhianta ort lá
Aimseoimid beirt ár Meiriceá.

Poem for Rosemary
trans., Gabriel Fitzmaurice