Zozimus

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For the historian, see Zosimus.

Michael J. Moran (b. circa1794 - d. 3 April 1846), popularly known as Zozimus, was an Irish street rhymer. He was also known as the Blind Bard of the Liberties.


Michael Moran (aka Zozimus)

Background information
Birth name Michael Moran
Born circa 1794
irish flag Faddle Alley, Dublin Ireland
Died 3rd April, 1846
Occupation(s) Street Rhymer

Contents

[edit] Life

He was born in Faddle Alley off the Black Pits in Dublin's historic Liberties and lived in Dublin all his life. At two weeks old he was blinded by illness. However, he developed an astounding memory for verse and he made his living reciting poems, many of which he had composed himself, in his own lively, though semi-literate, manner. He was described by the song writer P.J. McCall as the last Gleeman of the Pale.[1]

He performed all over Dublin including at Essex Bridge, Wood Quay, Church Street, Dame Street, Capel Street, Sackville Street, Grafton Street, Henry Street, and Conciliation Hall. He began each oration with the verse:

Ye sons and daughters of Erin,

Gather round poor Zozimus, yer friend;
Listen boys, until yez hear
My charming song so dear.

[edit] His Name

He was given the nickname of Zozimus in reference to a recitation written by Bishop Coyle which he knew about Saint Mary of Egypt. According to legend had followed pilgrims to Jerusalem for no good purpose, and then, turning penitent on finding herself withheld from entering the temple by supernatural interference, fled to the desert and spent the remainder of her life in solitary penance. When she was at the point of death, God sent Bishop Zozimus to hear her confession, give her the last sacrament, and a lion to dig her grave. The poem has the intolerable cadence of the eighteenth century, but was so popular and so often called for that Moran was soon nicknamed Zozimus, and by that name is he remembered.[2]

Many of his ryhmes had religious themes, whereas others were political or recounted recent events. He is said to have worn a long, coarse, dark, frieze coat with a cape, the lower parts of the skirts being scalloped, an old sofr, greasy, brown beaver hat, corduroy trousers and Francis Street brogues, and ahe carried a long blackthorn stick secured to his wrist with a strap.'[3]

[edit] His Death

In his last few years, his voice grew weak and was costing him his only means to a livelihood. He ended up feeble and bedridden and on the 3rd of April, 1846 at his lodgings in 15 Patrick Street and he was buried in Glasnevin Cemetery two days later on Palm Sunday. He had feared graverobbers which were rife in Dublin at the time and had made arrangements to be buried in Glasnevin's Prospect Cemetery which was guarded day and night. His grave remained unmarked until the late 1960s when the famous traditional Irish musical band 'The Dublin City Ramblers' erected a tombstone in his memory. His grave is still intact in the "Poor Ground" of the cemetery and can be located using the co-ordinates AG 30 South, not far from Daniel O'Connell's burial site.

His epitaph reads:

My burying place is of no concern to me,

In the O'Connell circle[4] let it be,
As to my funeral, all pomp is vain,
Illustrious people does prefer it plain.
[5]

[edit] Recitations

Some of Zozimus's rhymes still survive, though now as songs, such as Saint Patrick was a Gentleman ("Saint Patrick was a gentleman, he came of decent people, In Dublin town he built a Church, and upon't put a steeple"), 'The Twangman', 'Ye Men of Sweet Liberties Hall' and The Finding of Moses.

In Praise of Potheen

O long life to the man who invented potheen -
Sure the Pope ought to make him a martyr -
If myself was this moment Victoria, the Queen,
I'd drink nothing but whiskey and wather.
[6]

'The Song of Zozimus

Gather round me boys, will yez
Gather round me?
And hear what I have to say,
Before ould Sally brings me
My bread and jug of tay.
I live in Faddle Alley,
Off Blackpits near the Combe;
With my poor wife called Sally,
In a narrow, dirty room.

Gather round me, and stop yer noise,
Gather round me till my tale is told;
Gather round me, ye girls and ye boys,
Till I tell yez stories of the days of old;
Gather round me, all ye ladies fair,
And ye gentlemen of renown;
Listen, listen, and to me repair,
Whilst I sing of beauteous Dublin town.
[7]

[edit] Legacy

  • A historic walking tour called the Zozimus Ghostly Experience of Dublin led by an actor playing Zozimus has been operating since 2006.[8]
  • A gallery in Dublin is named after him Gallery Zozimus
  • The magazine Zozimus, 1870-72[9]
  • Zoz, or the Irish Charivari, 1876-79[10]
  • The New York collection of stories, The Zozimus Papers (1889)[11]

[edit] References

  1. ^ [1]
  2. ^ [2]
  3. ^ Frank Harte, 'Songs of Dublin', (Gilbert, Dublin, 1978)
  4. ^ The O' Connell Circle is the burial place of [[Daniel O' Connell]] in Glasnevein cemetery
  5. ^ Frank Harte, 'Songs of Dublin', (Gilbert, Dublin, 1978)
  6. ^ [3]
  7. ^ [4]
  8. ^ [5]
  9. ^ [6]
  10. ^ [7]
  11. ^ [8]

[edit] Biographical and Other Texts

  • Gulielmus Dubliniensis Humoriensis, 'Memoir of the Great Original Zozimus (Michael Moran) the Celebrated Dublin Street Rhymer and Reciter, with His Songs, Sayings and Recitations, Carraig chapbooks, 1976, ISBN-10: 0902512110
  • Henry Boylan, A Dictionary of Irish Biography (Dublin, Gill and Macmillan, 1978)
  • W. B. Yeats, ‘Zozimus, Michael Moran, the Last of the Gleemen’, in Yeats’s 'Celtic Twilight', printed prev. as ‘The Last Gleeman’, from The National Observer, 1893
  • Georges Denis Zimmerman, 'Songs of Irish Rebellion: Irish Political Street Ballads and Rebel Songs, 1780-1900' (Dublin, Fourt Courts Press 2002)
  • Frank Harte, 'Songs of Dublin', (Gilbert, Dublin, 1978)
  • 'Memoir of the Great Zozimus', author unknown
  • 'Zozimus agus a Chairde' ('Zozimus and his Friends'), Clo Iar Chonnacta.
  • Jackson, John Wyse & Hector McDonnell, 'Irelands Other Poetry: Anonymous to Zozimus', Lilliput Press, 2007, ISBN: 978 184351 122 9

[edit] See Also

[edit] External Links