Dallán Forgaill

Dallán Forgaill (fl. 600), early poet known to legend and possible author of the Amra Choluim Cille, he was chief of the bardic poets of Ireland. According to the tradition preserved in Tromdámh Guaire (also known as Imtheacht na Tromdáimhe, Proceedings of the Great Bardic Assembly), he formulated the rights of hospitality of the bardic order. Those claims were later advanced at the court of King Guaire of Connacht by his successor, Senchán Torpéist.

Fabled poet of 6th-century Ireland, perhaps the first to whom the title of any poem may be ascribed. He is thought to have penned Amra Choluimb Chille (c.580), a poem in praise of St Colum Cille. Some narratives describe him as a ‘Bard of All Ireland’. Dallán Forgaill may be identified with Eochaid Éigeas and may be the model for Forgoll, both of whom contend with Mongán. The poet may have been the model for W. B. Yeats's fictional Forgael in the drama Shadowy Waters (1906).