Pádraic Colum (8 December 1881 – 11 January 1972) was an Irish writer. He wrote poetry, long made-up stories, plays, true stories about the lives of people who made big changes in the world, and stories for children. He also wrote down stories other people told, if the stories were so old that nobody knew who told them the very first time. He was one of the Irish writers who were part of the Irish Literary Revival. This was a time when many very good Irish writers all wrote lots of stories and poems that were full of big important thoughts. It happened near the end of the 19th century and near the start of the 20th century.
Early life
Padraic Colum was born in County Longford, Ireland. When he was born, his name was Patrick Collumb. He changed it later. He was born in a place where poor people could live if they did not have homes of their own. He was born there because his father worked there. His father's name was also Patrick Collumb. His mother's name was Susan Collumb. Patrick and Susan Collumb had seven more children after they had Padraic Colum.
In 1889, Patrick Collumb lost his job at the place where poor people could live. He left Ireland. He did not take Susan and Padraic and his other children with him. He went to Pike's Peak, a mountain which is in Colorado in the United States. He looked for gold there. Lots of other people also went to Pike's Peak to look for gold. Patrick Collumb did not find much gold. In 1892, he came back to Ireland. He got a job at a place where trains stopped. This job was at Glasthule, Ireland, which is near Dublin. Padraic went to school in Dublin. In 1897, Susan Collumb died. Most of the family left Dublin. They moved back to Longford. Padraic did not go to Longford. He kept going to school in Dublin. One of his brothers also went to school in Dublin.
When Padraic Colum was seventeen years old, he finished going to school. He got a job writing down where many trains went and what they carried to each place. He worked at this job until 1903. While Padraic worked at this job, he also started to write stories. Padraic read a lot of books about Ireland at the National Library of Ireland. Padraic made friends with a writer called James Joyce at the library. Padraic Colum and James Joyce were always friends after that. Padraic was also friends with a man called Herbert Hughes. Herbert studied music. Herbert and Padraic talked to a lot of people who knew old folk songs that people in Ireland had sung for many years. Herbert and Padraic wrote down the songs. Herbert wrote down the music and Padraic wrote down the words. Some of the songs were in the Irish language, so Padraic wrote English words for them. He did this so that more people would sing them. An American man named Thomas Kelly gave Padraic money to go to school some more. Padraic went to school for five years at University College Dublin with this money.
At that time, most Irish people could not speak the Irish language. Padraic joined a group of people who wanted more Irish people to learn how to speak the Irish language. They called themselves the Gaelic League, because the name of the Irish language is "Gaelic".
Early poetry and plays
Padraic wrote his first play in 1903. He called it Broken Soil. Later he changed some of the words in the play. He called the changed play The Fiddler's House. A group of actors who called themselves W. G. Fay's Irish National Dramatic Company acted out this play. In 1905 Padraic wrote a play called The Land. The same group of actors acted out that play. Many people said that the actors and the play were very good. Later, these actors were part of the Abbey Theatre. This was a place where Irish people who wrote plays could have their plays acted out. At that time, many people did not think that Irish people could write very well. The Abbey Theatre helped to show these people that Irish people could write good plays. Padraic helped to run the Abbey Theatre.
Padraic wrote a play called The Saxon Shillin'''. This play said that Irish people should not fight in the English army. At the time Padraic wrote the play, England ruled Ireland, and Padraic did not like that. The Gaelic League gave Padraic a prize because they liked that play. Padraic also wrote other plays. The Abbey Theatre showed some of Padraic's plays. One of those plays was called Thomas Muskerry. Padraic wrote it in 1910.