Leaving Cert graduates of a certain age will remember The Planterâs Daughter, Austin Clarkeâs poem about a woman whose appearance caused the men who had seen her to drink deep and be silent. Less well known, except to some singers and musicians, is The Palatineâs Daughter, although the two had a lot in common.
The latter was also of striking winsomeness, and if not from the big house, also came with land and money. Crucially, unlike the Planterâs Daughter, she was not unattainable, at least to the song narrator who meets her one day while roving âthrough the groves of Ballyseedyâ. By the final verse, he has won both her and the dowry. This may be why the song is much jauntier than the poem, being set to that lively traditional dance-beat of the Czech Republic and Kerry, the polka.