About James
Orr
1798 Irish Rebellion Study
James Orr (1770-1816)
James Orr lived in the village of Ballycarry in the hills above Carrickfergus, County Antrim. He earned his living weaving cloth at a large handloom which stood in the cottage that he shared with his parents, and he is the best known of the Weaver Poets. Instead of sending him to the village school Orr’s father taught him how to weave and also how to read and write. Orr seems to have been very clever and educated himself further by reading many books. He knew the Bible, Shakespeare’s plays, the poetry of Robert Burns and also works of science, philosophy and politics, including The Rights of Man, by the American revolutionary writer Thomas Paine.
Orr was a deep thinker, and as a young man he wanted to change the world and get rid of the poverty and injustice he saw all around him. He was attracted to join the United Irishmen because he supported their aim to create a more independent and democratic Ireland where all people would be equally valued, whether they were Catholic, Church of Ireland or, like him, Presbyterian. While still in his early twenties Orr wrote some political articles for the United Irishmen’s newspaper, the Northern Star and came into contact with a number of the leaders of the movement, including a young Belfast Presbyterian named Henry Joy McCracken. Orr was also an enthusiastic member of a writing and discussion group that met at the home of the poet Samuel Thomson.
Encouraged by the success of revolutions in America (1776) and France (1789) Orr took part in the United Irishmen’s Rebellion of 1798 and marched to the Battle of Antrim on 7th June that year with a troop of men from Ballycarry. The Rebellion failed and Orr had to go on the run for a time in the Slemish district of County Antrim with McCracken and others. McCracken was eventually caught and hanged but Orr managed to stay in hiding. A reward of £50 (worth several thousand today) was offered for his capture but in the spring of 1799 he escaped as a migrant to America. He only stayed a few months because the British government introduced an amnesty that allowed many wanted men to return home.
Orr was extremely relieved to be able to come back to Ballycarry and he spent the rest of his life there weaving and writing poetry, much of which was published in a new newspaper, the Belfast Commercial Chronicle. He also had two books of verse published, one in 1804 and another after his death in 1817. Some of his best poetry covers his experience of the Rebellion and his time as a fugitive. He continued to speak out on behalf of the poor and oppressed in poems and essays for newspapers and magazines. People said of him that he was generally a quiet man, slow to speak, but that when he was talking on a subject that he felt was important his eyes lit up and he became very engaged and passionate. After his death his friends and admirers contributed money to build a very large and impressive monument for his grave.
The Wanderer
by James Orr
The Discussion
The Poem
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Glossary
wha’s - who’s
axt – asked
wan’rers – wanderers
lassie - girls
caur’d – scared
tap – top
wad - would
haet – ‘a whit’ the least thing (nothing at all could be heard)
frien – friend
tost – harassed and knocked about
fore and aft – backwards and forwards
mair lown – quieter
quo – to speak (said)
herd – cattleherd or shepherd
aboon – above
laft – loft (the upper floor)
wi – with
wight – a small person
wham – whom
aft - often
han an purse – hand and money
wadna – would not
weel – well
sic – such
roun – round
gaun – going to
waes me – woe is me (Dear me!)
wat – wet
gie’s – give us
wi – with
hae – (expressive - sentence tag) similar to the modern North Antrim ‘hi’
sic - such
takin – situation
weel I wat – well I know
mak – make
fae - from
picquet – a small patrol of soldiers
stap – stop
cauld – cold
gae till’t - off you go
tak – take
awee – a little while
The Wanderer
"WHA's there?" she ax't. The wan'rers rap

Against the pane the lassie scaur'd:

The blast that bray'd on Slimiss tap

Wad hardly let a haet be heard.

"A frien'," he cried, "for common crimes

'Tost thro' the country fore and aft" -

"Mair lown," quo' she - thir's woefu' times! -
'The herd's aboon me on the laft."
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"I call'd," he whisper'd, "wi' a wight

"Wham aft I've help'd wi' han' an' purse;

"He wadna let me stay a' night -

"Weel! sic a heart's a greater curse:

"But Leezie's gentler. Hark that hail!

'This piercin' night is rougher far" -

"Come roun'," she said, "an' shun the gale,

"I'm gaun to slip aside the bar."
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Waes me! how wat ye're? Gie's your hat,
An' dry your face wi' something - hae.

In sic a takin', weel I wat;

I wad preserve my greatest fae:

We'll mak' nae fire; the picquet bauld

Might see the light, an' may be stap;

But I'll sit up: my bed's no cauld,

Gae till't awee an' tak' a nap.
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James Orr, Bard of Ballycarry
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Literary Analysis
This poem, written in three stanzas, takes the form of a dramatic dialogue in Ulster-Scots between an unnamed, desperate stranger and a young woman in a cottage deep in the country, whom the stranger begs for shelter late one stormy night. Few background details are given about the circumstances but the poem seems based on Orr’s experiences as a man on the run. “Slimiss” is actually the hill of Slemish, in a wild moorland district of County Antrim, where Orr, McCracken and some more of the United Irishmen hid after their defeat at the Battle of Antrim. It was an area where many people secretly supported what Orr and his friends had fought for but it was dangerous for anyone to offer assistance. Punishments for rebellion or for giving aid to rebels were extremely severe and included hanging or flogging.
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The poem contrasts the light, cosiness and comfort inside the cottage where the ‘lassie’ is with the miserable, insecure conditions experienced by the wanderer outside. He mentions the noise of the ‘hail’, the ‘piercin’’ night cold and the eerie braying of the wind. He seems to be playing on the girl’s sympathy by drawing attention to the gale, and by describing how someone he had previously helped with money and in practical ways – ‘wi’ han’ an’ purse’ – had refused to bring him in for the night.
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The poem hints that the wanderer and the girl are known to each other. He claims to be ‘a frien’’, and he uses her name, ‘Leezie’. He says simply that he is wanted for ‘common crimes’ which she doesn’t interpret to mean robbery or murder, or she certainly would not let him in. The reader senses that she knows he is a rebel fugitive and that he has her support. In fact, she tells him to speak quietly in order not to the wake the shepherd who, she warns, is sleeping above her in the loft. There is an intense atmosphere of secrecy and danger created by the whispered dialogue, the fear that someone might hear, and the young woman’s decision to ‘slip aside the bar’ to let the wanderer in, which of course means she has put herself also at risk from the authorities who are pursuing him. In fact, she becomes a collaborator with him, not only by offering a warm bed, but in deliberately ensuring that they do not attract the attention of ‘the picquet bauld’ – the bold patrolling officer – with a fire. Clearly she would have needed courage to offer him such help. Elsewhere, trust and relationships in this society seem in many instances to have broken down: a former friend is too afraid to assist the wanderer, and the shepherd in the loft might perhaps inform on him if he got to hear of the secret visit.
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Exactly who the young woman is, what is the nature of her relationship to the wanderer, and what happened after his night visit we are not told. The poem fascinates by leaving so much unsaid. It invites us to go on thinking about the incident and to imagine further developments in the story.
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Orr wrote the poem to be sung to the tune of a moving popular song ‘Mary’s Dream’, which is about a girl who is visited in a dream by the ghost of a dead lover. With its employment of local language and its tale of a mysterious stranger who requests hospitality in the dead of night it also has much in common with traditional folk ballads.