The Dawning of the Day is an old Irish air composed by the blind harpist Thomas Connellan

Thomas Connellan

Thomas Connellan was an Irish composer.Connellan was born about 1640/1645 at Cloonmahon, County Sligo. Both he and his brother, William Connellan became harpers...

 in the 17th Century.

An Irish-language song with this name (Fáinne Geal an Lae) was published by Edward Walsh (1805-1850) in 1847 in Irish Popular Songs and later translated into English as The Dawning of the Day. The melody of this song was used by Irish poet Patrick Kavanagh

Patrick Kavanagh

Patrick Kavanagh was an Irish poet and novelist. Regarded as one of the foremost poets of the 20th century, his best known works include the novel Tarry Flynn and the poems Raglan Road and The Great Hunger...

 for his poem, "On Raglan Road

On Raglan Road

"On Raglan Road" is a well-known Irish song from a poem written by Irish poet Patrick Kavanagh named after Raglan Road in Ballsbridge, Dublin. In the poem the poet, walking on a "quiet street", recalls a love affair he had with a young woman...

".

Raglan Road has been performed by a number of notable artists including: The Dubliners

The Dubliners

The Dubliners are an Irish folk band founded in 1962.-Formation and history:The Dubliners, initially known as "The Ronnie Drew Ballad Group", formed in 1962 and made a name for themselves playing regularly in O'Donoghue's Pub in Dublin...

, Sinéad O'Connor

Sinéad O'Connor

Sinéad Marie Bernadette O'Connor is an Irish singer-songwriter. She rose to fame in the late 1980s with her debut album The Lion and the Cobra and achieved worldwide success in 1990 with a cover of the song "Nothing Compares 2 U"....

, Luke Kelly

Luke Kelly

Luke Kelly was an Irish singer and folk musician from Dublin, Ireland, notable as a founding member of the band The Dubliners.-Early life:...

 and Mark Knopfler

Mark Knopfler

Mark Freuder Knopfler, OBE is a Scottish-born British guitarist, singer, songwriter, record producer and film score composer. He is best known as the lead guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter for the British rock band Dire Straits, which he co-founded in 1977...

.
This song also goes by the Irish name Fáinne Geal an Lae - literally "The bright ring of the day." It is often played as a march and is one of the first tunes that a student of Irish music will learn.

This is an Aisling

Aisling

The aisling , or vision poem, is a poetic genre that developed during the late 17th and 18th centuries in Irish language poetry...

 where the poet encounters a mysterious beautiful woman who symbolises Ireland - Cáit Ní Dhuibhir, Caitlín Ní Uallacháin

Kathleen Ni Houlihan

Kathleen Ni Houlihan is a mythical symbol and emblem of Irish nationalism found in literature and art, sometimes representing Ireland as a personified woman. The figure of Kathleen Ni Houlihan has also been invoked in nationalist Irish politics...

, Róisín Dubh etc. In this case, she upbraids him as a frivolous rake and points to the approaching dawn (of freedom from English rule). At the end of the Desmond Rebellions

Desmond Rebellions

The Desmond Rebellions occurred in 1569-1573 and 1579-1583 in the Irish province of Munster.They were rebellions by the Earl of Desmond – head of the FitzGerald dynasty in Munster – and his followers, the Geraldines and their allies against the threat of the extension of Elizabethan English...

 and Nine Years' War, Irish poets

Bard

In medieval Gaelic and British culture a bard was a professional poet, employed by a patron, such as a monarch or nobleman, to commemorate the patron's ancestors and to praise the patron's own activities.Originally a specific class of poet, contrasting with another class known as fili in Ireland...

 were facing their own elimination as a matter of deliberate English policy.

Lyrics

Notes:
Helen of Troy is used in the translation rather than the literal Venus

Venus (mythology)

Venus is a Roman goddess principally associated with love, beauty, sex,sexual seduction and fertility, who played a key role in many Roman religious festivals and myths...

simply for its rhythm

The final verse is a poetical rather than literal translation, which would be:

She said to me "go away

and let me go - you rake!

there from the south the light is coming

with the dawning of the day"

Irish

Maidin moch do ghabhas amach,

Ar bruach Locha Léin;

An Samhradh teacht's an chraobh len'ais,

Is ionrach te ón ngréin,

Ar thaisteal dom trí bhailte

poirt is bánta mine réidhe,

Cé a gheobhainn le máis ach an chúileann deas,

Le fáinne geal an lae.

Ní raibh bróg ná stoca, caidhp ná clóc;

Ar mo stóirin óg ón spéir,

Ach folt fionn órga sios go troigh,

Ag fás go barr an théir.

Bhí calán crúite aici ina glaic,

'S ar dhrúcht ba dheas a scéimh,

Do rug barr gean ar Bhéineas deas,

Le fáinne geal an lae.

Do shuigh an bhrideog sios le m'ais,

Ar bhrinse glas den fhéar,

Ag magadh léi bhios dá maiomh go pras,

Mar mhnaoi nach scarfainn léi.

'S é dúirt í liomsa, "imigh uaim,

Is scaoil ar siúl mé a réic",

Sin iad aneas na soilse ag teacht,

Le fáinne geal an lae.

English

One morning early I went out

On the shore of Lough Leinn

The leafy trees of summertime,

And the warm rays of the sun,

As I wandered through the townlands,

And the luscious grassy plains,

Who should I meet but a beautiful maid,

At the dawning of the day.

No cap or cloak this maiden wore

Her neck and feet were bare

Down to the grass in ringlets fell

Her glossy golden hair

A milking pail was in her hand

She was lovely, young and gay

Her beauty excelled even Helen of Troy

At the dawning of the day.

On a mossy bank I sat me down

With the maiden by my side

With gentle words I courted her

And asked her to be my bride

She turned and said, "Please go away,"

Then went on down the way

And the morning light was shining bright

At the dawning of the day.

translation by Na Casaidigh