The Fanny Parnell Poetry Project will return to Old City Hall in Bordentown, New Jersey, on Saturday, February 1, 2025. This two-part, free event honors the 19th-century Irish poet and revolutionary, Fanny Parnell, who had a strong connection to Bordentown. The event marks its fourth year and is scheduled for St. Brigid’s Day, a day dedicated to the Irish saint known for her association with poetry and beer.
The first session of the day, “Poetry, Politics, and Ms. Parnell,” will begin at 3:00 p.m. This voice theater performance will bring to life Parnell’s politically charged poems, including selections from her 1879 work The Hovels of Ireland. Written in Bordentown, the book aimed to support the Irish Home Rule movement led by Parnell’s brother, Charles Stewart Parnell. It explores Ireland’s social and economic inequalities.
The event will take place at Old City Hall, located at 11 Crosswicks Street in Bordentown, New Jersey.
Fanny Parnell’s poems tackle the themes of inequality and call for action. One of her most famous works, “Hold the Harvest,” has been described as “The Marseillaise” of the Irish peasant.
Parnell’s connection to Bordentown comes through her mother, Adelia Stewart Parnell, whose father, Charles Stewart, was a celebrated naval commander during the War of 1812 and a resident of Bordentown. Fanny Parnell used her family’s estate as a base to raise funds for the Irish cause. She died unexpectedly of heart failure in Bordentown in 1882 at the age of 33.
