From two poems in particular that were included by Alexander McDowell in Orr's Posthumous Works (1817) the reader may infer much about the poetic persona Orr developed in his established position as the Bard of Ballycarry. His ‘Elegy Written in the Ruins of a Country School-House’ (1817) is a dignified meditation which echoes ‘Elegy Written in a Country Church Yard’ (1751) by Thomas Gray (1716–71), and Goldsmith's ‘The Deserted Village’ (1770) in that it reveals Orr taking a backward glance at lost lives and unfulfilled promise. As he reflects on his youth he recalls the conservatism of so many among the parents of his peers who refused to permit their off spring to learn ‘elocution's grace, / Or grammar's art’ (l.13) and who rejected the enlightened system of the Belfast educationist David Manson (1726–92). Instead they wished the children drilled as they themselves had been, only in ‘the Catechism, / The Youth's Companion, andthe Holy Word’ (ll. 17–18). Orr's concern now is for the poor of therising generation, not only of Ballycarry but of ‘Erin’, whom he wishes to acquire dignity and enfranchisement through a full and liberal education. While he is the poet of the village, therefore, Orr is also consciously speaking to and on behalf of the nation. Here he positions himself a little apart as an observer.