The contribution that Emyr Estyn Evans (E.E Evans) has made to Irish studies is not just realised in his works and academic achievements, it is also realised in the present and it will continue to be recognised in the future. As we all share in one way or another, the same proud feeling for our Irish heritage in all its forms from historical, geographically, orally and traditionally. The author will seek to discuss this in this essay; it is in large, partly attributed to the foundations laid and explorations undertaken by E. E Evans. Although a lot of Evans life and achievements were lived and realised in Ulster and Belfast his lasting legacy is felt as a whole on the island of Ireland. He believed in the nine counties of Ulster being just that rather than making aware or highlighting the divide that is North and South of the border. He once recalled how he saw the Irish heritage as a single theme with many variations (Hamlin, A, 1989).
In 1928 at the unbelievably young age of 23 years old Evans after having studied geography in Aberystwyth under the tutorship of H. J Fleure he was appointed the first lecturer in geography at the Queens University Belfast (QUB). It is from here that Evans laid the foundations for his studies in the Irish landscape and its people. Evans started his research of the Irish landscape with a hands on approach as he set out immediately at fieldwork and excavation. In order for Evans to gain a better understanding and clearer picture of the prehistoric Ireland a topic which interested him greatly because he believed we needed to understand this before we could evaluate the Ireland of that time. Fieldwork was to become one of Evans primary sources (Hamlin, A, 1989).
By carrying out fieldwork Evans...
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...he Association of American Geographers (1979), and honorary doctorates from UCD, TCD, NUI, QUB, Wales and Bowdoin College in Maine, New England. For his public work on many advisory and statutory bodies he was awarded the CBE in 1970. He was one of the leading scholars of his generation, an academic who gave diligently of his time and knowledge for public benefit, but who above all was a bright lecturer and considerate teacher, much loved by his students. Evans died in Belfast on August 12th, 1989 (Queen's University Belfast, 2008).
Qwyneth, Estyns wife said that “within her handsome husband there was a poet struggling to break free”. She said that he had “a poets way with words, a pulling of feeling into their arrangement and Irish poets love for the land, its shifting light and windy prospects and the history that was sunken into small hills” (Glassie, H, 2008).
Included within the anthology The Penguin Book of Irish Fiction,1[1] are the works of great Irish authors written from around three hundred years ago, until as recently as the last decade. Since one might expect to find in an anthology such as this only expressions and interpretations of Irish or European places, events or peoples, some included material could be quite surprising in its contrasting content. One such inclusion comes from the novel Black Robe,2[2] by Irish-born author Brian Moore. Leaving Ireland as a young man afforded Moore a chance to see a great deal of the world and in reflection afforded him a great diversity of setting and theme in his writings. And while his Black Robe may express little of Ireland itself, it expresses much of Moore in his exploration into evolving concepts of morality, faith, righteousness and the ever-changing human heart.
Johansen, Ib. ‘Shadows in a Black Mirror: Reflections on the Irish Fantastic from Sheridan Le Fanu to John Banville’. Nordic Irish Studies , Vol. 1, (2002).
However the poet is now attempting to build up such a perfect image of their possible life together, that it becomes ever more unrealistic. The answer from the lady whose heart he is trying to win over however, takes a far more realistic approach, and seems to try and bring him back down to earth. She makes him aware of the fact that time brings change, an...
The ancient mythology of Ireland is one of its’ greatest assets. The glorious, poetic tales of battles, super humans, demigods and heroes ranks among the best of ancient literature. The book of the Dun Cow, (Lebor na huidre), was written around 1100 and contains stories from the eighth and ninth centuries. The Book of Invasions, (Lebor Gabala), tells how the mythical ancestors of the Irish, the God-like Tuatha Dé Danann, wrestled Ireland (or Erin) from misshapen Fir Bolg in fantastic battles. The Fir Bolg were traditionally linked to Gaul and Britain so the analogy between them and the invading English was complete.
Fabricant, Carole. "Speaking for the Irish Nation: The Drapier, the Bishop, and the Problems of Colonial Representation." ELH (1999): 337-332. http://www.jstor.org.muncie.libproxy. ivytech.edu/stable/30032076.
Irish American Magazine, Aug.-Sept. 2009. Web. The Web. The Web. 06 May 2014.
O’Brien, Conor and Cruise. A Concise History of Ireland. Thames and Hudson; New York, 1985.
The British Parliamentary Papers on Ireland (BPPI) are an indispensable primary source for virtually every historian (and many non-historians) working in most fields of Irish history, and the history of Anglo-Irish relations, during the period of the Union (1801-1922). We have identified some 13,700 official publications relating to Ireland from the House of Commons[1] Sessional Indexes for this period, ranging in scale from short bills of a few pages and reports, to the massive social inquiries with volumes of minutes of evidence exemplified by the decennial censuses, the Poor Inquiry Commission (1836) and Devon Commission (1845) reports, each of which were multi-volume documents covering thousands of pages.
Moynahan, Julian. Anglo-Irish: The Literary Imagination in a Hyphenated Culture. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1995.
Moran, D.P. The Philosophy of Irish Ireland (2nd edition). Dublin: James Duffy and Co., 1905.
Over the centuries, poetry has endeavoured to communicate human emotion and ideas. Bruce Dawe’s grave Homecoming and the saddening Dulce et Decorum est by Wilfred Owen convey the trauma in war-stricken situations and the loss involved. Significantly differing from these sombre themes, William Shakespeare is able to convey his love and appreciation for a woman in My Mistress’ Eyes which conflicts with the self-hatred and resentment apparent in Jennifer Maiden’s stark Anorexia. Delving into personal emotions, a number of the poems express despair in conflict or, conversely, aim to portray an inner turmoil.
● “The Changing Faces of Ireland” Darmody, M. Tyrell, N. & Song, S. (2011) Springer
The lifetime of Hugh and Jimmy Jack, the sixty years or so running up to 1833, bore witness to many important events in the metamorphosis of Ireland from a rural Gaelic society to a modern colonial nation. To go back another seven decades, in 1704 penal laws were enacted “which decreed that a Catholic could not hold any office of state, nor stand for Parliament, vote, join the army or navy, practise at the bar nor....buy land” (Kee Ireland: A History 54). Thus, by 1778 a mere five per cent of the land of Ireland was owned by Catholics. The Irish people (most notably Catholics, though Protestants also) such as those portrayed in Translations suffered severe discrimination, poverty and hardship.
Kiberd, Declan. Inventing Ireland: The Literature of the Modern Nation. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1995.
McCann et al. Belfast: Institute of Irish Studies, 1994, 95-109).