Early Irish literature Essays

  • Analysis: Pagan Survivals by Tomás Ó Cathasaigh

    1013 Words  | 3 Pages

    evidence of early Irish narrative,” is primarily concerned with elucidating the approaches used by scholars in the study of the literature. The article begins with a discussion concerning the relationship between pre-existing traditions and Christianity’s entrance into Ireland. Ó Cathasaigh questions W.G. Wood-Martin’s assessment that the influence each entity had on the other is easily disentangled. However, he remarks that Ireland has the benefit of a large body of literature from an early medieval

  • Irish Literature And Rebellion

    1454 Words  | 3 Pages

    Irish Literature and Rebellion In the heart of every Irishman hides a poet, burning with nationalistic passion for his beloved Emerald Isle. It is this same passion, which for centuries, Great Britain has attempted to snuff out of the Catholics of Ireland with tyrannical policies and the hegemony of the Protestant religion. Catholics were treated like second-class citizens in their native home. Centuries of oppression churned in the hearts of the Irish and came to a boil in the writings and literature

  • Flann O'Brien, Dickens and Joyce: Form, Identity and Colonial Influences

    800 Words  | 2 Pages

    traditions and also the broader Irish literary tradition in which it belongs. Seamus Deane refers to Ireland as a "Strange Country" and indeed O'Brien's own narrator recalls the words of his father: " . . . he would mention Parnell with the customers and say that Ireland was a queer country." (7) Such a concurrence indicates to a degree the peculiar nature of the Irish situation with regard to theoretical post-colonial models. There is a temptation to see all Irish work since the revival in

  • Comparing Theories Of W. B. Yeats Leda And The Swan

    1361 Words  | 3 Pages

    post-colonial nation. Undoubtedly, Ireland is a post-colonial nation (where ‘post-’colonial refers to any consequence of colonial contact) with a body of literary work that may be read productively as post-colonial. Although colonialism, as a subject for Irish criticism and theory, has been tentatively broached (for example, see Celtic Revivals (1985) by

  • Lessons Learned in Kate O’Brien’s Land of Spices

    2254 Words  | 5 Pages

    language is a reminder that this book was written with the rich and cultured person in mind and becomes aggravating to this unenlightened one. In reading the excerpt from The Land of Spices by Kate O’Brien contained in “The Penguin Book of Irish Literature”, this reader is at once aware of the descriptive words with which Helen (the eventual Reverend Mother of the novel) depicts her father, Henry Archer. She presents him in the passage as a man who is “very beautiful…different from other men…with

  • The Relevance of Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels

    2244 Words  | 5 Pages

    366, I honestly never knew very much about the oppression of Ireland from England. I knew that there had always been trouble between the two countries, but I never knew of the strong feelings that have been expressed about England in many Irish works of literature. After reading works from this course I began to see Swift’s emphasis on politics, his use of gross humor and his ideas of fitting into society in both the excerpt found ... ... middle of paper ... ...ire has helped me to examine my own

  • Liberalism in Early American Literature

    1112 Words  | 3 Pages

    Liberalism is the foundation of America. This ideology is found in the country’s early fledgling literature and in the very document that made America free. Both the selected works of Phyllis Wheatley and Thomas Jefferson are actively working for the ideology of liberalism, which is a political ideology that is against any system that threatens the freedom of the individual and his natural rights and prevents the individual from becoming all the individual can be, specifically the importance of human

  • Impact of World War One on American Literature

    1820 Words  | 4 Pages

    The Impact of World War One on American Literature As people mature, their beliefs evolve; as a child it is easy to be guided by adults, to believe in adults. As adults, people have their own beliefs. It is the period in the middle that is the hardest. As children begin to grow, they begin to push limits and question authority. The modernist period in American literature is comparable to those teenage years. In the early stages of American literature, America looked to her mother England for

  • W.B. Yeats: Nationalistic Reflection in His Poetry

    1092 Words  | 3 Pages

    Butler Yeats was an Irish poet, dramatist, and prose writer who was one of most influential poets of the Twentieth century. His talents were celebrated by scholars and activists and, in 1923, Yeats received the Nobel Prize for literature. Through his poetry, Yeats confronted the reality that felt was Oppression and Heartship for himself and his Irish brethren. Armed only with a pen, parchment, and a dissident tongue, Yeats helped to ignite the Powderkeg that was Ireland in the early twentieth century

  • blerghhh

    1109 Words  | 3 Pages

    essay explores the limitations of our knowledge of the Celtic religion, and ancient Irish culture, it details how we know what we know about Celtic beliefs, discusses the evolution of Irish culture from the early third century, up until the sixteenth century, and looks at the specific myths that have managed to survive to present day. Though much is lost to history, we do still know a considerable amount about Irish Celtic cultures and practices. The records that we do have come from a variety of secondary

  • Thomas Clarke Research Paper

    859 Words  | 2 Pages

    Clarke have had a profound effect on Irish culture and literature. As previously stated Clarke was never held in the same regard as Pearse, Plunkett, MacDonagh or Connolly, however, his influence was just as influential as theirs. One example of this is seen in the Proclamation. The language used in the Proclamation is certainly influenced by Clarke. It clearly uses the elocution of the Fenian Brotherhood, an organisation who promoted Gaelic traditions of literature, music, dance and sport. It also refers

  • Satire of a Modest Proposal

    1346 Words  | 3 Pages

    misfortune. The entire proposal stands as a satire in itself; an analogy paralleling the tyrannical attitude of the British toward their Irish counterparts and the use of babies as an economic commodity. In short, Swift suggests that Irish parents are owned by the British, and babies are property of their parents, therefore, England has a right to consume the Irish babies. Swift uses this syllogism to show the British that their despotic reign in Ireland has left the miserable nation in poverty and

  • Luck of the Irish

    1532 Words  | 4 Pages

    Bay or the Scottish Isle of Arran , largest inhabited island of the County Donegal and with 7 square miles of land is 2nd of all inhabited Irish islands. It has a permanent population of around 650, summer pop of 1000. Settled in pre-Celtic times, an old fort and several middens-ancient landfills survive as reminders. And 62% of the population is native Irish speakers and the land did not have clean, piped water until mid-1970’s and it only had 47 business telephone lines until 1986 when an automatic

  • Ancient Celtic Mythology: A Vision of Gods and Goddesses

    2077 Words  | 5 Pages

    find when and from where the myths originated and how true the storytellers, or narrators, really are. The Celtic gods and goddesses, in such an early mythological time defined as " 'a period when beings lived or events happened such as one no longer sees in our days' " (Sjoestedt 1994: 2), require much analysis. A diverse collection of documents, literature and archaeology pave the way to our understanding of the ancient mythology of the Celts. However, these traces lack a sense of closure, leaving

  • William Butler Yeats

    832 Words  | 2 Pages

    lawyer-turned-Irish painter. In 1867 the family followed him to London and settled in Bedford Park. In 1881 they returned to Dublin, where Yeats studied the Metropolitan School of Art. Yeats spent much time with his grandparents in County Sligo in northwestern Ireland. The scenery and folklore of this region greatly influenced Yeats' work. For a while he studied art, but during the 1890s he became active in London's literary life and helped found the Rhymers' Club. Yeats' early work was not especially

  • EFFECTS OF THE GAELIC LEAGUE

    1103 Words  | 3 Pages

    EFFECTS OF THE GAELIC LEAGUE There has been discussion and problems in Ireland over the Irish language, culture, and Ireland’s economic development. Language and culture are among the most important elements of Irish heritage. One contribution that helped solve some of those problems was The Gaelic League. The Gaelic League had many effects in Ireland including reviving the Irish language, improving schools, making the social life of Ireland better and having less discrimination among other countries

  • Neoclassicism

    716 Words  | 2 Pages

    British literature refers to literature associated with the United Kingdom, Isle of Man and Channel Islands. This includes literatures from England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. By far the largest part of British literature has been written in the English language, with English literature developing into a global phenomenon, because of its use in the former colonies of Britain. In addition the story of British literature involves writings in Anglo-Norman, Anglo Saxon, Cornish, Welsh and

  • Brian Friel's Translations

    3152 Words  | 7 Pages

    Years of concerted anglicizing of the Irish by the British early in the 19th century led to the widespread fall into disuse of the native Gaelic tongue. National schools teaching exclusively in English began to open during the Survey of Ireland, and English culture encroached rapidly into Ireland. William Butler Yeats and Douglas Hyde write from the end of this period; a time in which daily Gaelic use was restricted to remote areas of the nation, and both are Irish nationalists. While they agree that

  • Turning and Turning: The Evolution of the Poetry of W.B. Yeats

    1023 Words  | 3 Pages

    he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his contributions to English and Irish literature. Along with Ezra Pound and T.S. Elliot, he is one of the most famous canonical Modernist poets: a genre of literature characterized by the use of free verse, concision, and a more musical sound to their writings (Surette). Born into a well-off Irish family, William Butler Yeats became accustomed to order and regularity at an early age. Being from a highly aristocratic family, Yeats would have been strongly

  • James Joyce Research Paper

    1311 Words  | 3 Pages

    James Augustine Aloysius Joyce is well-known for his many extraordinary Literature pieces. Still, to this day he is celebrated throughout Ireland as being one of the most influential figures in Irish history (Abcarian et al. 1378). Among his literary works, the most recognized and famous literature pieces were "Dubliners," "A Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man," Ulysses," and "Finnegans Wake" (Dubinboston). Very early in life, Joyce struggled with his identity and self-importance (Azizmohammadi)