Irish poetry Essays

  • The Irish Troubles: Yeat's Poetry

    2033 Words  | 5 Pages

    The Irish Troubles: Yeat's Poetry William Butler Yeats, born in Dublin, Ireland [June 13, 1865], is considered by many to be one of the greatest English-language poets of the 20th century. The following exposition, grounded on the hypothesis that Yeats’ poetry was resolutely influenced by the political occurrences of that time period, will give biographical information, a recounting of the political upheaval during that period, specific poetry excerpts/critical analysis and validation of hypothesis

  • Ireland and Irish Nationalism in the Poetry of William Butler Yeats

    1790 Words  | 4 Pages

    Ireland and Irish Nationalism in the Poetry of William Butler Yeats William Butler Yeats was an Irish poet, a dramatist, and a prose writer - one of the greatest English-language poets of the twentieth century. (Yeats 1) His early poetry and drama acquired ideas from Irish fable and arcane study. (Eiermann 1) Yeats used the themes of nationalism, freedom from oppression, social division, and unity when writing about his country. Yeats, an Irish nationalist, used the three poems, “To Ireland in

  • How is Seamus Heaney's Irish Rural Heritage Reflected In his Poetry.

    851 Words  | 2 Pages

    How is Seamus Heaney's Irish Rural Heritage Reflected In his Poetry. Seamus Heaney was born and grew up in the Irish countryside on his fathers' farm. His father was still using the traditional farming methods, which had been handed down for generations, even though technology had developed greatly in the early twentieth century. Heaney learns a lot from his father about farming and how generations of his family have done it. Heaney takes a great interest in it and he admires his father's

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

    1092 Words  | 3 Pages

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

  • William Butler Yeats

    832 Words  | 2 Pages

    writers, William Butler Yeats served a long apprenticeship in the arts before his genius was fully developed. He did some of his greatest work after he was fifty. Yeats was born in Dublin, Ireland, on June 13, 1865. His father was a 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

  • st patrick and the druids

    779 Words  | 2 Pages

    "Bards", whose job it was to remember all of the history of the people, as well as to record current events. Because the Irish Celts did not rely on a written language, everything had to be memorized. Bards were poets and musicians, and used music and poetry to help them remember their history exactly. Because of this, Bards were highly respected members of the Irish society. The Irish believed that history was very important, for if you didn't remember what had happened in the past, you couldn't safely

  • Critical Opinions

    755 Words  | 2 Pages

    of the descriptions which have been most praised are marked by all the poverty and flatness, and indeed are peopled with the sort of comic and grotesque figures, of Flemish landscape (Moulton 630). Irish literary nationalists believe that the village of Auburn in The Deserted Village is the Irish village of Lissoy. ... ... middle of paper ... ...ened by touches of pathos; if sorrow disturb the heart, it is more than half consoled by the thought, that gentle or happy natures will find or make

  • French Minstrels

    756 Words  | 2 Pages

    of Europe.      Different countries had different names for minstrels. In Germany, they were called minnesingers. In France, they were known as troubadours and joungleurs. The Scandinavian minstrels were called skalds. The Irish

  • The Folly of Hypocrisy Exposed in Arms and the Man

    1251 Words  | 3 Pages

    Hypocrisy Exposed in Arms and the Man Satire is the "biting exposure of human folly which criticizes human conduct, and aims to correct it" (Di Yanni 839). Moliere was the French master of satiric comedy, and Shaw has been hailed likewise--as the "Irish Moliere." In Arms and the Man, Shaw demonstrates his genius for satire by exposing the incongruities of life and criticizing the contradictions in human character. Love and war are the main subjects of this play. Shaw addresses each, showing

  • Analysis of Seamus Heaney's North

    3770 Words  | 8 Pages

    when one identifies oneself with an ethnic party involved in conflict. It is my intention, then, in this essay, to document how Seamus Heaney’s reaction to violence in his homeland has affected his writings, with particular reference to the volume of poetry entitled “North”. This volume first appeared in 1975, a year after the collapse of the so-called Sunningdale Agreement, a power-sharing executive which came into being at the start of 1974 and had brought for many and certainly for Catholic nationalists

  • Miranda in Jennifer Johnston's Fool’s Sanctuary

    2810 Words  | 6 Pages

    The Irish Psyche as Portrayed through Miranda in Jennifer Johnston's Fool’s Sanctuary In her novel Fool’s Sanctuary, Jennifer Johnston reflects on the Irish psyche and gives an insight into some of the factors that appear to create such a unique culture. This aspect of the novel is explored particularly through the novel’s protagonist, Miranda. She acts like a symbol, the embodiment of the typical Irish person. Miranda’s characteristics, attitudes and values are shaped by the influences of her

  • 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

  • To the Rose Upon the Rood of Time

    947 Words  | 2 Pages

    upon Greek mythology. Here he incorporates traditional Irish folklore. To the Rose Upon the Rood of Time perhaps explains to some extent his preoccupation with the spiritual and mystical world. The poem is about the narrator (presumably Yeats himself, as most of his work of this type is written from his point of view, rather than a žctional character's) and his disdain for contemporary life, resulting in his wistful longing to be part of the Irish legends, to be something more than common man. Yeats

  • Comparing Robert Frost's Out Out and Seamus Heany's Mid Term Break

    1583 Words  | 4 Pages

    Comparing Robert Frost's Out Out and Seamus Heany's Mid Term Break Works Cited Missing The subject of both poems is the untimely death of young people in tragic accidents rather than sickness. Strangely both boys are killed by machinery, the boy in "Out, Out-' by a mechanical saw and the boy in "Mid-Term Break" by a car. Both poems describe the reactions of the families to the deaths each of the families reacting quite differently. Both poems talk about the deaths of young boys who have

  • The Sidhe, the Tuatha de Danaan, and the Fairies in Yeats's Early Works

    2681 Words  | 6 Pages

    turmoil for the Irish, and Yeats became involved with Irish nationalism as well. His desire to express this nationalism was given voice through a Celtic literature that he hoped would inform and inspire his countrymen. Falling in love with a beautiful firebrand Irish patriot (who also had a taste for the occult) only served to further ignite the Celtic flames of imagination in Yeats. References to supernatural Celtic beings and the Irish spirit world abound in Yeats's early poetry. To make these

  • The Significance of the Beginning Chapter of Frank McCourts Angelas Ashes

    1471 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Significance of the Beginning Chapter of Frank McCourts Angelas Ashes He is just another poor Irish boy. His story is of poverty, emotional struggles, and growing up. Have we not read about that already? Everyone thinks their childhood is unique, but do we not all have basically the same experiences? Frank McCourt experiences events similar to other children, but that fact is forgotten once the reader begins Angela’s Ashes. Actual reality becomes less important than this little boy’s perception

  • The Phenomenon of Aliens

    700 Words  | 2 Pages

    or a really good fiber which I believe is one of the main flaws that discredit fair-spoken alien abductions. The other case of an Irish man whom told a story of him being paralyzed. Was just a typical story anyone could make up. As with the last case that occur in Long Island. But what was in support of the alien abduction position is she was paralyzed like the Irish man, but this story sounds pretty creative. I have realized these cases don’t have much detail which would lead to a more believable

  • Essay on themes in Things Fall Apart and Second Coming

    857 Words  | 2 Pages

    and mindless rituals. Achebe reveals the affects of the colonial infiltration on African societies. Through his novel he examines how colonization disturbed the unity and balance of a once strong cultural society. William Butler Yeats, a renowned Irish poet, responded similarly to Achebe during World War II by writing the "Second Coming". Yeats wrote his poem in response to the rise of fascism and communism which threatened to destroy Europe. Yeats believed that history revolved in two thousand-year

  • Comparing James Joyce's The Dead and Dubliners

    1954 Words  | 4 Pages

    East, and from here through The Snapper make a unit contrasting with the previous one), with another way of picturing what the Irish take to be their insularity and closedness, their ludicrous longing for union with the supposedly superior but alien culture of "the continent", and especially that confusion and torment about sexuality which derives so directly from the Irish church's inability to reconcile desire as sin and desire as life-affirming. A fact (at least according to a major recent survey):

  • Stephen Dedalus in James Joyce's A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

    3181 Words  | 7 Pages

    for an Independent Ireland. Joyce brings Irish politics in as a major theme for Stephen Dedalus to address. Stephen often Idolizes or admonishes different characters in Ireland's political landscape. Among these revolutionaries were the IRB (Irish Republican Brotherhood), Charles Steward Parnell, The revolutionaries of the 1916 Easter Rising and Sinn Fein. In the same year A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man was published, between 1000 and 1500 Irish patriots tried to capture the town of Dublin