Irish Literary Revival
Encyclopedia
The Irish Literary Revival (also called the Irish Literary Renaissance) was a flowering of Irish literary talent in the late 19th and early 20th century.

Forerunners

The literary movement was associated with a revival of interest in Ireland's Gaelic heritage and the growth of Irish nationalism
Irish nationalism
Irish nationalism manifests itself in political and social movements and in sentiment inspired by a love for Irish culture, language and history, and as a sense of pride in Ireland and in the Irish people...

 from the middle of the 19th century. The poetry of James Clarence Mangan
James Clarence Mangan
James Clarence Mangan, born James Mangan was an Irish poet.-Early life:Mangan was the son of a former hedge school teacher who took over a grocery business and eventually became bankrupt....

 and Samuel Ferguson
Samuel Ferguson
Sir Samuel Ferguson was an Irish poet, barrister, antiquarian, artist and public servant. Perhaps the most important Ulster-Scot poet of the 19th century, because of his interest in Irish mythology and early Irish history he can be seen as a forerunner of William Butler Yeats and the other poets...

 and Standish James O'Grady
Standish James O'Grady
Standish James O'Grady was an Irish author, journalist, and historian. His father was the Reverend Thomas O'Grady, the scholarly Church of Ireland minister of Castletown Berehaven, County Cork, and his mother Susanna Doe...

's History of Ireland: Heroic Period were influential in shaping the minds of the following generations. Others who contributed to the build-up of national consciousness during the 19th century included poet and writer George Sigerson
George Sigerson
George Sigerson was an Irish physician, scientist, writer, politician and poet. He was a leading light in the Irish Literary Revival of the late 19th century in Ireland.-Doctor and Scientist:...

, antiquarians and music collectors such as George Petrie and the Joyce brothers, editors such as Matthew Russell (of the Irish Monthly
Irish Monthly
The Irish Monthly was an Irish Catholic magazine founded in Dublin, Ireland in July 1873. Until 1920 it had the sub-title A Magazine of General Literature. It was founded by Rev. Matthew Russell, S.J., , who was the editor for almost forty years from 1873...

), scholars such as John O'Donovan
John O'Donovan (scholar)
John O'Donovan , from Atateemore, in the parish of Kilcolumb, County Kilkenny, and educated at Hunt's Academy, Waterford, was an Irish language scholar from Ireland.-Life:...

 and Eugene O'Curry
Eugene O'Curry
-Life:He was born at Doonaha, near Carrigaholt, County Clare, the son of Eoghan Ó Comhraí, a farmer, and his wife Cáit. Eoghan had spent some time as a travelling pedlar and had developed an interest in Irish folklore and music. Unusually for someone of his background, he appears to have been...

 and nationalists such as Charles Kickham
Charles Kickham
Charles Joseph Kickham was an Irish revolutionary, novelist, poet, journalist and one of the most prominent members of the Irish Republican Brotherhood.-Early life:...

 and John O'Leary. In 1882 the Gaelic Union established the Gaelic Journal
Gaelic Journal
-External links:*...

(Irisleabhar na Gaedhilge), the first important bilingual Irish periodical with the help of Douglas Hyde
Douglas Hyde
Douglas Hyde , known as An Craoibhín Aoibhinn , was an Irish scholar of the Irish language who served as the first President of Ireland from 1938 to 1945...

, with David Comyn as editor.

Developments

William Butler Yeats
William Butler Yeats
William Butler Yeats was an Irish poet and playwright, and one of the foremost figures of 20th century literature. A pillar of both the Irish and British literary establishments, in his later years he served as an Irish Senator for two terms...

's Fairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry was published in 1888. He had been assisted by Douglas Hyde
Douglas Hyde
Douglas Hyde , known as An Craoibhín Aoibhinn , was an Irish scholar of the Irish language who served as the first President of Ireland from 1938 to 1945...

, whose Beside the Fire, a collection of folklore in Irish, was published in 1890.
In London in 1892 Yeats, T. W. Rolleston
T. W. Rolleston
Thomas William Hazen Rolleston was an Irish writer, literary figure and translator, known as a poet but publishing over a wide range of literary and political topics...

, and Charles Gavan Duffy
Charles Gavan Duffy
Additional Reading*, Allen & Unwin, 1973.*John Mitchel, A Cause Too Many, Aidan Hegarty, Camlane Press.*Thomas Davis, The Thinker and Teacher, Arthur Griffith, M.H. Gill & Son 1922....

 set up the Irish Literary Society. In Dublin Yeats founded the National Literary Society in the same year, with Hyde as first President. Meanwhile the more radical Arthur Griffith
Arthur Griffith
Arthur Griffith was the founder and third leader of Sinn Féin. He served as President of Dáil Éireann from January to August 1922, and was head of the Irish delegation at the negotiations in London that produced the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921.-Early life:...

 and William Rooney
William Rooney
William Rooney was an Irish nationalist, journalist, poet and Gaelic revivalist. Along with Arthur Griffith and Denis Devereux he founded the Celtic Literary Society, and with Griffith founded the first Cumann na nGaedheal....

 were active in the Irish Fireside Club and went on to found the Leinster Literary Society.

In 1893 Hyde, Eugene O'Growney
Eugene O'Growney
Eugene O'Growney , was an Irish priest and scholar....

 and Eoin MacNeill
Eoin MacNeill
Eoin MacNeill was an Irish scholar, nationalist, revolutionary and politician. MacNeill is regarded as the father of the modern study of early Irish medieval history. He was a co-founder of the Gaelic League, to preserve Irish language and culture, going on to establish the Irish Volunteers...

 founded the Gaelic League, with Hyde becoming its first President. It was set up to encourage the preservation Irish culture, its music, dances, and language. In that year appeared Hyde's The Love Songs of Connacht, which inspired Yeats, John Millington Synge
John Millington Synge
Edmund John Millington Synge was an Irish playwright, poet, prose writer, and collector of folklore. He was a key figure in the Irish Literary Revival and was one of the cofounders of the Abbey Theatre...

 and Lady Gregory.

Thomas A. Finlay
Thomas A. Finlay
Thomas A. Finlay, S. J. was an Irish Catholic priest, economist, philosopher and editor.He founded and edited the magazines Lyceum, New Ireland Review and Studies...

 founded the New Ireland Review
New Ireland Review
The New Ireland Review was an Irish literary magazine founded in Dublin, Ireland in 1894. It was founded by Rev. Thomas A. Finlay, S.J., who was the editor until 1911, when it was replaced by the journal Studies....

, a literary magazine, in 1894, which he edited until 1911, when it was replaced by Studies. Many of the leading literary lights of the time contributed to it.

In 1897 Hyde became editor, with T. W. Rolleston and Charles Gavan Duffy, of the New Irish Library, a series of books on Irish history and literature issued by the London publisher, Fisher Unwin. Two years later Hyde published his Literary history of Ireland.

The Irish Literary Theatre
Irish Literary Theatre
The Irish Literary Theatre was a precursor to the Abbey Theatre in Dublin, Ireland. Founded by W. B. Yeats, Lady Gregory, George Moore and Edward Martyn in 1899, this theatre presented a number of plays by the founders and other writers, including Padraic Colum....

 was founded by Yeats, Lady Gregory and Edward Martyn
Edward Martyn
Edward Martyn was an Irish political and cultural activist and playwright.-Early life:Martyn was the eldest son of John Martyn of Tullira and Annie Mary Josephine Smyth of Masonbrook, Loughrea, both in County Galway. He succeeded his father upon John's death in 1860...

 in 1899, with assistance from George Moore
George Moore (novelist)
George Augustus Moore was an Irish novelist, short-story writer, poet, art critic, memoirist and dramatist. Moore came from a Roman Catholic landed family who lived at Moore Hall in Carra, County Mayo. He originally wanted to be a painter, and studied art in Paris during the 1870s...

. The Fay brothers formed W. G. Fay's Irish National Dramatic Company
W. G. Fay's Irish National Dramatic Company
W. G. Fay's Irish National Dramatic Company was a precursor to Dublin's Abbey Theatre.It was founded towards the end of the 19th century by two Irish brothers, William and Frank Fay. William had worked for a time in the 1890s with a touring company in Ireland, Scotland and Wales while Frank was...

, focused on the development of Irish acting talent. The company produced works by Seumas O'Cuisin
James Cousins
James Henry Cousins was an Irish writer, playwright, actor, critic, editor, teacher and poet. He used several pseudonyms including Mac Oisín and the Hindu name Jayaram....

, Fred Ryan
Frederick Ryan
Frederick Ryan , was an Irish, Dublin-born playwright, journalist and socialist.-Career:Ryan became secretary of the Irish National Theatre Society in 1902. There he would create realistic satire with the play The Laying of the Foundations...

 and Yeats.

Around the turn of the century Patrick S. Dinneen
Patrick S. Dinneen
Patrick Stephen Dinneen was an Irish lexicographer and historian.Dinneen was born near Rathmore, County Kerry. He was educated at Shrone and Meentogues National Schools and at St. Brendan's College in Killarney...

 published editions of Geoffrey Keating
Geoffrey Keating
Seathrún Céitinn, known in English as Geoffrey Keating, was a 17th century Irish Roman Catholic priest, poet and historian. He was born in County Tipperary c. 1569, and died c. 1644...

's Foras Feasa ar Éirinn, poems by Aogán Ó Rathaille
Aogán Ó Rathaille
Aodhagán Ó Rathaille, also spelt Aogán Ó Rathaille or Anglicised as Egan O'Rahilly , was an Irish language poet. He is credited with creating the first fully developed Aisling poem.-Early life:...

 and Piaras Feiritéar
Piaras Feiritéar
Piaras Feiritéar was an Irish poet.Feiritéar was a Norman-Irish lord of Baile an Fheirtéaraigh in Corca Dhuibhne. Although best known as a poet, it was his role as a leader of the nascent Catholic Irish community of Norman- and Gaelic- Irish origin which ultimately lead to his execution in...

, and other works for the Irish Texts Society
Irish Texts Society
The Irish Texts Society was founded in 1898 to promote the study of Irish literature. The Society publishes annotated editions of texts in Irish with English translations and related commentaries....

 and the Gaelic League. He then went on to write the first novel in Irish, while continuing to work on his great Irish-English dictionary. On Easter Sunday 1900 Yeat's friend and muse, Maud Gonne
Maud Gonne
Maud Gonne MacBride was an English-born Irish revolutionary, feminist and actress, best remembered for her turbulent relationship with William Butler Yeats. Of Anglo-Irish stock and birth, she was won over to Irish nationalism by the plight of evicted people in the Land Wars...

, founded Inghinidhe na hÉireann (English: Daughters of Ireland), a revolutionary women’s society which included writers Alice Furlong
Alice Furlong
Alice Furlong was an Irish writer, poet and political activist who also worked on Irish publications with Douglas Hyde .-Life:...

, Annie Egan, Ethna Carbery
Ethna Carbery
Ethna Carbery was an Irish journalist, writer and poet. She is best-known for the ballad Roddy McCorley and the Song of Ciabhán; the latter was set to music by Ivor Gurney. Along with Alice Milligan she published two Irish nationalist magazines.-Life:Anna Johnston was born in Ballymena, County...

 and Sinéad O'Flanagan (later wife of Éamon de Valera
Éamon de Valera
Éamon de Valera was one of the dominant political figures in twentieth century Ireland, serving as head of government of the Irish Free State and head of government and head of state of Ireland...

), and the actors Máire Quinn and Sara Allgood
Sara Allgood
-Biography:Allgood was born in Dublin, Ireland. Her sister was actress Maire O'Neill.Allgood began her acting career at the Abbey Theatre and was in the opening of the Irish National Theatre Society, appearing in many of their plays all over Britain...

. The Irish-language newspaper Banba was founded in 1901 with Tadhg Ó Donnchadha
Tadhg Ó Donnchadha
Tadhg Ó Donnchadha was an Irish writer, poet, editor, translator and a prominent member of the Gaelic League and the Gaelic Athletic Association....

 as editor. The following year he also became editor of the Gaelic Journal.

In 1903 Yeats, Lady Gregory, George Russell ("AE")
George William Russell
George William Russell who wrote under the pseudonym Æ , was an Irish nationalist, writer, editor, critic, poet, and painter. He was also a mystical writer, and centre of a group of followers of theosophy in Dublin, for many years.-Organisor:Russell was born in Lurgan, County Armagh...

, Edward Martyn, and Synge founded the Irish National Theatre Society with funding from Annie Horniman
Annie Horniman
Annie Elizabeth Fredericka Horniman CH was an English theatre patron and manager. She established the Abbey Theatre in Dublin and founded the first regional repertory theatre company in Britain at the Gaiety Theatre in Manchester. She encouraged the work of new writers and playwrights, including...

; Fred Ryan was secretary. The Abbey Theatre
Abbey Theatre
The Abbey Theatre , also known as the National Theatre of Ireland , is a theatre located in Dublin, Ireland. The Abbey first opened its doors to the public on 27 December 1904. Despite losing its original building to a fire in 1951, it has remained active to the present day...

 was opened by this society in Abbey Street in 1904. Yeats' brother Jack painted portraits of all the leading figures in the society for the foyer, while Sarah Purser
Sarah Purser
-Early life:She was born in Kingstown in County Dublin, and raised in Dungarvan, County Waterford. She was educated in Switzerland and afterwards studied at the Metropolitan School of Art in Dublin and in Paris at the Académie Julian.-Artist:...

 designed stained glass for the same space. The new Abbey Theatre found great popular success. It staged many plays by eminent or soon-to-be eminent authors, including Yeats, Lady Gregory, Moore, Martyn, Padraic Colum
Padraic Colum
Padraic Colum was an Irish poet, novelist, dramatist, biographer, playwright, children's author and collector of folklore. He was one of the leading figures of the Celtic Revival.-Early life:...

, George Bernard Shaw
George Bernard Shaw
George Bernard Shaw was an Irish playwright and a co-founder of the London School of Economics. Although his first profitable writing was music and literary criticism, in which capacity he wrote many highly articulate pieces of journalism, his main talent was for drama, and he wrote more than 60...

, Oliver St John Gogarty, F. R. Higgins
F. R. Higgins
Frederick Robert Higgins was an Irish poet and theatre director.-Early years:Higgins was born on the west coast of Ireland in Foxford, which is located in County Mayo...

, Thomas MacDonagh
Thomas MacDonagh
Thomas MacDonagh was an Irish nationalist, poet, playwright, and a leader of the 1916 Easter Rising.-Early life:MacDonagh was born in Cloughjordan, County Tipperary...

, Lord Dunsany, T. C. Murray
T. C. Murray
Thomas Cornelius Murray was an Irish dramatist who was closely associated with the Abbey Theatre. He was born in Macroom, County Cork, and educated at St Patrick's Teacher Training College in Drumcondra, Dublin. He worked as a schoolteacher and in 1900 was appointed headmaster of the national...

, James Cousins
James Cousins
James Henry Cousins was an Irish writer, playwright, actor, critic, editor, teacher and poet. He used several pseudonyms including Mac Oisín and the Hindu name Jayaram....

 and Lennox Robinson
Lennox Robinson
Esmé Stuart Lennox Robinson was an Irish dramatist, poet and theatre producer and director who was involved with the Abbey Theatre....

.

In 1904 John Eglinton started the journal Dana, to which Fred Ryan and Oliver St John Gogarty contributed.

In 1906 the publishing house of Maunsel and Company was founded by Stephen Gwynn, Joseph Maunsel Hone
Joseph Maunsel Hone
Joseph Maunsel Hone was an Irish writer, literary historian, critic and biographer of W. B. Yeats. He was one of the notable group of writers associated with the literary and theatre movement in Ireland in the early 20th century....

 and George Roberts
George Roberts (publisher)
George Roberts was an Irish actor, poet and publisher.He was born in Belfast and became an actor with the Abbey Theatre, Dublin. He co-founded the publishing house of Maunsel and Company with Stephen Gwynn and Joseph Maunsel Hone. This firm published works by W. B...

 to publish Irish writers. Its first publication was Rush-light by Joseph Campbell
Joseph Campbell (poet)
Joseph Campbell was an Irish poet and lyricist. He wrote under the Gaelicised version of his name Seosamh Mac Cathmhaoil...

.

The Irish Review was founded in 1910 by poet and writer James Stephens
James Stephens (author)
James Stephens was an Irish novelist and poet.James Stephens wrote many retellings of Irish myths and fairy tales. His retellings are marked by a rare combination of humor and lyricism...

, with David Houston, Thomas MacDonagh, Padraic and Mary Colum
Mary Colum
Mary Colum was an Irish literary critic and author.Mary Gunning Maguire was born in Collooney, County Sligo, daughter of Charles Maguire, Constable and Catherine Gunning who died in 1895 to be reared by her grandmother Catherine in Ballisodare, Co. Sligo. She attended boarding school in St...

 and Joseph Mary Plunkett
Joseph Mary Plunkett
Joseph Mary Plunkett was an Irish nationalist, poet, journalist, and a leader of the 1916 Easter Rising.-Background:...

. Plunkett published a collection of poems, The Circle and The Sword, the same year.

Fellow travellers

The movement co-existed with the growth of interest in the Irish language (Gaelic League), the Home Rule movement, the Gaelic Athletic Association
Gaelic Athletic Association
The Gaelic Athletic Association is an amateur Irish and international cultural and sporting organisation focused primarily on promoting Gaelic games, which include the traditional Irish sports of hurling, camogie, Gaelic football, handball and rounders...

, and other cultural organisations. It spawned a number of books and magazines and poetry by lesser-known artists such as Alice Furlong, Ethna Carbery, Dora Sigerson Shorter
Dora Sigerson Shorter
Dora Sigerson was an Irish poet, who after her marriage in 1895 wrote under the name Dora Sigerson Shorter.She was born in Dublin, Ireland, the daughter of George Sigerson, a surgeon and writer, and Hester also a writer. She was a major figure of the Irish Literary Revival, publishing many...

 and Alice Milligan
Alice Milligan
Alice Milligan was an Irish nationalist poet and writer, active in the Gaelic League.-Life:She was born and raised a Protestant in Gortmore, near Omagh, County Tyrone. Milligan's father was the writer Seaton Milligan, antiquary and member of the RIA...

 around the turn of the century. These were followed by the likes of George Roberts
George Roberts (publisher)
George Roberts was an Irish actor, poet and publisher.He was born in Belfast and became an actor with the Abbey Theatre, Dublin. He co-founded the publishing house of Maunsel and Company with Stephen Gwynn and Joseph Maunsel Hone. This firm published works by W. B...

, Katharine Tynan
Katharine Tynan
Katharine Tynan was an Irish-born writer, known mainly for her novels and poetry. After her marriage in 1898 to the writer and barrister Henry Albert Hinkson she usually wrote under the name Katharine Tynan Hinkson...

, Thomas MacDonagh, Seán O'Casey
Seán O'Casey
Seán O'Casey was an Irish dramatist and memoirist. A committed socialist, he was the first Irish playwright of note to write about the Dublin working classes.- Early life:...

, Seamus O'Sullivan
Seamus O'Sullivan
Seumas or Seamus O'Sullivan, real name James Sullivan Starkey, was an Irish poet and editor of The Dublin Magazine. He was born in Dublin and spent his adult life in the suburb of Rathgar...

 and others up to the 1930s. It was complemented by developments in the arts world, which included artists such as Sarah Purser, Grace Gifford
Grace Gifford
Grace Evelyn Gifford Plunkett was an Irish artist and cartoonist who was active in the Republican movement...

, Estella Solomons
Estella Solomons
Estella Francis Solomons was one of the leading Irish artists of her generation.-Life:She was born in Dublin, Ireland, the daughter of Maurice Solomons , an optician whose practice in 19 Nassau St., Dublin, is mentioned in Ulysses. Her family, the Solomons, who came to Dublin from England in 1824,...

 and Beatrice Elvery
Beatrice Elvery
Beatrice Moss Elvery was an Irish stained-glass artist and painter.She was the second daughter of a Dublin businessman whose family had originated from Spain where they were silk merchants. Her family owned the original Elverys Sports store in Wicklow Street, Dublin...

.

Sources

  • Foster, R. F. (1997). W. B. Yeats: A Life, Vol. I: The Apprentice Mage. New York: Oxford UP
    Oxford University Press
    Oxford University Press is the largest university press in the world. It is a department of the University of Oxford and is governed by a group of 15 academics appointed by the Vice-Chancellor known as the Delegates of the Press. They are headed by the Secretary to the Delegates, who serves as...

    . ISBN 0-19-288085-3.
  • Foster, R. F. (2003). W. B. Yeats: A Life, Vol. II: The Arch-Poet 1915–1939. New York: Oxford UP. ISBN 0-19-818465-4.
  • Ernest Boyd. Ireland’s Literary Renaissance. New York: John Lane (1916; revised edition; 1923)

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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