Irish literature

For Modern literature originally written in the Irish language, seeModern literature in Irish.

Irish literatureis literature written in theIrish,Latin,EnglishandScots(Ulster Scots) languages on the island ofIreland.The earliest recorded Irish writing dates from back in the 7th century and was produced by monks writing in both Latin and Early Irish, including religious texts, poetry and mythological tales. There is a large surviving body ofIrish mythological writing,including tales such asThe TáinandMad King Sweeny.

Several notable Irish Writers. Clockwise from top left:Jonathan Swift;W. B. Yeats;Oscar Wilde;James Joyce;Colm Toibín;Seamus Heaney;Samuel Beckett;G.B. Shaw

The English language was introduced to Ireland in the 13th century, following theNorman invasion of Ireland.The 16th and 17th centuries saw a major expansion of English power across Ireland, further expanding the presence ofearly Modern Englishspeakers. One theory is that in the latter part of the nineteenth century saw a rapid replacement of Irish by English in the greater part of the country, largely due to theGreat Famineand the subsequent decimation of the Irish population by starvation and emigration.Another theory among modern scholars is that far from being a sudden cataclysmic event the language shift was well underway much earlierAt the end of the century, however, cultural nationalism displayed a new energy, marked by theGaelic Revival(which encouraged a modern literature in Irish) and more generally by theIrish Literary Revival.

What is often termed theAnglo-Irishliterary traditionalthough many if not most of these authors are of Irish ethnicity, not English, in some cases they have both ancestries such as Sheridan. Irish-English literature found its first great exponents inRichard HeadandJonathan Swift,followed byLaurence Sterne,Oliver Goldsmith,andRichard Brinsley Sheridan.Other Irish writers in English include Mary Tighe,Thady Connellan,Arthur Murphy,John O'Keeffe,Nicholas Brady,Sydney, Lady Morgan,Edmond Malone,Hugh Kelly,Matthew Concanen,Anne Donnellan,Samuel Madden,Henry Brooke (writer),Mary Barber (poet)andThomas Dermody.

The descendants of Scottish settlers in Ulster maintained an Ulster-Scots writing tradition, having an especially strong tradition of rhyming poetry.

At the end of the 19th century and throughout the 20th century, Irish literature in English benefited from the work of such authors asOscar Wilde,Bram Stoker,James Joyce,W. B. Yeats,Samuel Beckett,Elizabeth Bowen,C. S. Lewis,Kate O'BrienandGeorge Bernard Shaw,not all of whom stayed in Ireland.

Though English was the dominant Irish literary language in the 20th century, works of high quality were also produced inIrish.A pioneering modernist writer in Irish wasPádraic Ó Conaire,and traditional life was given vigorous expression in a series of autobiographies by native Irish speakers from the west coast, exemplified by the work ofTomás Ó CriomhthainandPeig Sayers.Máiréad Ní Ghrádawrote numerous successful plays often influenced byBertolt Brecht,as well as the first translation ofPeter Pan,Tír na Deo,andManannán,the first Irish languageScience fictionbook. The outstanding modernist prose writer in Irish wasMáirtín Ó Cadhain,and prominent poets includedCaitlín Maude,Máirtín Ó Direáin,Seán Ó RíordáinandMáire Mhac an tSaoi.Prominent bilingual writers includedBrendan Behan(who wrote poetry and a play in Irish) andFlann O'Brien.Two novels by O'Brien,At Swim Two BirdsandThe Third Policeman,are considered early examples of postmodern fiction, but he also wrote a satirical novel in Irish calledAn Béal Bocht(translated asThe Poor Mouth).Liam O'Flaherty,who gained fame as a writer in English, also published a book of short stories in Irish (Dúil). Irish-language literature has maintained its vitality into the 21st century.

Most attention has been given to Irish writers who wrote in English and who were at the forefront of the modernist movement, notablyJames Joyce,whose novelUlyssesis considered one of the most influential works of the century. The playwrightSamuel Beckett,in addition to a large amount of prose fiction, wrote a number of important plays, includingWaiting for Godot.Several Irish writers have excelled atshort storywriting, in particularEdna O'Brien,Frank O'Connor,Lord DunsanyandWilliam Trevor.Other notable Irish writers from the twentieth century include poetsEavan BolandandPatrick Kavanagh,dramatistsTom MurphyandBrian Friel,and novelistsEdna O'BrienandJohn McGahern.In the late twentieth century, Irish poets, especially those from Northern Ireland, came to prominence includingDerek Mahon,Medbh McGuckian,John Montague,Seamus HeaneyandPaul Muldoon.Influential works of writing continue to emerge in Northern Ireland with huge success such asAnna Burns,Sinéad Morrissey,andLisa McGee.

Well-known Irish writers in English in the twenty-first century includeEdna O'Brien,Colum McCann,Anne Enright,Roddy Doyle,Moya Cannon,Sebastian Barry,Colm Toibín,andJohn Banville,all of whom have all won major awards. Younger writers includeSinéad Gleeson,Paul Murray,Anna Burns,Billy O'Callaghan,Kevin Barry,Emma Donoghue,Donal Ryan,Sally Rooney,William Wall,Marina Carr,andMartin McDonagh.

The Middle Ages: 500–1500

Main article:Early Irish literature

Irish writing from the 8th century

Irish has one of the oldest vernacular literatures in western Europe (afterGreekandLatin).

The Irish became fully literate with the arrival of Christianity in the fifth century. Before that time a simple writing system known as “ogham”was used for inscriptions. These inscriptions are mostly simple "x son of y" statements. The introduction of Latin led to the adaptation of the Latin alphabet to the Irish language and the rise of a small literate class, both clerical and lay.

The earliest works of literature produced in Ireland are bySaint Patrick;hisConfessioandEpistola,both in Latin.The earliest literature in Irish consisted of lyric poetry and prose sagas set in the distant past. The earliest poetry, composed in the 6th century, illustrates a vivid religious faith or describes the world of nature, and was sometimes written in the margins of illuminated manuscripts. "The Blackbird ofBelfast Lough",a fragment of syllabic verse probably dating from the 9th century, has inspired reinterpretations and translations in modern times byJohn Montague,John Hewitt,Seamus Heaney,Ciaran Carson,andThomas Kinsella,as well as a version into modern Irish by Tomás Ó Floinn.

TheBook of Armaghis a 9th-centuryilluminated manuscriptwritten mainly in Latin, containing early texts relating toSt Patrickand some of the oldest surviving specimens ofOld Irish.It is one of the earliest manuscripts produced by an insular church to contain a near complete copy of the New Testament. The manuscript was the work of a scribe namedFerdomnach of Armagh(died 845 or 846). Ferdomnach wrote the first part of the book in 807 or 808, for Patrick's heir (comarba) Torbach. It was one of the symbols of the office for theArchbishop of Armagh.

TheAnnals of Ulster(Irish:Annála Uladh) cover years fromAD431 to AD 1540 and were compiled in the territory of what is nowNorthern Ireland:entries up to AD 1489 were compiled in the late 15th century by the scribe Ruaidhrí Ó Luinín, under his patronCathal Óg Mac Maghnusaon the island of Belle Isle onLough Erne.TheUlster Cyclewritten in the 12th century, is a body of medieval Irish heroic legends and sagas of the traditional heroes of theUlaidin what is now easternUlsterand northernLeinster,particularly countiesArmagh,DownandLouth.The stories are written inOldandMiddle Irish,mostly in prose, interspersed with occasional verse passages. The language of the earliest stories is dateable to the 8th century, and events and characters are referred to in poems dating to the 7th.

After the Old Irish period, there is a vast range of poetry from medieval and Renaissance times. By degrees the Irish created a classical tradition in their own language. Verse remained the main vehicle of literary expression, and by the 12th century questions of form and style had been essentially settled, with little change until the 17th century.

Medieval Irish writers also created an extensive literature in Latin: thisHiberno-Latinliterature was notable for its learned vocabulary, including a greater use of loanwords from Greek and Hebrew than was common in medieval Latin elsewhere in Europe.

The literary Irish language (known in English as Classical Irish), was a sophisticated medium with elaborate verse forms, and was taught in bardic schools (i.e. academies of higher learning) both in Ireland and Scotland.These produced historians, lawyers and a professional literary class which depended on the aristocracy for patronage. Much of the writing produced in this period was conventional in character, in praise of patrons and their families, but the best of it was of exceptionally high quality and included poetry of a personal nature.Gofraidh Fionn Ó Dálaigh(14th century), Tadhg Óg Ó hUiginn (15th century) and Eochaidh Ó hEoghusa (16th century) were among the most distinguished of these poets. Every noble family possessed a body of manuscripts containing genealogical and other material, and the work of the best poets was used for teaching purposes in the bardic schools.In this hierarchical society, fully trained poets belonged to the highest stratum; they were court officials but were thought to still possess ancient magical powers.

Women were largely excluded from the official literature, though female aristocrats could be patrons in their own right. An example is the 15th century noblewoman Mairgréag Ní Cearbhaill, praised by the learned for her hospitality.At that level a certain number of women were literate, and some were contributors to an unofficial corpus of courtly love poetry known asdánta grádha.

Prose continued to be cultivated in the medieval period in the form of tales. The Norman invasion of the 12th century introduced a new body of stories which influenced the Irish tradition, and in time translations were made from English.

Irish poets also composed theDindsenchas( "lore of places" ),a class ofonomastictexts recounting the origins of place-names and traditions concerning events and characters associated with the places in question. Since many of the legends related concern the acts of mythic and legendary figures, thedindsenchasis an important source for the study of Irish mythology.

Irish mythological and legendary saga cycles

Main article:Irish mythology

Navan Fort: identified as the ancient Emain Macha, setting of many tales in the Ulster cycle

Early Irish literature is usually arranged in four epic cycles. These cycles are considered to contain a series of recurring characters and locations.The first of these is theMythological Cycle,which concerns the Irish pagan pantheon, theTuatha Dé Danann.Recurring characters in these stories areLug,The DagdaandÓengus,while many of the tales are set around theBrú na Bóinne.The principle tale of the Mythological cycle isCath Maige Tuired(The Battle of Moytura), which shows how the Tuatha Dé Danann defeated theFomorians.Later synthetic histories of Ireland placed this battle as occurring at the same time as theTrojan War.

Second is theUlster Cycle,mentioned above, also known as the Red Branch Cycle or the Heroic Cycle. This cycle contains tales of the conflicts betweenUlsterandConnachtduring the legendary reigns of KingConchobar mac Nessain Ulster andMedbandAilillin Connacht. The chief saga of the Ulster cycle isTáin Bó Cúailnge,the so-called "Iliadof theGael,".Other recurring characters includeCú Chulainn,a figure comparable to the Greek heroAchilles,known for his terrifying battle frenzy, orríastrad,FergusandConall Cernach.Emain MachaandCruachanare the chief locations. The cycle is set around the end of the 1st century BC and the beginning of the 1st century AD, with the death of Conchobar being set at the same day as the Crucifixion.

Third is a body of romance woven roundFionn Mac Cumhaill,his sonOisin,and his grandsonOscar,in the reigns of theHigh King of IrelandCormac mac Airt,in the second and third centuries AD. This cycle of romance is usually called theFenian cyclebecause it deals so largely with Fionn Mac Cumhaill and hisfianna(militia). TheHill of Allenis often associated with the Fenian cycle. The chief tales of the Fenian cycle areAcallam na Senórach(often translated asColloquy with the AncientsorTales of the Elders of Ireland) andTóraigheacht Dhiarmada agus Ghráinne(The Pursuit of Diarmuid and Gráinne). While there are early tales regarding Fionn, the majority of the Fenian cycle appears to have been written later than the other cycles.

Fourth is theHistorical Cycle,or Cycle of the Kings. The Historical Cycle ranges from the almost entirely mythologicalLabraid Loingsech,who allegedly becameHigh King of Irelandaround 431 BC, to the entirely historicalBrian Boru,who reigned as High King of Ireland in the eleventh century AD. The Historical Cycle includes the late medieval taleBuile Shuibhne(The Frenzy of Sweeney), which has influenced the works ofT.S. EliotandFlann O'Brien,andCogad Gáedel re Gallaib(The War of the Irish with the Foreigners), which tells of Brian Boru's wars against the Vikings. Unlike the other cycles there is not a consistent set of characters or locations in this cycle, as the stories settings span more than a thousand years; though many stories featureConn CétchathachorNiall Noígíallachand theHill of Tarais a common location.

Unusually among European epic cycles, the Irish sagas were written inprosimetrum,i.e. prose, with verse interpolations expressing heightened emotion. Although usually found in manuscripts of later periods, many of these works contain language that predates the surviving records, and some of the poetry is significantly older than the complete tales they form a part of. It is thus not unusual to find poetry from the Old Irish period in a tale written in Middle Irish.

While these four cycles are common to readers today they are the invention of modern scholars. There are several tales which do not fit neatly into one category, or not into any category at all. Early Irish writers though of tales in terms of genre's such asAided(Death-tales),Aislinge(Visions),Cath(Battle-tales),Echtra(Adventures),Immram(Voyages),Táin Bó(Cattle Raids),Tochmarc(Wooings) andTogail(Destructions).As well as Irish mythology there were also adaptations into Middle Irish of Classical mythological tales such asTogail Troí(The Destruction ofTroy,adapted fromDaretis Phrygii de excidio Trojae historia,purportedly byDares Phrygius),Togail na Tebe(The Destruction ofThebes,fromStatius'Thebaid)andImtheachta Æniasa(fromVirgil'sAeneid).

The Early Modern period: 1500–1800

The 17th century saw the tightening of English control over Ireland and the suppression of the traditional aristocracy. This meant that the literary class lost its patrons, since the new nobility were English speakers with little sympathy for the older culture. The elaborate classical metres lost their dominance and were largely replaced by more popular forms.This was an age of social and political tension, as expressed by the poetDáibhí Ó Bruadairand the anonymous authors ofPairliment Chloinne Tomáis,a prose satire on the aspirations of the lower classes.Prose of another sort was represented by the historical works ofGeoffrey Keating(Seathrún Céitinn) and the compilation known as theAnnals of the Four Masters.

The consequences of these changes were seen in the 18th century. Poetry was still the dominant literary medium and its practitioners were often poor scholars, educated in the classics at local schools and schoolmasters by trade. Such writers produced polished work in popular metres for a local audience. This was particularly the case in Munster, in the south-west of Ireland, and notable names includedEoghan Rua Ó SúilleabháinandAogán Ó RathailleofSliabh Luachra.A certain number of local patrons were still to be found, even in the early 19th century, and especially among the few surviving families of the Gaelic aristocracy.

Irish was still an urban language, and continued to be so well into the 19th century. In the first half of the 18th century Dublin was the home of an Irish-language literary circle connected to the Ó Neachtain (Naughton) family, a group with wide-ranging Continental connections.

There is little evidence of female literacy for this period, but women were of great importance in the oral tradition. They were the main composers of traditional laments. The most famous of these isCaoineadh Airt Uí Laoghaire,composed in the late 18th century byEibhlín Dubh Ní Chonaill,one of the last of the Gaelic gentry of West Kerry.Compositions of this sort were not committed to writing until collected in the 19th century.

The manuscript tradition

Well after the introduction of printing to Ireland, works in Irish continued to be disseminated in manuscript form. The first printed book in Ireland was theBook of Common Prayer.

Access to the printing press was hindered in the 1500s and 1600s by official caution, although an Irish version of the Bible (known asBedell's Bible after the Anglican clergyman who commissioned it) was published in the 17th century. A number of popular works in Irish, both devotional and secular, were available in print by the early 19th century, but the manuscript remained the most affordable means of transmission almost until the end of the century.

Manuscripts were collected by literate individuals (schoolmasters, farmers and others) and were copied and recopied. They might include material several centuries old. Access to them was not confined to the literate, since the contents were read aloud at local gatherings. This was still the case in the late 19th century in Irish-speaking districts.

Manuscripts were often taken abroad, particularly toAmerica.In the 19th century, many of these were collected by individuals or cultural institutions.

The Irish English tradition (1): In the 18th century

Jonathan Swift(1667–1745), a powerful and versatile satirist, was Ireland's first earliest notable writer in English. Swift held positions of authority in both England and Ireland at different times. Many of Swift's works reflected support for Ireland during times of political turmoil with England, includingProposal for Universal Use of Irish Manufacture(1720),Drapier's Letters(1724), andA Modest Proposal(1729), and earned him the status of an Irish patriot.

Oliver Goldsmith(1730–1774), born in County Longford, moved to London, where he became part of the literary establishment, though his poetry reflects his youth in Ireland. He is best known for his novelThe Vicar of Wakefield(1766), his pastoral poemThe Deserted Village(1770), and his playsThe Good-Natur'd Man(1768) andShe Stoops to Conquer(1771, first performed in 1773).Edmund Burke(1729–1797) was born in Dublin and came to serve in the House of Commons of Great Britain on behalf of the Whig Party, and establish a reputation in his oratory and published works for great philosophical clarity as well as a lucid literary style.

Literature in Ulster Scots (1): In the 18th century

Scots,mainlyGaelic-speaking, had been settling in Ulster since the 15th century, but large numbers ofScots-speakingLowlanders,some 200,000, arrived during the 17th century following the 1610Plantation,with the peak reached during the 1690s.In the core areas of Scots settlement, Scots outnumbered English settlers by five or six to one.

In Ulster Scots-speaking areas the work of Scottish poets, such asAllan Ramsay(1686–1758) andRobert Burns(1759–96), was very popular, often in locally printed editions. This was complemented by a poetry revival and nascent prose genre in Ulster, which started around 1720.A tradition of poetry and prose in Ulster Scots began around 1720.The most prominent being the 'rhyming weaver'poetry, publication of which began after 1750, though abroadsheetwas published inStrabanein 1735.

These weaver poets looked to Scotland for their cultural and literary models but were not simple imitators. They were inheritors of the same literary tradition and followed the same poetic and orthographic practices; it is not always immediately possible to distinguish between traditional Scots writing from Scotland and Ulster. Among therhyming weaverswere James Campbell (1758–1818),James Orr(1770–1816), Thomas Beggs (1749–1847).

The Modern period: from 1800

Main articles:Irish fiction,Irish poetry,andIrish short story

In the 19th century English was well on the way to becoming the dominant vernacular. Down until theGreat Famineof the 1840s, however, and even later, Irish was still used over large areas of the south-west, the west and the north-west.

A famous long poem from the beginning of the century isCúirt an Mheán Oíche(The Midnight Court), a vigorous and inventive satire byBrian MerrimanfromCounty Clare.The copying of manuscripts continued unabated. One such collection was in the possession ofAmhlaoibh Ó Súilleabháin,a teacher and linen draper ofCounty Kilkennywho kept a unique diary in vernacular Irish from 1827 to 1835 covering local and international events, with a wealth of information about daily life.

The Great Famine of the 1840s hastened the retreat of the Irish language. Many of its speakers died of hunger or fever, and many more emigrated. Thehedge schoolsof earlier decades which had helped maintain the native culture were now supplanted by a system of National Schools where English was given primacy. Literacy in Irish was restricted to a very few.

A vigorous English-speaking middle class was now the dominant cultural force. A number of its members were influenced by political or cultural nationalism, and some took an interest in the literature of the Irish language. One such was a young Protestant scholar calledSamuel Fergusonwho studied the language privately and discovered its poetry, which he began to translate.He was preceded byJames Hardiman,who in 1831 had published the first comprehensive attempt to collect popular poetry in Irish.These and other attempts supplied a bridge between the literatures of the two languages.

The Anglo-Irish tradition (2)

Maria Edgeworth(1767–1849) furnished a less ambiguous foundation for an Anglo-Irish literary tradition. Though not of Irish birth, she came to live there when young and closely identified with Ireland. She was a pioneer in therealist novel.

OtherIrish noveliststo emerge during the 19th century includeJohn Banim,Gerald Griffin,Charles KickhamandWilliam Carleton.Their works tended to reflect the views of the middle class or gentry and they wrote what came to be termed "novels of the big house". Carleton was an exception, and hisTraits and Stories of the Irish Peasantryshowed life on the other side of the social divide.Bram Stoker,the author ofDracula,was outside both traditions, as was the early work ofLord Dunsany.One of the premier ghost story writers of the nineteenth century wasSheridan Le Fanu,whose works includeUncle SilasandCarmilla.

The novels and stories, mostly humorous, ofEdith SomervilleandViolet Florence Martin(who wrote together as Martin Ross), are among the most accomplished products of Anglo-Irish literature, though written exclusively from the viewpoint of the "big house". In 1894 they publishedThe Real Charlotte.

George Moorespent much of his early career in Paris and was one of the first writers to use the techniques of the French realist novelists in English.

Oscar Wilde(1854–1900), born and educated in Ireland, spent the latter half of his life in England. His plays are distinguished for their wit, and he was also a poet.

The growth of Irish cultural nationalism towards the end of the 19th century, culminating in theGaelic Revival,had a marked influence on Irish writing in English, and contributed to theIrish Literary Revival.This can be clearly seen in the plays ofJ.M. Synge(1871–1909), who spent some time in the Irish-speakingAran Islands,and in the early poetry ofWilliam Butler Yeats(1865–1939), where Irish mythology is used in a personal and idiosyncratic way.

Literature in Irish

Main articles:Modern literature in IrishandGaelic Revival

There was a resurgence of interest in the Irish language in the late 19th century with theGaelic Revival.This had much to do with the founding in 1893 of theGaelic League(Conradh na Gaeilge). The League insisted that the identity of Ireland was intimately bound up with the Irish language, which should be modernised and used as a vehicle of contemporary culture. This led to the publication of thousands of books and pamphlets in Irish, providing the foundation of a new literature in the coming decades.

Patrick Pearse(1879–1916), teacher, barrister and revolutionary, was a pioneer of modernist literature in Irish. He was followed by, among others,Pádraic Ó Conaire(1881–1928), an individualist with a strongly European bent. One of the finest writers to emerge in Irish at the time wasSeosamh Mac Grianna(1900–1990), writer of a powerful autobiography and accomplished novels, though his creative period was cut short by illness. His brotherSéamus Ó Grianna(1889–1969) was more prolific.

This period also saw remarkable autobiographies from the remote Irish-speaking areas of the south-west – those ofTomás Ó Criomhthain(1858–1937),Peig Sayers(1873–1958) andMuiris Ó Súilleabháin(1904–1950).

Máirtín Ó Cadhain(1906–1970), a language activist, is generally acknowledged as the doyen (and most difficult) of modern writers in Irish, and has been compared to James Joyce. He produced short stories, two novels and some journalism.Máirtín Ó Direáin(1910–1988),Máire Mhac an tSaoi(1922-2021) andSeán Ó Ríordáin(1916–1977) were three of the finest poets of that generation.Eoghan Ó Tuairisc(1919–1982), who wrote both in Irish and English, was noted for his readiness to experiment in both prose and verse.Flann O'Brien(1911–66), fromNorthern Ireland,published an Irish language novelAn Béal Bochtunder the name Myles na gCopaleen.

Caitlín Maude(1941–1982) andNuala Ní Dhomhnaill(b. 1952) may be seen as representatives of a new generation of poets, conscious of tradition but modernist in outlook. The best known of that generation was possiblyMichael Hartnett(1941–1999), who wrote both in Irish and English, abandoning the latter altogether for a time.

Writing in Irish now encompasses a broad range of subjects and genres, with more attention being directed to younger readers. The traditional Irish-speaking areas (Gaeltacht) are now less important as a source of authors and themes. Urban Irish speakers are in the ascendancy, and it is likely that this will determine the nature of the literature.

Literature in Ulster Scots (2)

In Ulster Scots-speaking areas there was traditionally a considerable demand for the work of Scottish poets, such asAllan RamsayandRobert Burns,often in locally printed editions. This was complemented with locally written work, the most prominent being therhyming weaverpoetry, of which, some 60 to 70 volumes were published between 1750 and 1850, the peak being in the decades 1810 to 1840.These weaver poets looked to Scotland for their cultural and literary models and were not simple imitators but clearly inheritors of the same literary tradition following the same poetic and orthographic practices. It is not always immediately possible to distinguish traditional Scots writing from Scotland and Ulster.

Among therhyming weaverswere James Campbell (1758–1818),James Orr(1770–1816), Thomas Beggs (1749–1847),David Herbison(1800–1880),Hugh Porter(1780–1839) andAndrew McKenzie(1780–1839). Scots was also used in the narrative by novelists such as W. G. Lyttle (1844–1896) and Archibald McIlroy (1860–1915). By the middle of the 19th century theKailyard schoolof prose had become the dominant literary genre, overtaking poetry. This was a tradition shared with Scotland which continued into the early 20th century.

A somewhat diminished tradition of vernacular poetry survived into the 20th century in the work of poets such as Adam Lynn, author of the 1911 collectionRandom Rhymes frae Cullybackey,John Stevenson (died 1932), writing as "Pat M'Carty"and John Clifford (1900–1983) from East Antrim. A prolific writer and poet,W. F. Marshall(8 May 1888 – January 1959) was known as "The Bard ofTyrone".Marshall composed poems such asHi Uncle Sam,Me an' me Da(subtitledLivin' in Drumlister),Sarah AnnandOur Son.He was a leading authority onMid Ulster English(the predominant dialect of Ulster).

The polarising effects of the politics of the use of English and Irish language traditions limited academic and public interest until the studies ofJohn Hewittfrom the 1950s onwards. Further impetus was given by more generalised exploration of non- "Irish" and non- "English" cultural identities in the latter decades of the 20th century.

In the late 20th century theUlster Scotspoetic tradition was revived, albeit often replacing the traditionalModern Scotsorthographic practice with a series of contradictoryidiolects.James Fenton's poetry, at times lively, contented, wistful, is written in contemporary Ulster Scots,mostly using ablank verseform, but also occasionally the Habbie stanza.He employs an orthography that presents the reader with the difficult combination ofeye dialect,dense Scots, and a greater variety of verse forms than employed hitherto.Michael Longleyis another poet who has made use of Ulster Scots in his work.

Philip Robinson's (1946– ) writing has been described as verging on "post-modernkailyard ".He has produced a trilogy of novelsWake the Tribe o Dan(1998),The Back Streets o the Claw(2000) andThe Man frae the Ministry(2005), as well as story books for childrenEsther, Quaen o tha Ulidian PechtsandFergus an tha Stane o Destinie,and two volumes of poetryAlang the Shore(2005) andOul Licht, New Licht(2009).

A team in Belfast has begun translating portions of the Bible into Ulster Scots. The Gospel of Luke was published in 2009.

Irish literature in English (20th century)

Main articles:Irish fictionandIrish poetry

James Joyce

The poetW. B. Yeatswas initially influenced by thePre-Raphaelitesand made use of Irish "peasant folk traditions and ancient Celtic myth" in his early poetry.Subsequently, he was drawn to the "intellectually more vigorous" poetry ofJohn Donne,along withEzra PoundandT. S. Eliot,and became one of the greatest 20th-centurymodernistpoets.Though Yeats was anAnglo-IrishProtestant he was deeply affected by theEaster Risingof 1916 and supported the independence of Ireland.He received the Nobel Prize for literature in 1923 and was a member of the Irish Senate from 1922 to 1928.

A group of early 20th-century Irish poets worth noting are those associated with theEaster Risingof 1916. Three of the Republican leadership,Patrick Pearse(1879–1916),Joseph Mary Plunkett(1879–1916) andThomas MacDonagh(1878–1916), were noted poets.It was to be Yeats' earlier Celtic mode that was to be most influential. Among the most prominent followers of the early Yeats werePadraic Colum(1881–1972),F. R. Higgins(1896–1941),andAustin Clarke(1896–1974).

Irish poeticModernismtook its lead not from Yeats but from Joyce. The 1930s saw the emergence of a generation of writers who engaged in experimental writing as a matter of course. The best known of these isSamuel Beckett(1906–1989), who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1969. Beckett's poetry, while not inconsiderable, is not what he is best known for. The most significant of the second generation Modernist Irish poets who first published in the 1920s and 1930s includeBrian Coffey(1905–1995),Denis Devlin(1908–1959),Thomas MacGreevy(1893–1967),Blanaid Salkeld(1880–1959), andMary Devenport O'Neill(1879–1967).

While Yeats and his followers wrote about an essentially aristocratic Gaelic Ireland, the reality was that the actual Ireland of the 1930s and 1940s was a society of small farmers and shopkeepers. Inevitably, a generation of poets who rebelled against the example of Yeats, but who were not Modernist by inclination, emerged from this environment.Patrick Kavanagh(1904–1967), who came from a small farm, wrote about the narrowness and frustrations of rural life.A new generation of poets emerged from the late 1950s onward, which includedAnthony Cronin,Pearse Hutchinson,John Jordan,andThomas Kinsella,most of whom were based in Dublin in the 1960s and 1970s. In Dublin a number of new literary magazines were founded in the 1960s;Poetry Ireland,Arena,The Lace Curtain,and in the 1970s,Cyphers.

Though the novels ofForrest Reid(1875–1947) are not necessarily well known today, he has been labelled 'the first Ulster novelist of European stature', and comparisons have been drawn between his owncoming of age novelof Protestant Belfast,Following Darkness(1912), andJames Joyce's seminal novel of growing up inCatholicDublin,A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man(1924). Reid's fiction, which often uses submerged narratives to explore male beauty and love, can be placed within the historical context of the emergence of a more explicit expression of homosexuality in English literature in the 20th century.

James Joyce(1882–1941) is one of the most significant novelists of the first half of the 20th century, and a major pioneer in the use of the "stream of consciousness"technique in his famous novelUlysses(1922).Ulysseshas been described as "a demonstration and summation of the entireModernistmovement ".Joyce also wroteFinnegans Wake(1939),Dubliners(1914), and the semi-autobiographicalA Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man(1914–15).Ulysses,often considered to be the greatest novel of the 20th century, is the story of a day in the life of a city,Dublin.Told in a dazzling array of styles, it was a landmark book in the development of literarymodernism.IfUlyssesis the story of a day,Finnegans Wakeis a night epic, partaking in the logic of dreams and written in an invented language which parodies English, Irish and Latin.

Joyce's highmoderniststyle had its influence on coming generations of Irish novelists, most notablySamuel Beckett(1906–1989), Brian O'Nolan (1911–66) (who published asFlann O'Brienand as Myles na gCopaleen), andAidan Higgins(1927–2015). O'Nolan was bilingual and his fiction clearly shows the mark of the native tradition, particularly in the imaginative quality of his storytelling and the biting edge of his satire in works such asAn Béal Bocht.Samuel Beckett,who won theNobel Prize for Literaturein 1969, is one of the great figures in 20th-century world literature. Perhaps best known for his plays, he also wrote works of fiction, includingWatt(1953) and his trilogyMolloy(1951),Malone Dies(1956) andThe Unnamable(1960), all three of which were first written, and published, in French.

The big house novel prospered into the 20th century, andAidan Higgins' (1927–2015) first novelLangrishe, Go Down(1966) is an experimental example of thegenre.More conventional exponents includeElizabeth Bowen(1899–73) andMolly Keane(1904–96) (writing as M.J. Farrell).

With the rise of theIrish Free Stateand theRepublic of Ireland,more novelists from the lower social classes began to emerge. Frequently, these authors wrote of the narrow, circumscribed lives of the lower-middle classes and small farmers. Exponents of this style range fromBrinsley MacNamara(1890–1963) toJohn McGahern(1934–2006). Other notable novelists of the late 20th and early 21st century includeJohn Banville,Sebastian Barry,Seamus Deane,Dermot Healy,Jennifer Johnston,Patrick McCabe,Edna O'Brien,Colm Tóibín,andWilliam Trevor.

TheIrish short storyhas proved a popular genre, with well-known practitioners includingFrank O'Connor,Seán Ó Faoláin,andWilliam Trevor.

A total of four Irish writers have won the Nobel Prize for Literature –W. B. Yeats,George Bernard Shaw,Samuel BeckettandSeamus Heaney.

Literature of Northern Ireland

Main article:Literature of Northern Ireland

After 1922 Ireland was partitioned into the independentIrish Free State,andNorthern Ireland,which retained a constitutional connection to the United Kingdom.Northern Irelandhas for several centuries consisted of two distinct communities,Protestant,Ulster ScotsandIrish Catholics.While the Protestants majority emphasize the constitutional ties to the United Kingdom, most Catholics would prefer aUnited Ireland.The long-standing cultural and political division led to sectarian violence in the late 1960s known asThe Troubles,which officially ended in 1998, though sporadic violence has continued. This cultural division created, long before 1922, two distinct literary cultures.

C. S. Lewis (1898–1963) and Louis MacNeice (1907–63) are two writers who were born and raised in Northern Ireland, but whose careers took them to England.C. S. Lewiswas a poet, novelist, academic,medievalist,literary critic, essayist,lay theologian,andChristian apologist.Born inBelfast,he held academic positions at bothOxford University,andCambridge University.He is best known both for his fictional work, especiallyThe Screwtape Letters(1942),The Chronicles of Narnia(1949–54), andThe Space Trilogy(1938–45), and for his non-fiction Christian apologetics, such asMere Christianity,Miracles,andThe Problem of Pain.His faith had a profound effect on his work, and his wartime radio broadcasts on the subject of Christianity brought him wide acclaim.

Louis MacNeicewas a poet and playwright. He was part of the generation of "thirties poets"that includedW. H. Auden,Stephen SpenderandCecil Day-Lewis,nicknamed "MacSpaunday" as a group – a name invented byRoy Campbell,in hisTalking Bronco(1946). His body of work was widely appreciated by the public during his lifetime. Never as overtly (or simplistically) political as some of his contemporaries, his work shows a humane opposition to totalitarianism as well as an acute awareness of his Irish roots. MacNeice felt estranged from thePresbyterian Northern Ireland,with its "voodoo of theOrange bands",but felt caught between British and Irish identities.

Derek Mahon

Northern Irelandhas also produced a number of significant poets since 1945, includingJohn Hewitt,John Montague,Seamus Heaney,Derek Mahon,Paul Muldoon,James Fenton,Michael Longley,Frank Ormsby,Ciarán CarsonandMedbh McGuckian.John Hewitt (1907–87), whom many consider to be the founding father of Northern Irish poetry, was born inBelfast,and began publishing in the 1940s. Hewitt was appointed the first writer-in-residence atQueen's University, Belfastin 1976. His collections includeThe Day of the Corncrake(1969) andOut of My Time: Poems 1969 to 1974(1974) and hisCollected Poemsin 1991.

John Montague(1929–2016) was born in New York and brought up inCounty Tyrone.He has published a number of volumes of poetry, two collections of short stories and two volumes of memoir. Montague published his first collection in 1958 and the second in 1967. In 1998 he became the first occupant of the Ireland Chair of Poetry(virtually Ireland'sPoet laureate). Seamus Heaney (1939–2013) is the most famous of the poets who came to prominence in the 1960s and won the Nobel prize in 1995. In the 1960s Heaney, Longley, Muldoon, and others, belonged to the so-calledBelfast Group.Heaney in his verse translation ofBeowulf(2000) uses words from his Ulster speech.A Catholic fromNorthern Ireland,Heaney rejected his British identity and lived in the Republic of Ireland for much of his later life.

James Fenton's poetry is written in contemporaryUlster Scots,and Michael Longley (1939– ) has experimented with Ulster Scots for the translation of Classical verse, as in his 1995 collectionThe Ghost Orchid.Longley has spoken of his identity as a Northern Irish poet: "some of the time I feel British and some of the time I feel Irish. But most of the time I feel neither and the marvellous thing about theGood Friday agreementwas that it allowed me to feel more of each if I wanted to. "He was awarded theQueen's Gold Medal for Poetryin 2001.Medbh McGuckian's, (born Maeve McCaughan, 1950) first published poems appeared in two pamphlets in 1980, the year in which she received anEric Gregory Award.Medbh McGuckian's first major collection,The Flower Master(1982), was awarded a Rooney prize for Irish Literature, an Ireland Arts Council Award (both 1982) and anAlice Hunt Bartlett Prize(1983). She is also the winner of the 1989Cheltenham Prizefor her collectionOn Ballycastle Beach,and has translated into English (withEiléan Ní Chuilleanáin)The Water Horse(1999), a selection of poems in Irish byNuala Ní Dhomhnaill.Among her recent collections areThe Currach Requires No Harbours(2007), andMy Love Has Fared Inland(2008).Paul Muldoon(1951– ) has published over thirty collections and won aPulitzer Prize for Poetryand theT. S. Eliot Prize.He held the post ofOxford Professor of Poetryfrom 1999 to 2004.Derek Mahon's (1941– ) first collectionTwelve Poemsappeared in 1965. His poetry, which is influenced byLouis MacNeiceandW. H. Auden,is "often bleak and uncompromising".Though Mahon was not an active member ofThe Belfast Group,he associated with the two members, Heaney and Longley, in the 1960s.Ciarán Carson's poemBelfast Confetti,about the aftermath of an IRA bomb, wonThe Irish Times'Irish Literature Prize for Poetryin 1990.

The most significant dramatist from Northern Ireland isBrian Friel(1929–2015), fromOmagh,County Tyrone,hailed by the English-speaking world as an "IrishChekhov",and "the universally accented voice of Ireland".Friel is best known for plays such asPhiladelphia, Here I Come!andDancing at Lughnasabut has written more than thirty plays in a six-decade spanning career that has seen him electedSaoiofAosdána.His plays have been a regular feature on Broadway.

Among the most important novelists from Northern Ireland areFlann O'Brien(1911–66),Brian Moore(1921–1999), andBernard MacLaverty(1942–).Flann O'Brien,Brian O'Nolan,Irish:Brian Ó Nualláin,was a novelist, playwright and satirist, and is considered a major figure in twentieth century Irish literature. Born inStrabane,County Tyrone,he also is regarded as a key figure inpostmodern literature.His English language novels, such asAt Swim-Two-Birds,andThe Third Policeman,were written under thenom de plumeFlann O'Brien. His many satirical columns inThe Irish Timesand an Irish language novelAn Béal Bochtwere written under the name Myles na gCopaleen. O'Nolan's novels have attracted a wide following for their bizarre humour and Modernistmetafiction.As a novelist, O'Nolan was powerfully influenced byJames Joyce.He was nonetheless sceptical of the cult of Joyce, which overshadows much of Irish writing, saying "I declare to God if I hear that name Joyce one more time I will surely froth at the gob."Brian Moorewas also a screenwriterand emigrated to Canada, where he lived from 1948 to 1958, and wrote his first novels.He then moved to the United States. He was acclaimed for the descriptions in his novels of life in Northern Ireland after theSecond World War,in particular his explorations of the inter-communal divisions ofThe Troubles.He was awarded theJames Tait Black Memorial Prizein 1975 and the inauguralSunday Express Book of the Yearaward in 1987, and he wasshortlisted for the Booker Prize three times (in 1976, 1987 and 1990).His novelJudith Hearne(1955) is set in Belfast.Bernard MacLaverty,fromBelfast,has written the novelsCal;Lamb(1983), which describes the experiences of a youngIrish Catholicinvolved with theIRA;Grace Notes,which was shortlisted for the 1997Booker Prize,andThe Anatomy School.He has also written five acclaimed collections of short stories, the most recent of which isMatters of Life & Death.He has lived in Scotland since 1975.

Other noteworthy writers from Northern Ireland include poetRobert Greacen(1920–2008), novelistBob Shaw(1931–96),and science fiction novelistIan McDonald(1960).Robert Greacen,along withValentin Iremonger,edited an important anthology,Contemporary Irish Poetryin 1949. Robert Greacen was born inDerry,lived in Belfast in his youth and then in London during the 1950s, 60s and 70s. He won the Irish Times Prize for Poetry in 1995 for hisCollected Poems,and subsequently he moved to Dublin when he was elected a member ofAosdana.Shaw was a science fiction author, noted for his originality and wit. He won theHugo Award for Best Fan Writerin 1979 and 1980. His short story "Light of Other Days"was aHugo Awardnominee in 1967, as was his novelThe Ragged Astronautsin 1987.

Theatre

Main article:Irish theatre

George Bernard Shaw

The first well-documented instance of a theatrical production in Ireland is a 1601 staging ofGorboducpresented byLord MountjoyLord Deputy of Irelandin the Great Hall inDublin Castle.Mountjoy started a fashion, and private performances became quite commonplace in great houses all over Ireland over the following thirty years. TheWerburgh Street Theatrein Dublin is generally identified as the "first custom-built theatre in the city," "the only pre-Restorationplayhouse outside London, "and the" first Irish playhouse. "The Werburgh Street Theatre was established byJohn Ogilbyat least by 1637 and perhaps as early as 1634.

The earliest Irish-born dramatists of note were:William Congreve(1670–1729), author ofThe Way of the World(1700) and one of the most interesting writers ofRestoration comediesin London;Oliver Goldsmith(1730–74) author ofThe Good-Natur'd Man(1768) andShe Stoops to Conquer(1773);Richard Brinsley Sheridan(1751–1816), known forThe Rivals,andThe School for Scandal.Goldsmith and Sheridan were two of the most successful playwrights on the London stage in the 18th century.

In the 19th century,Dion Boucicault(1820–90) was famed for hismelodramas.By the later part of the 19th century, Boucicault had become known on both sides of the Atlantic as one of the most successful actor-playwright-managers then in the English-speaking theatre.The New York Timesheralded him in his obituary as "the most conspicuous English dramatist of the 19th century."

It was in the last decade of the century that the Irish theatre came of age with the establishment inDublinin 1899 ofthe Irish Literary Theatre,and emergence of the dramatistsGeorge Bernard Shaw(1856–1950) andOscar Wilde(1854–1900), though both wrote for the London theatre. Shaw's career began in the last decade of the nineteenth century, and he wrote more than 60 plays. George Bernard Shaw turned theEdwardiantheatre into an arena for debate about important political and social issues, like marriage, class, "the morality of armaments and war" and the rights of women.

In 1903 a number of playwrights, actors and staff from several companies went on to form theIrish National Theatre Society,later to become theAbbey Theatre.It performed plays byW. B. Yeats(1865–1939),Lady Gregory(1852–1932),John Millington Synge(1871–1909), andSeán O'Casey(1880–1964). Equally importantly, through the introduction by Yeats, viaEzra Pound,of elements of theNohtheatre of Japan, a tendency to mythologise quotidian situations, and a particularly strong focus on writings in dialects ofHiberno-English,the Abbey was to create a style that held a strong fascination for future Irish dramatists.

Synge's most famous play,The Playboy of the Western World,"caused outrage and riots when it was first performed" in Dublin in 1907.O'Casey was a committed socialist and the first Irish playwright of note to write about theDublinworking classes. O'Casey's first accepted play,The Shadow of a Gunman,which is set during theIrish War of Independence,was performed at theAbbey Theatrein 1923. It was followed byJuno and the Paycock(1924) andThe Plough and the Stars(1926). The former deals with the effect of theIrish Civil Waron the working class poor of the city, while the latter is set in Dublin in 1916 around theEaster Rising.

TheGate Theatre,founded in 1928 byMicheál MacLiammóir,introduced Irish audiences to many of the classics of the Irish and European stage.

The twentieth century saw a number of Irish playwrights come to prominence. These includedDenis Johnston(1901–84),Samuel Beckett(1906–89),Brendan Behan(1923–64),Hugh Leonard(1926–2009),John B. Keane(1928–2002),Brian Friel(1929–2015),Thomas Kilroy(1934– ),Tom Murphy(1935–2018), andFrank McGuinness(1953– ).

Denis Johnston's most famous plays areThe Old Lady Says No!(1929), andThe Moon in the Yellow River(1931).

While there no doubt thatSamuel Beckettis an Irishman he lived much of his life in France and wrote several works first in French. His most famous plays areWaiting for Godot(1955) (originallyEn attendant Godot,1952),Endgame(originallyFin de partie) (1957),Happy Days(1961), written in English, all of which profoundly affected British drama.

Samuel Beckett. Painted by Reginald Gray from life in Paris 1961.

In 1954, Behan's first playThe Quare Fellowwas produced in Dublin. It was well received; however, it was the 1956 production atJoan Littlewood'sTheatre Workshopin Stratford, London, that gained Behan a wider reputation – this was helped by a famous drunken interview onBBCtelevision. Behan's playThe Hostage(1958), his English-language adaptation of his play in IrishAn Giall,met with great success internationally.

During the 1960s and 1970s, Hugh Leonard was the first major Irish writer to establish a reputation in television, writing extensively for television, including original plays, comedies, thrillers and adaptations of classic novels for British television.He was commissioned by RTÉ to writeInsurrection,a 50th anniversary dramatic reconstruction of the Irish uprising of Easter 1916. Leonard'sSilent Song,adapted for the BBC from a short story by Frank O'Connor, won the Prix Italia in 1967.

Three of Leonard's plays have been presented on Broadway:The Au Pair Man(1973), which starredCharles DurningandJulie Harris;Da(1978); andA Life(1980).Of these,Da,which originated off-off-Broadway at theHudson Guild Theatrebefore transferring to theMorosco Theatre,was the most successful, running for 20 months and 697 performances, then touring the United States for ten months.It earned Leonard both aTony Awardand aDrama Desk Awardfor Best Play.It was made into a film in 1988.

Brian Friel, fromNorthern Ireland,has been recognised as a major Irish and English-language playwright almost since the first production of "Philadelphia, Here I Come!"in Dublin in 1964.

Tom Murphy is a major contemporary playwrightand was honoured by the Abbey Theatre in 2001 by a retrospective season of six of his plays. His plays include the historical epicFamine(1968), which deals with the Great Famine between 1846 and spring 1847,The Sanctuary Lamp(1975),The Gigli Concert(1983) andBailegangaire(1985).

Frank McGuinness first came to prominence with his playThe Factory Girls,but established his reputation with his play about World War I,Observe the Sons of Ulster Marching Towards the Somme,which was staged in Dublin'sAbbey Theatrein 1985 and internationally. The play made a name for him when it was performed at Hampstead Theatre.It won numerous awards including theLondon Evening Standard"Award for Most Promising Playwright" for McGuinness.

Since the 1970s, a number of companies have emerged to challenge the Abbey's dominance and introduce different styles and approaches. These includeFocus Theatre,The Children's T Company, the Project Theatre Company,Druid Theatre,Rough Magic, TEAM, Charabanc, andField Day.These companies have nurtured a number of writers, actors, and directors who have since gone on to be successful in London, Broadway and Hollywood.

Irish language theatre

Conventional drama did not exist in Irish before the 20th century. The Gaelic Revival stimulated the writing of plays, aided by the founding in 1928 ofAn Taibhdhearc,a theatre dedicated to the Irish language. The Abbey Theatre itself was reconstituted as a bilingual national theatre in the 1940s underErnest Blythe,but the Irish language element declined in importance.

In 1957, Behan's play in the Irish languageAn Giallhad its debut at Dublin'sDamer Theatre.Later an English-language adaptation ofAn Giall,The Hostage,met with great success internationally.

Drama in Irish has since encountered grave difficulties, despite the existence of interesting playwrights such asMáiréad Ní Ghráda.The Taidhbhearc has declined in importance and it is difficult to maintain professional standards in the absence of a strong and lively audience. The tradition persists, however, thanks to troupes like Aisling Ghéar.

See also

• Irish Gothic literature
• Irish prose fiction
• Irish poetry
• Irish short story
• Irish theatre
• Early Irish literature
• List of Irish writers
• List of Irish poets
• Literature of Northern Ireland
• Literature in the other languages of Britain
• Scottish Gaelic literature

References

• Brady, Anne &Cleeve, Brian(1985).Biographical Dictionary of Irish Writers.Lilliput.ISBN978-0-946640-11-9
• Caerwyn Williams, J.E. agus Ní Mhuiríosa, Máirín (1979).Traidisiún Liteartha na nGael.An Clóchomhar Tta. Baile Átha Cliath. Revival 336–350
• Céitinn, Seathrún (1982) (eag. De Barra, Pádraig).Foras Feasa ar Éirinn, Athnua 1 & 2.Foilseacháin Náisiúnta Teoranta. Baile Átha Cliath. A two volume version of Keating's history in modernised spelling.
• Corkery, Daniel (1925).The Hidden Ireland: A Study of Gaelic Munster in the Eighteenth Century.M.H. Son, Ltd. Dublin.
• Crosson, Seán (2008). "'The Given Note' Traditional Music and Modern Irish Poetry". Cambridge Scholars Publishing. Dublin.ISBN978-1847185693An overview of the historical relationship between poetry and music in Ireland.
• De Bhaldraithe, Tomás (ed.) (1976 – third printing).Cín Lae Amhlaoibh.An Clóchomhar Tta. Baile Átha Cliath.ISBN978-0-7171-0512-0.A shortened version of the diaries of Amhlaoibh Ó Súilleabháin. There is an English translation, edited by de Bhaldraithe:Diary of an Irish Countryman 1827 – 1835.Mercier Press.ISBN978-1-85635-042-6
• De Brún, Pádraig and Ó Buachalla, Breandán and Ó Concheanainn, Tomás (1975 – second printing)Nua-Dhuanaire: Cuid 1.Institiúid Ardléinn Bhaile Átha Cliath.
• Dillon, Myles and Chadwick, Nora (1973).The Celtic Realms.Cardinal. London.ISBN978-0-351-15808-7pp. 298–333
• Educational Media Solutions (2012) 'Reading Ireland, Contemporary Irish Writers in the Context of Place'. Films Media Group.ISBN978-0-81609-056-3
• Hall, Wayne E. (1980).Shadowy Heroes: Irish Literature of the 1890s.Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press.ISBN9780815622314.
• Jeffares, A. Norman(1997).A Pocket History of Irish Literature.O'Brien Press.ISBN978-0-86278-502-4
• Knott, Eleanor (1981 – second printing).An Introduction to Irish Syllabic Poetry of the Period 1200–1600.Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies. Dublin.
• Merriman, Brian: Ó hUaithne, Dáithí (ed.) (1974 – fourth printing).Cúirt an Mheán Oíche.Preas Dolmen. Baile Átha Cliath.ISBN978-0-85105-002-7
• Mac Aonghusa, Proinsias (1979). 'An Ghaeilge i Meiriceá' inGo Meiriceá Siar,Stiofán Ó hAnnracháin (ed.). An Clóchomhar Tta.
• Mac hÉil, Seán (1981).Íliad Hóiméar.Ficina Typofographica. Gaillimh.ISBN978-0-907775-01-0
• Nicholls, Kenneth (1972).Gaelic and Gaelicised Ireland in the Middle Ages.Gill and MacMillan. Dublin.ISBN978-0-7171-0561-8
• Nicholls, Peter, ed. (1981).The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction.St Albans: Granada Publishing Ltd.ISBN0-586-05380-8.
• Ó Conluain, Proinsias and Ó Céileachair, Donncha (1976 – second printing).An Duinníneach.Sáirséal agus Dill.ISBN978-0-901374-22-6
• O’Driscoll, Robert (1976).An Ascendancy of the Heart: Ferguson and the Beginnings of Modern Irish Literature in English.The Dolmen Press. Dublin.ISBN978-0-85105-317-2
• Ó hÓgáin, Dáithí (1982).An File.Oifig an tSoláthair. Baile Átha Cliath.
• Ó Madagáin, Breandán (1980 – second edition).An Ghaeilge i Luimneach 1700–1900.An Clóchomhar Tta. Baile Átha Cliath.ISBN978-0-7171-0685-1
• O’Rahilly, Thomas F. (Ed.) (2000 – reprint).Dánta Grádha: An Anthology of Irish Love Poetry (1350–1750).Cork University Press.ISBN978-0-902561-09-0
• Welsh, Robert (ed.) & Stewart, Bruce (ed.) (1996).The Oxford Companion to Irish Literature.Clarendon Press.ISBN978-0-19-866158-0
• Williams, J.A. (ed.) (1981).Pairlement Chloinne Tomáis.Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies. Dublin.
• Wright, Julia M. (2008).Irish Literature, 1750–1900: An Anthology.Blackwell Press.ISBN978-1-4051-4520-6

External links

• National Library of Ireland: Premier cultural institution holding Irish literary collections
• CELT: The online resource for Irish history, literature and politics
• The Irish Playography database