Irish Literary Revival

TheIrish Literary Revival(also called theIrish Literary Renaissance,sometimes nicknamed theCeltic Twilightthough this hasa broader meaning) was a flowering of Irish literary talent in the late 19th and early 20th century. It includes works of poetry, music, art, and literature.

One of its foremost figures wasW. B. Yeats,considered a driving force of the Revival.

Because ofEnglish colonial rule,matters ofGaelicheritage were sometimes viewed in a political context.

Forerunners

The literary movement was associated with a revival of interest in Ireland's Gaelic heritage and the growth ofIrish nationalismfrom the middle of the 19th century. The poetry ofJames Clarence ManganandSamuel FergusonandStandish James O'Grady'sHistory of Ireland: Heroic Periodwere influential in shaping the minds of the following generations.^[1]Others who contributed to the build-up of national consciousness during the 19th century included poet and writerGeorge Sigerson;antiquarians and music collectors such asGeorge Petrie,Robert Dwyer JoyceandPatrick Weston Joyce;editors such asMatthew Russellof theIrish Monthly;scholars such asJohn O'DonovanandEugene O'Curry;and nationalists such asCharles KickhamandJohn O'Leary.In 1882 theGaelic Unionestablished theGaelic Journal(Irisleabhar na Gaedhilge), the first important bilingual Irish periodical with the help ofDouglas Hyde,withDavid Comynas editor.

Developments

The early literary revival had two geographic centres, in Dublin and in London, andWilliam Butler Yeatstravelled between the two, writing and organising. In 1888 he publishedFairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry,a compilation of pieces by various authors of the 18th and 19th centuries.^[2]He had been assisted byDouglas Hyde,whoseBeside the Fire,a collection of folklore in Irish, was published in 1890. In London in 1892, along withT. W. Rolleston,andCharles Gavan Duffy,he set up theIrish Literary Society.Back in Dublin he founded theNational Literary Societyin the same year, withDouglas Hydeas first President. Meanwhile, the more radicalArthur GriffithandWilliam Rooneywere active in the Irish Fireside Club and went on to found the Leinster Literary Society.^[3]

In 1893 Yeats publishedThe Celtic Twilight,a collection of lore and reminiscences from the West of Ireland. The book closed with the poem "Into the Twilight". It was this book and poem that gave the revival its nickname. In this year Hyde,Eugene O'GrowneyandEoin MacNeillfounded theGaelic League,with Hyde becoming its first President. It was set up to encourage the preservation of Irish culture, its music, dances and language. Also in that year appeared Hyde'sThe Love Songs of Connacht,which inspired Yeats,John Millington SyngeandLady Gregory.^[4]

Thomas A. Finlayfounded theNew Ireland Review,a literary magazine, in 1894, which he edited until 1911, when it was replaced byStudies.Many of the leading literary lights of the time contributed to it.^[5]

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

Yeats, Lady Gregory andEdward Martynpublished aManifesto for Irish Literary Theatrein 1897, in which they proclaimed their intention of establishing a national theatre for Ireland. TheIrish Literary Theatre(ILT) was founded by Yeats, Lady Gregory and Martyn in 1899, with assistance fromGeorge Moore.It proposed to give performances in Dublin of Irish plays by Irish authors.^[6]

In February 1901, at theGaiety Theatrein Dublin, the ILT performed “The Last Feast of the Fianna”, a one-act depiction of an episode in thetale of Oisin.It was the work of the Gaelic League activist,Alice Milligan.Lady Gregory found the lack of action and long soliloquies "intolerable" and the overall effect "tawdry".^[7]But it was a first attempt "to dramatize Celtic Legend for an Irish audience".^[8]

The Fay brothers formedW. G. Fay's Irish National Dramatic Company,focused on the development of Irish acting talent. The company produced works bySeumas O'Cuisin,Fred Ryanand Yeats.

Around the turn of the centuryPatrick S. Dinneenpublished editions ofGeoffrey Keating'sForas Feasa ar Éirinn,poems byAogán Ó RathailleandPiaras Feiritéar,and other works for theIrish Texts Societyand the Gaelic League. He then went on to write the first novel in Irish, while continuing to work on his great Irish-English dictionary.^[9]On Easter Sunday 1900 Yeats' friend and muse,Maud Gonne,foundedInghinidhe na hÉireann(English: Daughters of Ireland), a revolutionary women's society which included writersAlice Furlong,Annie Egan,Ethna Carberyand Sinéad O'Flanagan (later wife ofÉamon de Valera), and the actors Máire Quinn andSara Allgood.The Irish-language newspaperBanbawas founded in 1901 withTadhg Ó Donnchadhaas editor. The following year he also became editor of theGaelic Journal.

In 1903 Yeats, Lady Gregory,George Russell ( "AE" ),Edward Martyn, and Synge founded the Irish National Theatre Society with funding fromAnnie Horniman;Fred Ryan was secretary. TheAbbey Theatrewas opened by this society in Abbey Street on 27 December 1904.Máire Nic Shiubhlaighplayed the name part inCathleen Ni Houlihan.Yeats' brotherJackpainted portraits of all the leading figures in the society for the foyer, whileSarah Purserdesigned 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,George Bernard Shaw,Oliver St John Gogarty,F. R. Higgins,Thomas MacDonagh,Lord Dunsany,T. C. Murray,James CousinsandLennox Robinson.^[10]

In 1904John Eglintonstarted the journalDana,to which Fred Ryan andOliver St John Gogartycontributed.^[11]

In 1906 the publishing house of Maunsel and Company was founded byStephen Gwynn,Joseph Maunsel HoneandGeorge Robertsto publish Irish writers. Its first publication wasRush-lightbyJoseph Campbell.^[12]Lady Gregory started publishing her collection ofKiltartanstories, includingA Book of Saints and Wonders(1906) andThe Kiltartan History Book(1909).

TheIrish Reviewwas founded in 1910 by Professor David Houston of the Royal College of Science for Ireland, with his friends poetThomas MacDonagh,lecturer in English in University College Dublin, poet and writerJames Stephens,with David Houston, Thomas MacDonagh,Padraic ColumandMary ColumandJoseph Mary Plunkett.The magazine was edited by Thomas MacDonagh for its first issues, then Padraic Colum, then, changing its character utterly from a literary and sociological magazine, Joseph Plunkett edited its final issues as literary Ireland became involved with theIrish Volunteersand plans for theEaster Rising.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), theHome Rulemovement, theGaelic Athletic Association,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 ShorterandAlice Milliganaround the turn of the century. These were followed by the likes ofGeorge Roberts,Katharine Tynan,Thomas MacDonagh,Seán O'Casey,Seamus O'Sullivanand others up to the 1930s. It was complemented by developments in the arts world, which included artists such as Sarah Purser,Grace Gifford,Estella SolomonsandBeatrice Elvery,^[13]and in music through works by composers such asArnold Bax,Rutland Boughton,Edward Elgar,Cecil GrayandPeter Warlock,setting poetry and verse drama by Yeats, AE andFiona Macleod.According to Matthew Buchan, Boughton's highly successful operaThe Immortal Hour(1914), based on a verse drama by Macleod, "blends all the essential elements of Celtic Twilight".^[14]

References

^Boyd, Ernest (23 December 1916). "The Irish Literary Revival".The Irish Times.p. 3.
^Fairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry,ed. by W. B. Yeats (London: Walter Scott, [1888]).
^McGuire, James; Quinn, James (2009).Dictionary of Irish Biography.Vol. V. Dublin: Royal Irish Academy-Cambridge University Press. p. 608.ISBN 978-0-521-63331-4.
^Ó Corráin, Donnchadh."Douglas Hyde".University College Cork, Multitext Project in Irish History. Archived fromthe originalon 1 October 2011.Retrieved20 August2011.
^Thomas J. Morrissey, SJThomas A. Finlay SJ, 1848–1940, Educationalist, editor, social reformer. Four Courts Press, Dublin, 2004.ISBN 1-85182-827-3
^Foster (2003), pp. 486, 662.
^Remport, Eglantina (2018).Lady Gregory and the Irish National Theatre.Palgrave Macmillan. p. 75.ISBN 9783030095345.
^Feeney, William (1967).Maeve: A Psychological Drama in Two Acts by Edward Martyn, the last Feast of the Fianna,: a Dramatic Legend by Alice Milligan.Chicago: De Paul University Press. p. 45.
^Welch, Robert (1996).The Concise Oxford Companion to Irish Literature.Oxford University Press.ISBN 0-19-280080-9.
^McCormack, W. J. (ed.).The Blackwell Companion to Modern Irish Culture,Blackwell Publishing, 28 January 2002. p. 7.ISBN 0-631-22817-9
^Carens, James (1979).Surpassing Wit.New York: Columbia University Press. p. 22.
^John Kelly, Ronald Schuchard: The Collected Letters of W.B. Yeats, 1905–1907 (2005). Oxford University Press. p. 87
^Report (15 September 1913). "Irish Artists" At Home "".The Irish Times.p. 9.
^Buchan, Matthew.Celtic Twilight's Immortal Hour in British History, Literature, Music, and Culture(2018)

Sources

Foster, R. F. (1997).W. B. Yeats: A Life, Vol. I: The Apprentice Mage.New York:Oxford UP.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

[1] Boyd, Ernest (23 December 1916). "The Irish Literary Revival".The Irish Times.p. 3.

[2] Fairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry,ed. by W. B. Yeats (London: Walter Scott, [1888]).

[ria-dict-3] McGuire, James; Quinn, James (2009).Dictionary of Irish Biography.Vol. V. Dublin: Royal Irish Academy-Cambridge University Press. p. 608.ISBN 978-0-521-63331-4.

[OCor-4] Ó Corráin, Donnchadh."Douglas Hyde".University College Cork, Multitext Project in Irish History. Archived fromthe originalon 1 October 2011.Retrieved20 August2011.

[5] Thomas J. Morrissey, SJThomas A. Finlay SJ, 1848–1940, Educationalist, editor, social reformer. Four Courts Press, Dublin, 2004.ISBN 1-85182-827-3

[6] Foster (2003), pp. 486, 662.

[Remport-7] Remport, Eglantina (2018).Lady Gregory and the Irish National Theatre.Palgrave Macmillan. p. 75.ISBN 9783030095345.

[Feeney-8] Feeney, William (1967).Maeve: A Psychological Drama in Two Acts by Edward Martyn, the last Feast of the Fianna,: a Dramatic Legend by Alice Milligan.Chicago: De Paul University Press. p. 45.

[9] Welch, Robert (1996).The Concise Oxford Companion to Irish Literature.Oxford University Press.ISBN 0-19-280080-9.

[10] McCormack, W. J. (ed.).The Blackwell Companion to Modern Irish Culture,Blackwell Publishing, 28 January 2002. p. 7.ISBN 0-631-22817-9

[11] Carens, James (1979).Surpassing Wit.New York: Columbia University Press. p. 22.

[12] John Kelly, Ronald Schuchard: The Collected Letters of W.B. Yeats, 1905–1907 (2005). Oxford University Press. p. 87

[13] Report (15 September 1913). "Irish Artists" At Home "".The Irish Times.p. 9.

[14] Buchan, Matthew.Celtic Twilight's Immortal Hour in British History, Literature, Music, and Culture(2018)

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