Ireland declared its independence from Great Britain in 1919, and after three years of bloody fighting, Ireland formally became a self-governing British dominion. The writers in Britain and Ireland during this time were very influential in the arguments for and against Irish independence. After the Easter Rising of 1916, William Butler Yeats moved back to his Irish homeland and became much more involved in Irish matters. The Easter Rising influenced Yeats and other Irish writers of the time, as the Norton Online “Imagining Ireland” overview states:
“The Easter Rising challenged modern Irish writers to re-imagine the Irish nation and national identity. Irish writers criticized the tyranny of British colonialism and shared the hope for an independent Ireland. Yet they also depicted the dangers of Irish nationalism, including its connections with armed violence, with cultural exclusion and racism, and, especially, with the ethic of blood sacrifice. In different ways, both W. B. Yeats’s poem “Easter, 1916” and Sean O’Casey’s play The Plough and the Stars ask skeptical questions about a violent Irish nationalism, even as they imagine an Ireland free from colonial rule” (Norton Online).
In addition to Yeats and O’Casey, James Joyce’s writings were greatly influenced from his Irish heritage and thoughts of Irish nationalism. Joyce’s short stories mostly preceded Irish independence and his novels came after independence. After Irish independence, fighting broke out in the newly established Northern Ireland. This fighting continued throughout the 20th century, and influenced many writers born inside Northern Ireland (such as Seamus Heaney and Paul Muldoon) and others in Ireland and Britain. These writers “such as Heaney, Longley, Muldoon, Boland, Barr, and McDonagh continue to make sense of the still-present history of British colonialism, the fact and meaning of sectarian and political violence, and they sometimes even glimpse hope for peace and reconciliation” (Norton Online).
And one cannot forget that 18th and 19th century writers also influenced the discussion of Irish nationalism and independence. Jonathon Swift described the abuses dealt with by the Irish in vicious satire in the early 18th century. Robert Burns gave a voice to the Scots later in the 18th century, which helped Ireland also take pride in their own heritage. Charles Dickens depicted British poverty in the 19th century, which helped raise awareness of poverty and injustice throughout the British Isles. These authors used their own perspectives to influence the movement for Irish independence, and some recently and currently influence ideas on Northern Ireland and future discussions of Irish nationalism.
Friday, May 8, 2009
Jonathan Swift, Robert Burns, and Charles Dickens
Jonathan Swift was a writer born in Dublin in the 17th century. He wrote a famous essay entitled, “A Modest Proposal For Preventing The Children of Poor People in Ireland From Being A Burden to Their Parents or Country, and For Making Them Beneficial to The Public” in 1729. Swift’s essay was a vicious satire on how to deal with overpopulation and poverty in Ireland. Swift’s “punch-line” comes far into the essay when he asserts that “I have been assured by a very knowing American of my acquaintance in London, that a young healthy child well nursed is at a year old a most delicious, nourishing, and wholesome food, whether stewed, roasted, baked, or boiled” (Swift). Swift goes on to describe how Irish families could raise and sell their own children for a profit, and thus solve the problems of overpopulation and poverty in Ireland. His detestable solutions should be taken in jest, but in this witty essay, Swift raises some important concerns about the treatment of the Irish during his time. For example, Swift dismisses claims against the injustice of his cannibalistic methods, by saying “I am not in the least pain upon that matter, because it is very well known that they are every day dying and rotting by cold and famine, and filth and vermin, as fast as can be reasonably expected” (Swift). In this sentence, Swift cleverly states that the Irish are already dealing with vast amounts of pain and suffering, that raising their children for slaughter can’t be that much worse. Swift was an early voice for justice in Ireland.
Robert Burns hailed from Scotland, but he gathered native songs from his homeland. The most famous example of these is Auld Lang Syne. This song is now sung around the world on New Year’s Eve, but its core message is about long-lost friendship and memories. The opening lines of this poem/song refer to friendships long ago: “Should auld acquaintance be forgot / And never brought to mind?” (Burns 137, ll. 1-2). Although there are not distinct calls for Scottish nationalism in this poem, the pure action of glorifying native Scottish songs was rebellious at the time. Burns provided a voice for Scottish heritage, and the Irish were no doubt compelled to value their own heritage more after seeing the Scots follow and appreciate Burns.
Charles Dickens was not calling for Irish independence, but his writings illuminated poverty in England – thus calling attention to poverty throughout the British Isles. His story “ A Visit to Newgate” described England’s most famous prison at the time in a detailed, sobering fashion. Dickens describes the situations of these men, and asks his readers to empathize with them. For example, he describes the men on “death row” and asks his readers to “conceive the situation of a man, spending his last night on earth in this cell” (Dickens 1246). When English readers began sympathizing more with the poor, they were more likely to sympathize with the plight of the Irish too. Dickens’ descriptions of injustice foreshadowed the later Irish writers and their pleas for justice and independence in their homeland. Swift, Burns, and Dickens all created work and a reading audience that would eventually sympathize enough with the Irish to lead to Irish independence in the early 20th century.
W.B. Yeats
Yeats was a famous poet before the Easter Rising of 1916, but the execution of these Irish independence fighters (and many of these fighters were poets) were a huge reason Yeats moved back to Ireland, the place of his birth. Yeats’ work was mostly impartial and showed both the good and the bad of the independence movement, but he still inspired the revolutionary poets (Greenblatt 2021). Yeats is neither nationalist nor anti-nationalist for Ireland in his poem, “Easter, 1916”. He instead asks questions about the purpose of Irish revolution and independence. For example, he asks, “Was it needless death after all? / For England may keep faith / For all that is done and said. / We know their dream; enough / To know they dreamed and are dead” (Yeats 2032, ll. 67-71). Yeats is describing how the Irish know of the dreams of independence, but those same dreamers who often act on their thoughts end up dead. Yeats never tells the reader if Irish independence is worth all the death; we readers must decide for ourselves.
Our classmate Ryan Trainor discusses another Yeats poem, “The Stolen Child”, in a discussion post. Ryan is especially fond of the refrain, and one could interpret this refrain as a commentary by Yeats on his country. Ryan states:
“This refrain and how it changes in the last stanza is one of my favorite aspects of The Stolen Child. It sets the tone for the story and the narration throughout the poem, with such choric verse as, "Come away, O human child! \ To the waters and the wild \ With a faery, hand in hand, \ for the world's more full of weeping than you can understand." Not only is this refrain begging the child to come away to the faerys' world of "waters" and "wild," but it also serves as a commentary for Yeats on how he sees his own world” (Ryan Trainor, “Yeats - The Stolen Child, refrain, narrative and magic”).
Ryan’s interpretation of the narrator begging the child to come away could be an allusion for Yeats asking Ireland to break away from Britain. Yeats could also be alluding to the violence in Ireland when he states, “the world’s more full of weeping than you can understand” (Yeats 2023, ll. 12, 27, 41, 53). But we readers really never know for sure where Yeats falls out in the idea of Irish independence. Clearly, Yeats sympathized with and influenced his Irish countrymen, but he also clearly saw the costs that would come with war.
James Joyce
Joyce was born in Dublin, and Irish nationalism infuses much of James Joyce’s work. This makes sense because his literary career spanned the uprisings that led to independence and the creation and aftermath of an Irish state. One short story where Joyce has passages about Irish nationalism is in “The Dead”, published in 1914 – five years before Ireland declared independence. The main character Gabriel writes for a newspaper that is associated with anti-Irish-nationalist sentiments. Basically, Gabriel is accused of being a “schill” for Britain by another character in “The Dead” – Miss Ivors. Miss Ivors tells Gabriel, “Well, I’m ashamed of you, said Miss Ivors frankly. To say you’d write for a rag like that. I didn’t think you were a West Briton” (Joyce 2179). Miss Ivors is calling Gabriel a West Briton, which is an insult since West Britons thought Ireland was simply an extension of Great Britain. Gabriel takes great offense at this remark, and Joyce takes us readers inside Gabriel’s head to see him plot ways to get revenge on Miss Ivors. Joyce is showing his readers that Irish people cannot go through life without thinking about their country, especially at this time in history. Irish nationalism or anti-nationalism is part of who the Irish are in his stories, and Joyce embeds these emotions throughout his writing. Interior emotions like these are great for Joyce, because he takes his readers inside his characters minds, sometimes quite abruptly, with his stream-of-consciousness writing.
Our classmate Abdiasis Hirsi also describes Joyce’s interpretations of what it means to be Irish in his discussion post about Joyce’s short story “Araby”. Abdiasis writes, “In this tale of love, the author paints pictures of events in Dublin and the role women played in society, which was mainly to be religious, supportive of their husbands and brothers, and stay at home. Men made decisions and aggressively pursued the desires of their souls” (Abdiasis Hirsi, “’Araby’ by James Joyce”). Irish nationalism is often portrayed as being an Irish man’s fight, and Abdiasis aptly brings up how women in Irish society were often overlooked and meant to be “supportive of their husbands”. I’m sure that Irish independence would be a secondary concern to many Irish women who wanted independence in their own households first.
Seamus Heaney
Seamus Heaney was born to a Catholic family in Protestant Northern Ireland in 1939. He was born after Irish independence, but Northern Ireland was deep in conflict at the time he lived there. His poetry reflects the memories and unconscious of the Irish people (Greenblatt 2823). Heaney directly covers the Northern Irish conflicts in some of his poems, including the poem “Casualty”. In this poem, Heaney describes the images of death after the British Army killed thirteen Irish Catholics in the 1972 Bloody Sunday killings. Heaney writes in this poem that “After they shot dead / The thirteen men in Derry. / PARAS THIRTEEN, the walls said, / BOGSIDE NIL. That Wednesday / Everybody held / His breath and trembled” (Heaney 2829, ll. 41-46). The writing on the walls refers to the British paratroopers that killed the Irish, or “bogside”. Heaney’s fascination with Irish bogs was an allusion to the memories of the Irish people. Heaney felt that the Iron Age people found in the bogs were similar to the deep implanted memories of all the Irish people. Heaney still lives today, and shows how the Irish people of today still have deep memories of injustice – decades after they finally achieved independence.
Paul Muldoon
Paul Muldoon was also born in Northern Ireland, twelve years after Heaney was born. Muldoon was very critical of the Catholic Church, but he was also very strongly for Irish nationalism. His poem, “Meeting the British” compares the Northern Irish Catholics with the plight of the American Indians (Greenblatt 2869). Muldoon writes in this poem that the British “gave us six fishhooks / and two blankets embroidered with smallpox” (Muldoon 2870, ll. 17-18). Muldoon is showing how the British brought havoc to Ireland, just like the Europeans brought havoc and illness to the America. Our classmate Annie Prak also shows how this poem uses imagery to represent the feelings of the British people. Annie refers to Muldoon’s image of a “lavender sky” in this poem when she states, “Through Muldoon's words, I recall the way in which the sky turns purpley blue in the winter, and how that color is reflected upon the snow. It is a beautiful thing to behold, and yet it is chilling, for such a color seems to betray a lack of life” (Annie Prak, “Open Letter to Matthew Streit on Paul Muldoon”). Annie’s analysis of Muldoon superbly shows how Muldoon’s use of color can communicate the deep resentment that many Irish feel towards the British by using a “chilling” color that “seems to betray a lack of life.” Muldoon is another present-day writer still bringing up the concerns (of the present and past) of the Irish people.
Conclusion
The fights for Irish independence directly influenced W.B. Yeats and James Joyce, since the fighting for the Irish state took place during their lifetime. Yeats aptly showed the good and the evil in the fight for Irish independence in his poetry. Joyce showed the pervasiveness of Irish nationalism in his short stories, especially those that preceded Irish independence such as “The Dead”. Earlier Irish writers, such as Jonathon Swift, first made the poor treatment of the Irish well known throughout the British Isles and grew the discussion of Irish independence. British writers such as Robert Burns and Charles Dickens were not Irish, but helped increase Irish nationalism with their elevation of heritage and poverty awareness. And later 20th century writers (especially those from Northern Ireland, such as Heaney and Muldoon) continued to define the discussion of the Irish state and communicated the continued injustice that took place after independence. All of these writers gave their own unique perspective and influence to the overall picture of Irish independence and nationalism.
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