Introduction

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.