Nationalism has become a dirty word. It invokes images of hate-filled thugs marching through streets, beating up anyone they deem different to themselves; or, in even worse case scenarios, the recent murder spree of Anders Behring Breivik, in Norway, allegedly as a 'defence' of his country against immigrants. However, in the past, nationalism was lauded as a force which helped Ireland unite into the Easter Rising of 1916. The upshot was a war of independence and the country's ultimate freedom, from the United Kingdom, as the Republic of Ireland.
Scholars have long made the link between national identity and language. When that language is turned into poems, plays, novels and stories, it can stir patriotic passions into revolution.
Ireland's Literary Revival and the Easter Rising
The historian DG Boyce wrote that ‘the relationship between literature, language and revolution in Ireland is, in one sense, so obvious that it hardly seems to require further exploration.’ JL O’Fionnian Murphy wrote how Irish national identity and Patrick Pearse’s literature became interlinked, ‘Nationalism, perhaps, became Pearse's true faith. In frenetic activity he committed his written legacy in pamphlets, poems, plays, and stories hastily composed by the beginning of April 1916, when preparations for the Easter Rising commenced.’
While another historian, Tom Garvin wrote that ‘the poet-schoolmaster of the eighteenth century became chief mourner for the dying Gaelic and Stuart order… schoolmasters have been conspicuous in revolutionary movements elsewhere and the role of teacher has commonly been associated with that of revolutionary leader or ideologue…’ and AJ Ward commented that though ‘the literary revival was not sustained… it did contribute to a growing sense of national identity.’
Maud Gonne's Frustration
Maud Gonne found herself involved in various literary circles when she first pursued her nationalist ideals, to the point where she became irritated. She later described herself as ‘young and hasty (and) felt action not books was needed.’ As Maud Gonne was actively seeking out those who were campaigning for Irish self-determination, this description of her circle suggests two things: that nationalism was linked with the Ireland’s literary aspect and that the literature, therefore the search for national identity, appeared more important than active political campaigning, protests or uprisings.
Yeats' Guilt
The place of literature in the pursuit of a national self-identity was expounded by WB Yeats, when he wrote, ‘No great literature without nationalism, no great nationalism without literature.’ After the Easter Rising of 1916, he was also haunted by the notion that his plays could have inspired bloodshed, as he wrote, ‘Did that play of mine send out, Certain men the English shot?’
This was in the belief that by promoting a vision of Ireland’s beautiful past or the disappointment of Ireland herself, in the shape of the goddess figure, Cathleen ni Houlihan, in the fact that her people were still governed by another nation, Yeats ‘like other literary men, held himself in part, at least, responsible for bringing to birth in the 1916 rising.’ A similar link between literature and national identity was drawn by John Eglinton, in September 1898, whilst developing themes for plays to be written at the Irish Literary Theatre, when he said, ‘In all ages poets and thinkers have owed far less to their countries than their countries have owed to them.’
The Thorny Way of Cathleen ni Houlihan
However, the literature and plays referred to by Yeats and Eglinton were all written in English, though their subject matter was nationalist. Though part of the literary revival this could still be encompassed by the Gaelic revival, referring to the Gaelic people rather than the Gaelic language, and such books, poems and plays abounded during the period 1890-1920, including the authors Alice Milligan, William Butler Yeats, Lady Gregory, James Joyce, John Millington Synge, George Bernard Shaw, Thomas MacDonagh, Countess Constance Markievicz, Patrick Pearse and Joseph Mary Plunkett. However, there was also literature being published or performed in the Gaelic language, Douglas Hyde wrote the first modern play in the Gaelic Language, Casadh an tSugain, in 1901. While Patrick Pearse wrote An Ri and Eoin.
This roll call of the Gaelic and literary revivals names includes many very important to the Nationalist cause, especially in the part that they played in the Easter Rising of 1916: for example, Patrick Pearse, Thomas MacDonagh and Joseph Mary Plunkett were all signatories to the proclamation read on the steps of the Old Post Office, while Countess Constance Markievicz took part in the attack on Dublin Castle.
Mightier Than the Sword
It's often wryly noted that history is written by the winners. The Easter Rising, in Ireland, is generally viewed as a good thing. The literary pieces that led to it are classics. But does that redeem the name and nature of nationalism; or is it naturally a good thing, albeit with its darker side, as in the case of Norway? No doubt the literary debate will go on, as long as there are opinions to shape and passions to stir.
Sources:
- DG Boyce ‘One Last Burial’: Culture, Counter-revolution and Revolution in Ireland, 1886-1916
- DG Boyce Nationalism in Ireland
- G Bornstein and H Witmeyer ‘Letters to the New Island’, in The Collected Works of WB Yeats Vol VII
- R Dudley Edwards Patrick Pearse: The Triumph of Failure
- RF Foster Modern Ireland: 1600-1972
- T Garvin Great Hatred, Little Room: Social Background and Political Sentiment Among Revolutionary Activists in Ireland, 1890-1922
- JL O'Fionnain Murphy Pearse, Patrick [Padraig MacPiarais] (1879-1916)
- WI Thompson The Imagination of an Insurrection, Dublin, Easter 1916
- AJ Ward The Easter Rising: Revolution and Irish Nationalism
- M Ward Maud Gonne: A Life
Jo Harrington - Jo has a BA (Hons) in History and Philosophy and a MA in History. She has a book published on the history of Wicca.
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