Pearse and O Conaire

Question 1

Why does no one speak Irish?

Answer 1

• Irish has been invaded by Vikings and Anglo-Normans, neither of which tried to eradicate language
• invasion of the English in 16th and 17th centuries… no attempts at assimilation into native culture
• Henry VIII enacted legislation that banned/prohibited speaking of the Irish language
• systems of society and culture, aristocracy, and powers of state were conducted in English
• Irish was “language of the poor”

Question 2

Nine Years’ War

Answer 2

• 1594-1603
• Hugh O’Neill and Red Hugh O’Donnell (Tyrone and Donegal), last of the Irish aristocracy
• fought to not give up their lands to the crown… did not succeed
• Flight of the Earls: 1607, fled to seek help from the Catholic church
• ethnic/national conflict tied to a religious aspect

Question 3

Famine implications

Answer 3

• 1845-1849 were peak years
• most of the people who died or emigrated were poor (and thus Irish speakers)
• both a food and housing crisis… people were evicted
• instability of land meant that the poor left Ireland for places like the US

Question 4

Home Rule debates

Answer 4

• Ireland had been part of the UK since 1801, and after the famine started demanding Home Rule
• wanted Dominion Status, essentially to deal with their own affairs
• propaganda spread on both sides, split… some thought that the middle-class/educated “patriot” would do well, while the poor would suffer

Question 5

Revival Period components

Answer 5

• Political, military, cultural, athletic, linguistic, and literary

Question 6

Athletic Revival

Answer 6

• GAA established in 1884
• for a while, if you played football or hurling, you were not allowed to play other foreign sports

Question 7

Literary revival

Answer 7

• Irish Literary Theatre establish in 1899

Question 8

Military revival

Answer 8

• Irish Volunteers set up in 1914, was a militia
• “Ulster Volunteers” wanted to remain under British rule, were Protestants who felt Irish but didn’t want to be under Catholic rule

Question 9

Policial revival

Answer 9

• Easter Rising in 1916
• keystone of the creation of the Irish state
• Leader was executed, swayed people due to the harshness of the punishment

Question 10

Linguistic revival

Answer 10

• The Gaelic League (1893), set up to preserve Irish language
• less of an ethnic or nationalistic divide (Catholics AND Protestants, etc.)
• generally middle-class, educated members
• “antiquarian studies”, people who wanted to learn a second language
• western coast were native speakers, but the language was mostly oral, as manuscripts were not accessible due to costliness
• An Claideam Soluir: bilingual magazine

Question 11

Eoin Mac Neill and Tadhg O Donnchadha (Torna)

Answer 11

• important figures in Easter Rising
• Eoin involved directly, tried to prevent it; Torna was a linguist
• tried to connect Irish culture to European culture… bypassing England

Question 12

“An Craoibhin Aoibhinn”

Answer 12

• Douglas Hyde
• wrote “The Necessity for De-Anglicizing Ireland” in 1892, thought a lot in binaries and said that true patriotism came from the language revivalists (help peasants get to their level)

Question 13

An tAthair Peadar Ua Laoghaire

Answer 13

• prolific writer in Irish language (ex: Seadna)
• center of a lot of debates on how the language should be written

Question 14

Irish language debates

Answer 14

• Keating’s Irish vs The Speech of the People: Keating could be seen as a standard… but was alive a long time ago (16th century), and standards should maybe be based on how people talk today
• Nativists vs Progressives: nativists thought that writing should be about good, Irish, Catholic things, not other cultures; progressives thought writers should get inspiration and guidance from the rest of European culture
• Folklore vs Literature: folklore was basis of a lot of stories, so some thought literature should expand beyond

Question 15

Patrick Pearse (Mac Piarais)

Answer 15

• 1879-1916, executed after Easter Rising
• military contributor and large literary figure
• passionate about the decolonial education system
• “The Murder Machine” (1913): Irish children have lost elementary rights, men and women assimilated to things, gendered violence (felt emasculated)
• short stories and poems in Irish, one of the first (more nationalist)

Question 16

Padraic O’Conaire

Answer 16

• 1882-1928 (was young when he died, struggled with alcoholism)
• wrote a lot, from novels, short stories, to response to the Rising
• An Chead Chloch (The First Stone): collection of short stories, about things that had never been written about before in Irish, controversial

Question 17

Mac Piarais and O Conaire as progressives

Answer 17

• Mac Piarais: make connections with other parts of the world and contemporary literature (Ireland should get back in touch)
• O Conaire: countries who have gained independence recently have the most freedom and advancement in literature

Question 18

Seamus O Grianna

Answer 18

• much more conservative
• there is a difference between the soul of an Englishman and a Gael
• Englishmen = deceitful, while Gaels = straightforward

Question 19

An Dearg Daol

Answer 19

• Mac Piarais
• Pearse allegedly saw a woman thrown out of a chapel, seemed to sympathize with her
• shocking for this time period, showed power dynamics and gender differences
• woman rejected by male figures (“Killed” when her name was taken away, called a bug instead)
• likely due to sex before marriage, pregnancy out of wedlock, etc.