Douglas Hyde was born on 17 January 1860, near Castlerea in County Roscommon, into an Ireland whose languages, loyalties, and social memories were deeply divided. He died on 12 July 1949, having lived long enough to see the cultural cause that had occupied his youth become central to the public identity of an independent state. He was a poet, translator, folklorist, editor, scholar, teacher, cultural organizer, and,…
“The Gaelic League is founded not upon hatred of England, but upon love of Ireland. Hatred is a negative passion; it is powerful - a very powerful destroyer; but it is useless for building up. Love, on the other hand, is like faith; it can move mountains, and faith, we have mountains to move.”
Neighbourhood:
Folk & Ballad Poets, Irish Poets, Social Justice Poets
Emotional landscape: Longing, Sensuality, Irony
In the pantheon of Irish literature, few figures cast as long a shadow as John Millington Synge, a man who compressed into his brief thirty-seven years a literary output that would reshape the very notion of Irish dramatic art. Born on April 16, 1871, into the comfortable Protestant Anglo-Irish gentry of County Dublin, Synge would grow to become one of Ireland's most celebrated and controversial playwrights, creating…
“The poetry of the drama is not in the words, but in the situation.”
Neighbourhood:
Edwardian Poets, Georgian Poets, Irish Poets, Nature Poets
Emotional landscape: Longing, Wonder, Sorrow
