In October 1879, Michael Davitt founded the Irish National Land League in Dublin to campaign for tenant rights and land reform. The League's agitation sparked the Land War, a period of agrarian conflict marked by mass meetings, rent strikes, and boycotts. The Land League's success in securing land reforms in the 1880s broke the power of the Anglo-Irish landlord class and reshaped Irish society.

The Land War became a dominant theme in Irish poetry of the late 19th century, with writers like Charles Kickham and the poets of the Irish Nationalist press chronicling the struggles of the rural poor. The poetry of the Land War gave voice to the plight of the tenant farmer, blending agrarian grievance with nationalist aspiration. This tradition reached its zenith in Patrick Kavanagh's later work, which explored the harsh realities of rural life.