In December 1948, the Irish Parliament passed the Republic of Ireland Act, which declared Ireland a full republic and terminated its membership in the British Commonwealth. The act came into effect on Easter Monday, April 18, 1949, exactly 33 years after the Easter Rising. The declaration of the republic was the culmination of the Irish independence movement, though it did not address the issue of partition.

The declaration of the Republic was celebrated in Irish poetry as the final achievement of the independence that Pearse and his fellow poets had proclaimed in 1916. Poets like Austin Clarke and Patrick Kavanagh marked the occasion with verses that reflected on the long struggle for freedom. The republic's declaration also prompted a re-evaluation of Irish identity in poetry, as writers sought to define what it meant to be Irish in a fully sovereign state.