We heard you read local poets
McNiece, Larkin, Rodgers. Told us of
Hewitt’s ox and goat metaphor
for Northern Ireland. Continue reading
Filed under Irish history …
Thoughts on the Irish Language Revival: then and now
Still, figures from the 1891 public records suggest that the Irish-speaking population had dropped to less than 4% – a major language transformation in less than a century. Continue reading
Reflections on Saint Brigid
He tells us that Patrick was a powerful, diligent, and determined man. After reading the Lives of Brigid, you could espouse this forceful but patient woman with the same attributes and above all piety and humility. Continue reading
POETRY CORNER: Michael Boyle, Patrick Deely, Colin Ryan.
My father’s father’s father
survived the potato blight of ’47.
lived all his life
on the Crow’s Nest farm
where he heard an eerie
caw, caw, cawing
late in the night. Continue reading
Do you remember? Dromcollogher Cinema Fire 1926
Do you have letters from home about the Dromcollogher cinema fire (1926)? Continue reading
Eureka 170: a grandson remembers his grandmother
However, that story of liberation and democracy continues. Peter at the stockade and Speaker of the Victorian Legislative Assembly, was not the closing chapter. Continue reading
Land Ownership in Ireland part 3
Because people had been crying out for a resolution of the land question for so long, and had no desire to wait any longer, this, along with war weariness, may have been a big factor in the massive support for acceptance of the treaty with Britain. Continue reading
Secrets of the Daniel O’Connell Monument
Unveiled for the first time on this day, August 15, 1882, the monument was designed and sculpted by John Henry Foley and finished up by his assistant, Thomas Brock. It is often believed to be Foley’s greatest work. Continue reading
On the Good Ship Ulysses
We parked the car, grabbed our backpacks, and made our way up the passenger stairwell. In my backpack was James Joyce’s Ulysses, bookmarked at the final chapter, ‘Penelope’, which I planned to finish reading whilst on board the Ulysses, travelling to Dublin to visit iconic landmarks mentioned in the book. How meta. Continue reading
We are reading at the moment…
Most of the stories date from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and many deal with miserable school experiences. You won’t be surprised to read of Bob Geldof tormenting the priests at Blackrock College by asking inconvenient religious questions, or Edna O’Brien recounting how she sinned by the hour Continue reading