Irish Literature

I

Introduction

Irish Literature, the oral and written literature of the people of Ireland, an island that today comprises the independent Ireland and Northern Ireland, which is politically part of the United Kingdom. In recent years the definition of Irish literature has been broadened to encompass literature produced by Irish writers living outside Ireland and writers of Irish descent whose work reflects the Irish or Irish emigrant experience.

Irish literature is composed in the Irish and the English languages. Irish, also known as Gaelic, is the traditional tongue of Ireland. The oldest Irish literature consists of stories and poems about ancient kings and heroes, which were transmitted orally in Irish. Written literature in Ireland begins after Christian missionaries arrived in the 5th century ad and introduced the Roman alphabet, which was then adapted to the Irish language. Christianity coexisted with traditional Irish ways, rather than supplanting them, and has continued to do so to the present day. Both traditions figure strongly in Irish literature.

The second major influence on Irish literature, after Christianity, was colonization from England, which began in the 12th century. By the 17th and 18th centuries, the English had consolidated their power in Ireland, and Anglo-Irish writers—Irish-born writers of English descent—dominated Ireland’s literary culture. English was the language of the rulers; literature in Irish survived largely in oral tradition. Anglo-Irish literary movements of the 19th century sought to revive Gaelic culture and the Irish language. These movements linked literature with the cause of Irish political and cultural independence from Britain. The revival gained strength when Irish became an official language in 1922. At that time the island was divided politically into the Irish Free State, which became Ireland in 1949, and Northern Ireland. Today writers in Irish and English continue to find themes in the Irish landscape and in Irish history.

Irish literature reflects the bravado of Celtic heroes as well as the suffering and hardships the Irish people have experienced over the course of their history. Despite these hardships, wit and humor—often in the form of satire or irony—have characterized much of Irish literature. Another defining feature has been an exploration of the riches of language and an enjoyment of wordplay. A love of language is evident in Irish literature, from the early sagas to the 20th-century experiments of James Joyce.

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For discussions of Irish-born writers who work in the English language and are closely identified with English literature, see Drama and Dramatic Arts; English Literature; and articles under the names of individual writers, such as Jonathan Swift, Oliver Goldsmith, Richard Brinsley Sheridan, George Bernard Shaw, Oscar Wilde, and James Joyce.

II

Early Irish Literature: Before 1200

Irish is a Celtic language, brought to Ireland from the European mainland by Celtic peoples who arrived in the late 6th century bc. The Celts lived in some 150 small agricultural communities called tuatha, each with its own king. Cattle were the measure of a tuatha’s wealth. In this society, poets called filidh had responsibility for preserving and transmitting the tuatha’s heritage, its history, and the genealogy of its rulers. Filidh underwent long training, during which they mastered the complicated meters of Celtic verse, composed poems in praise of kings, and memorized long genealogies, histories, and other lore. Filidh had great status in their tuatha and they exerted their power, often in the form of satire, to keep members of the tuatha in line. The people feared their satire, which shamed or humiliated its target. A poet’s harsh words were said to be so powerful they could drive rats away.

Our knowledge of these ancient narratives comes from fragments written down long after their composition. Modern scholars have organized this early literature into four groups of stories called cycles, which are related by theme. These cycles are the Mythological, the Ulster, the Fenian, and the Historical (or Kings). The Ulster and Fenian cycles narrate the deeds of ancient heroes, and the Historical Cycle tells the lives of kings. Like important early works in other literary traditions—for example, the Iliad and Odyssey of ancient Greece and the Nibelungenlied of medieval Germany—the major early Irish narratives are the foundation upon which later Irish literature is built. They are narratives of a national identity, expressing history, values, and culture.

The Mythological Cycle tells of the beginnings of the Irish people and their culture. Many of the stories concern the Tuatha Dé Danaan, a people believed to descend from the Irish mother-goddess, Danu (also spelled Dana). The Tuatha Dé Danaan constitute a pre-Celtic pantheon, comparable to the gods and goddesses of the ancient Greeks and Romans.

A

The Ulster Cycle

The Ulster Cycle consists of some 100 tales about the heroes of the kingdom of Ulster, which occupied the northern half of the island, from the 2nd century bc to the 4th century ad. Its central narrative is the Táin Bo Cuailgne (The Cattle Raid of Cooley, translated into English as The Táin, 1969). The Ulster Cycle is sometimes called the Red Branch Cycle after the warriors who form a key part of its tales.

The Táin relates stories about the time of King Conchobar mac Nessa, his Red Branch warriors, and especially Conchobar’s heroic warrior Cú Chulainn. The action centers on Conchobar's fort Emain Macha, a hill near the present city of Armagh. The Táin begins with Medhbh (Maeve), a Connacht queen, reckoning her own wealth against the wealth of her husband, Ailill. In order to best Ailill, Maeve needs the famous Brown Bull of Cooley, which is owned by an Ulsterman. Determined to have the bull, Maeve leads her army against Ulster to get her prize. A series of one-on-one duels follows between Cú Chulainn and various Connacht champions, including Cú Chulainn’s beloved foster brother Fer Diad. Cú Chulainn single-handedly defeats Maeve’s army. The Ulstermen ultimately recover from their loss to defeat the Connachtmen, who retreat in disarray across Ireland. Later, Cú Chulainn is forced into a battle that violates his own taboos. Mortally wounded, he dies standing, lashed to a pillar.

Within the Ulster Cycle is a collection of stories thought to be preliminary or introductory stories to the Táin. The most significant of these is the story of Deirdre from “Longes mac nUisnigh” (The Exile of the Children of Usnach). The young Deirdre is betrothed to the elderly king Conchobar but falls in love with one of Conchobar’s knights, Naoise (also spelled Noíse). Naoise must then choose between his love of Deirdre and his loyalty to Conchobar. This theme is one of Celtic literature’s most significant contributions to the literature of western Europe. Other Celtic renditions of this story include the Welsh story of King Arthur, Guinevere, and Lancelot (see Arthurian Legend) and the Cornish story of King Mark, Iseult, and Tristram.

B

The Fenian Cycle

The Fenian Cycle takes its name from the hero Fionn mac Cumhaill (also spelled Finn MacCool) and his band of warriors, the Fianna. The stories of the Fenian Cycle are set in southern Ireland and belong to the traditions of the Leinster and Munster provinces. The narratives depict Fionn and his band as living outside of society and roaming the border between the real and supernatural worlds. The best-known tale of the Fenian Cycle is 'Tóraigheacht Dhiarmada agus Ghráinne' (The Pursuit of Diarmaid and Grainne), which is a later version of the Conchobar-Deirdre theme.

Through the ages in ballads and stories, Fionn has emerged as one the most popular Irish folk heroes. Fionn, who is sometimes called Fingal, was introduced to the English-speaking world in Fragments of Ancient Poetry Collected in the Highlands of Scotland (1760), a work composed by 18th-century Scottish poet James Macpherson and falsely attributed to Ossian (also known as Oisin). Ossian, a legendary warrior-poet of the 3rd century, was thought to be the son of Fionn. Fionn later appears in The Wanderings of Oisin, (1889) a poem by William Butler Yeats; At Swim-Two-Birds (1939), a novel by Flann O’Brien; and Finnegans Wake (1939), a novel by James Joyce that adapts the story of the Fenian hero.

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