Below you'll find a list of all posts that have been categorized as “history”
Angela Graham considers progress in the last two years. In December 2020, in a blog I wrote for the Irish Literary Society, I asserted that in contemporary creative writing (that is, in the general run of mainstream publications) Ulster-Scots was all but invisible, A language without a lively, multi-genre, modern literary and cultural presence is one that is struggling. The …
Presented below is the latest in the series of translations by ILS member Brian O’Connor of the great Irish poet of the late 17th and early 18th century, Aodhagán Ó Rathaille (c.1670–1726). O’Connor’s earlier translations for us from Ó Rathaille are also available on the ILS blog. O’Connor gives us a new translation of the Irish version, attributed to Ó Rathaille, of St …
By LYNDA O’KEEFFE My research on the life and works of John O’Keeffe began over eight years ago, it began after I delved into the never-ending realms of genealogy. My own children have continued a tradition of generations of my family treading the boards, I wanted to know just how far back tradition stretched. Finding John O’Keeffe was a thrill …
Presented below is the latest in the series of translations by ILS member Brian O’Connor of the great Irish poet of the late 17th and early 18th century, Aodhagán Ó Rathaille (c.1670–1726). O’Connor’s earlier translations for us from Ó Rathaille are also available on the ILS blog. For those without Irish it is worth reading the original to appreciate the complexity of …
by BERNARD O’DONOGHUE 1986 was a dramatic year in the history of anthologies of Irish poetry in English. There were several well-regarded anthologies already, by Donagh MacDonagh and Lennox Robinson (Oxford), by Derek Mahon and Peter Fallon (Pan), by John Montague (Faber) and Brendan Kennelly (Penguin). But two of these four publishers produced new anthologies in 1986, each of them …
Presented below is the latest in the series of translations by ILS member Brian O’Connor of the great Irish poet of the late 17th and early 18th century, Aodhagán Ó Rathaille (c.1670–1726). O’Connor’s earlier translations for us from Ó Rathaille are also available on the ILS blog. Found in a 1725 manuscript, Gile na Gile (literally “Brightness of Brightness”) is one of …
The Wave of Toime is the latest in a series of translations for the ILS by Brian O’Connor of the great Irish poet of the late 17th and early 18th century, Aodhagán Ó Rathaille (c.1670–1726). ‘Tonn Toime’ describes the disturbed sleep of the poet and his appeal to the chieftains of the past for respite and a return to the …
By RUTH KIRBY-SMITH How ironic it is that I ended up writing a historical novel as history was my least favourite school subject. As an insouciant fourteen-year-old I was cheeky to the toughest history master at Methodist College Belfast; he gave me such a roasting that it was still remembered at our 50-year reunion in 2017. I never turned a …
By CAHAL DALLAT Opening a Can of Worms “Why would London want to honour Ireland’s national poet?” is the question, asked in a range of tones and phrasings. The starting point’s that it clearly does, as half our WB Yeats Bedford Park Artwork Project backers on the crowdfund page (where you can read more on Londoner Conrad Shawcross RA’s Yeats-inspired …
