Between Sea and Glen: Gods, Nymphs and Fairies in Irish Poetry

The remaining extant manuscripts of ancient Irish poetry show how from the beginning the Irish people identified and defined themselves and their experiences in terms of their surroundings, namely Ireland as a fertile land surrounded by the sea. They also attest to the richness of Irish vernacular literature at a time when much of Western Europe had adopted Latin for such purposes. These manuscripts survived in Continental compilations and were subjected to the scrutiny of late 19th and early 20th-century scholars. The Irish revival of the second half of the Victorian era coincided with calamities such as the Great Famine, heightening friction between Catholics and Protestants, and an immense wave of immigration to North America. Irish nationalism had been gaining momentum for some time, and was clearly manifested after the 1850s in the writings of many Irish figures that sought to reclaim their country along with its cultural heritage. The return to myth and legend was one step in the right direction, and the writers and translators of the time explored the endless ways to highlight the richness of their past by making it available to contemporary and future readers. Such literature aimed to engage the reader as well as assert the Irish character in the face of the British monolith, and it also had a considerable impact on the Irish struggle for independence. This research addresses such sentiments in the mythology-centred writings and translations of Jane Francesca Agnes, Lady Wilde; Kuno Meyer and William Butler Yeats.