Irish Literary Revival

The Irish Literary Revival is the name given to the resurgence of Irish nationalism and culture which began in the last quarter of the 19^th century and flourished until the 1920s.

Three key areas in the literary part of this movement.

Publication of translations and retellings of Irish legends, folklore and myths. Key books here were S. Ferguson’s Lays of the Western Gael (1865), D. Hyde’s Love songs of Connaught (1893), and Yeats’ Fairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry (1888) and The Celtic Twilight (1893)

Formation of the Irish Literary Society by Yeats (in London in 1891 and Dublin in 1892) which led to the foundation of an Irish National Theatre (with the help of Lady Gregory) in about 1899. It later became the Abbey Theatre which is still the home of the Irish National Theatre Company. The society promoted the writing of Irish literature and the theatre became a venue in which talented Irish playwrights such as Yeats, Shaw, Synge, and O’Casey could produce their work.

Irish politicians made Irish culture an important part of their political campaign for a free Irish state. Yeats emerges as a statesman for his overtly political poetry.