II.

18th- and 19th-Century Irish Literature in English

The beginnings of Irish literature in the English language coincided with a decline in the use of written and spoken Gaelic, which began about the end of the 18th century.

A.

Early Irish-English Literature

The earliest Irish-English literature was of two types: the pastoral, patriotic, convivial, and humorous verse written by anonymous poets of the people and including such well-known examples as “The Wearin' O' the Green” (1798), “The Boyne Water”, and “Irish Molly O”; and sophisticated verse written by known poets. The principal writers of the latter type of poetry were Thomas Moore, the author of Irish Melodies (10 parts, 1807-1834) and National Airs (1815); Gerald Griffin, the author of “Aileen Aroon” and many other poems; and Francis Sylvester Mahony, better known as Father Prout, the author of the famous “Bells of Shandon”. Two writers who were better known as novelists (see below), Charles James Lever and Samuel Lover, wrote the verses for two of the best-known Irish comic songs, “The Widow Malone” and “The Widow Machree”, respectively.

B.

19th-Century Literature

From about the middle to the end of the 19th century, the work of patriotic and lyric poets dominated Irish poetry written in English. Seriocomic novels, often caricaturing Irish life and character, were also a popular form of 19th-century Irish literature.

B.1.

Patriotic and Lyric Poetry

To the patriots, the need to arouse in the Irish people a sense of nationalism was stronger than the impulse to write poetry distinguished for its formal or aesthetic perfection. The work of these poets was characterized by flamboyant diction and fiery emotion and was important for its political effect. Many of them contributed poems to the Nation (founded 1842), a journal devoted to the promotion of the cause of Irish nationalism. They include Thomas Osborne Davis, who wrote “Lament of Owen Roe O'Neill”; Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu, who also wrote novels (see below); Denis Florence MacCarthy, who wrote The Bell-Founder (1857); Jane Francesca Elgee, Lady Wilde, who wrote under the name of Speranza; and Thomas D'Arcy McGee. The most outstanding of the lyrical poets, listed chronologically, are Jeremiah Joseph Callanan; James Clarence Mangan, author of “Dark Rosaleen”; Edward Walsh; Sir Samuel Ferguson, author of Lays of the Western Gael (1865); Aubrey Thomas de Vere, author of The Foray of Queen Maeve and Other Legends of Ireland's Heroic Age (1882); and William Allingham, who wrote Irish Songs and Poems (1887).

B.2.

Protestant and Roman Catholic Fiction

Much distinguished fiction was written in the 19th century by Irish authors writing in English. Protestants treated Irish life from the point of view of the Anglo-Irish upper classes or gentry, and Roman Catholic writers, mainly of Celtic ancestry, dealt principally with the lives of the Irish Roman Catholic peasantry.

Among the important Protestant writers were Maria Edgeworth, whose Castle Rackrent (1800) was one of the first regional novels in English; it gives a realistic picture of social conditions, tempered with understanding and ironic humour. Later writers included Lady Sydney Morgan, author of The Wild Irish Girl (1806); William Hamilton Maxwell, writer of tales of military life, including Stories of Waterloo (1834); Samuel Lover, whose Rory O'Moore, a National Romance (1837) and Handy Andy (1842) were stories of the Irish peasantry; and Charles James Lever, writer of the picaresque novels The Confessions of Harry Lorrequer (1837) and Jack Hinton (1843).

Among the Roman Catholic fiction writers were two brothers, John Banim and Michael Banim, noted for their stories depicting the life of the poverty-stricken Irish peasant, as in Tales of the O'Hara Family (6 vols., 1825-1826); Gerald Griffin, The Collegians (1829), a tale of middle-class Irish life; and William Carleton, author of Fardorougha the Miser (1839).

Other eminent Irish novelists of the 19th century were Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu, who wrote Uncle Silas (1864); Charles J. Kickham, the author of Sally Cavanagh (1869); and Emily Lawless, the author of Hurrish (1886).