Poets and novelists. These two words have a myriad of meaning & associations, especially to Irish culture and history. Literary figures are intertwined with the Irish Rebellion, Literary Revival, & an independent Ireland. Exploring the streets of Dublin, we came across an alleyway with murals & quotes from famous Irish writers. It is interesting how often I stumbled on representations of these figures (along with political figures) that fought for & stood for a free Ireland: Connolly’s face painted in a bar window, placards to highlight key places in the Rising, the declaration on display at Trinity’s Long Room & copies posted on walls of pubs.

At one of the pubs we visited, I spoke to a local Dubliner, Paul, about Irish literature. Paul has lived in Dublin all his life & works in telecommunications. He was quite friendly, a little rough around the edges, but he could quote lines/titles from Yeats, Joyce, Heaney, & Wilde. The words of Irish poets & novelists fill the steets, but also linger in the minds of the people who walk them. Although my impression stems from one trip to Dublin & one conversation, I think it is apparent that there is an appreciation & pride in Irish historical & literary figures. Paul also enlightened us in some of the secondary education in Ireland; teachers of secondary education are required to learn & teach Irish. In his secondary school days, he learned Irish but has since then forgotten the language. While we read about the Irish literature, culture & history, I found my short tour of Dublin last night & my discussion with locals a powerful reminder of how the Irish literary & political figures still hold a significant place in Ireland’s modern culture.

In John Montague’s poem “A Lost Tradition,” he refers to the Irish landscape as a text: “The whole landscape a manuscript” (line 34). After reading this poem in class, I started to think of the different mediums and methods in which I experienced the Irish landscape and culture. My “reading” of the Irish landscape today began with a verbal presentation and discussion on theories of place and how these concepts relate to Irish literature
and history. Roaming through the James Joyce Library, I viewed a small selection of Yeats’ manuscripts and letters in glass case on display at the library’s lobby. In between the library and the Newman building, I stumbled upon a passageway with a timeline of Irish history, which provided me with a visual representation of Irish history and the fight for an independent landscape.

On the cliffs of Howth, I “read” the Irish landscape with each step up to the Summit. The dense, rolling fog over the awe-inspiring cliffs made me think of Rhoda Coghill’s 1903 poem “Runaway” where she writes, “Somebody must tell me something real / and that very quickly. / Someone must show me a thing / that will not disappear when I touch it / or fade into a cloud to walk through” (lines 1-5). Coghill’s poem and the foggy cliffs that I experienced in Howth (specifically the fog’s clearing to reveal Ireland’s Eye) seems connected to the ambiguity and uncertainty of the Easter Rising and the Irish Rebellion: the outcome unclear like Island’s Eye in the dense fog.