Georgia Southern University Digital Commons@Georgia Southern Electronic Theses and Dissertations Graduate Studies, Jack N. Averitt College of Spring 2009 In Fairyland Or Thereabout: The Fairies as Nationalist Symbol in Irish Literature by and after Willaim Allingham Cassandra M. Schell Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/etd Recommended Citation Schell, Cassandra M., "In Fairyland Or Thereabout: The Fairies as Nationalist Symbol in Irish Literature by and after Willaim Allingham" (2009). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 169. https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/etd/169 This thesis (open access) is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate Studies, Jack N. Averitt College of at Digital Commons@Georgia Southern. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons@Georgia Southern. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. “IN FAIRYLAND OR THEREABOUT”: THE FAIRY AS NATIONALIST SYMBOL IN IRISH LITERATURE BY AND AFTER WILLIAM ALLINGHAM by CASSANDRA M. SCHELL (Under the Direction of Howard Keeley) ABSTRACT This essay is a look at a little known Irish poet, William Allingham, who invokes the fairy as a vehicle for a political change in Ireland. It offers a close reading of a few of his poems as well as historically approaches the use of fairies in the popular culture of the nineteenth century. In Chapter I, I use an historical approach to discuss the biography of William Allingham and his place in Irish literature as “a poet we have neglected.” I also discuss a cultural study of the portrayal and use of the fairy in the nineteenth century.