CULTURE Vote for your favourite poem at Wonderful www.independent.ie/risingpoems

SOME magnificent poetry has beauty of emerged from the Easter Rising, from participants, onlookers and others writing over the century since 1916. In this Irish Independent magazine series Dr Lucy Collins of University College Ireland’s Dublin writes about ten key poems. You can now vote for your favourite poem about the Rising in an independent.ie online poll on our dedicated 1916 rebel poems section: www.independent.ie/ risingpoems Read the commentary by Dr Collins and choose your favourite The insurrection inspired a vibrant from these:

Q ‘The Mother’, by Patrick Pearse body of work, writes Lucy Collins Q ‘I See His Blood Upon the Rose’, by Joseph Plunkett HE poetry of 1916 Yet in spite of Pearse’s reputation Q ‘The Foggy Dew’, by Canon engages in fundamental as a fervent nationalist, his Charles O’Neill ways with the ideals of writings as a whole reveal the Q ‘The Wayfarer’, by Patrick T independence and with range of his political thought, Pearse the feelings and experiences and his capacity for reflection Q ‘Easter 1916’, by WB Yeats that helped to shape the modern and change. Q ‘Connolly’, by Liam nation. Perceived as a ‘poets’ Christian iconography was Mac Gabhann revolution’, the Easter Rising is an important feature of much of Q ‘Wishes for my Son’, by Thomas often linked to the Irish Revival the work by rebel poets. Joseph MacDonagh that flourished at the turn of Mary Plunkett shared Pearse’s Q ‘Comrades’, by Eva Gore-Booth the century, suggesting a close commitment to this symbolism Q ‘Sixteen Dead Men’, by WB relationship between artistic but his work is the more mystical Yeats expression and political activism. of the two. His poems grapple Q ‘Imperial Measure’, by Vona The Revivalist movement, with the challenges of human Groarke which was well under way imperfection: ‘I See His Blood by the 1890s, sought to forge Upon the Rose’ reads the a distinctive Irish literature presence of the divine in nature through the use of native as a way of transcending this materials and writing styles. limitation. These aims, expressed in journals Though they learned much such as the Irish Review, had from the Irish emphasis of a performance counterpart on Revivalist writing, these poets the stage of the Abbey Theatre. were also influenced by the However, though the artistic English tradition, both in form achievements of this time, and tone. Thomas MacDonagh, both in performance and print, who taught with Pearse at St signalled an intense engagement Enda’s, and later lectured at Top: WB Yeats, whose ‘Easter 1916’ remains one of the 20th century’s most iconic poems. with ideas of national identity, University College Dublin, was Above: Joseph Plunkett (‘I See His Blood Upon The Rose’); Canon Charles O’Neill (‘The Foggy Dew’); Eva the political and cultural wings a literary scholar and both his Gore-Booth (‘Comrades’) with her sister Costance Markievicz; and Vona Groarke (‘Imperial Measure’). of the nationalist movement poetry and criticism reflect remained distinct. his familiarity with cultural Rising somewhat obscures the revolutionaries’ orbit, though one of a number of poems on the So the poems of 1916 are drawn histories beyond Ireland. The the complexity of the feelings he never espoused the use of labour leader — emphasises the from a wide range of sources — title of his first volume of poetry, it expresses. The changing violence for political ends. Yeats recognition of this figure within some are written by the rebel Songs of Myself, testifies to the perspective on the rebels here, was once a friend of rebel leader his own lifetime. leaders themselves and some importance of self-reflection from casual dismissal to formal Constance Markievicz and of her Irish poets continue to engage by major Irish poets; others are and personal relationships memorialisation, suggests both sister — the poet, Eva Gore-Booth. imaginatively with the Easter widely circulated texts that catch in his work, however. It is the poet’s ambivalence towards Both women gave up lives of Rising, often in ways that offer the popular feeling of the years through direct experience that the events and his growing sense privilege for political and social new or challenging perspectives following the Rising. MacDonagh understands his of their significance. In another activism and, though ideologically on previous views. Vona Patrick Pearse joined aspirations as an Irishman. poem, ‘Sixteen Dead Men’, Yeats at odds with one another, they Groarke’s ‘Imperial Measure’ the Gaelic League in 1896 Arguably, the most famous reflects on how the execution of retained a strong emotional bond offers a perspective on the role of and was, for a time, the representation of the Easter the rebel leaders has altered the as Gore-Booth’s poem ‘Comrades’ women in the GPO, which subtly editor of its newspaper An Rising was not by a rebel sympathies of the Irish people. indicates. As a pacifist, Gore- addresses the neglect of female Claidheamh Soluis. Convinced poet but by WB Yeats. ‘Easter, Already an established poet Booth opposed all forms of participants in the received of the significance of the Irish 1916’ remains one of the 20th by the time of the Rising, Yeats’s violence, and was sensitive to the narratives of the period. language, and keen both to century’s iconic poems but involvement in the Irish Revival, involvement of Irish soldiers in Other poets such as Paul modernise it and to expand its its popular reception in the and his close relationship with the First World War, as well as in Durcan and Paula Meehan use, he wrote poetry in both Irish decades that followed the Maud Gonne, brought him into revolution at home. use witty and provocative and English. Ideas of suffering The tension between these observations to challenge the and sacrifice lay at the heart of positions can be traced in the act of commemoration itself. the work, which was strongly poetry of the time: Tom Kettle The enduring importance influenced by Christian imagery and Francis Ledwidge both of the 1916 Rising as an and idealism. ‘Fornocht Do enlisted in the British Army inspiration for poetry reveals Chonac Thú (Naked I Saw Thee)’ but Ledwidge’s most famous its power to address our shared is perhaps the best known of his poem would be an elegy for understanding of the past, as well Irish language poems; its single- his executed friend Thomas as our individual responses to minded perspective underpins MacDonagh. Poems about the this moment in history. much of Pearse’s verse in English revolutionaries, whether they too, reinforcing the visionary were reflective lyrics or popular Dr Lucy Collins is a lecturer in character of many poems of the ballads, became an important English at University College Rising. In ‘The Mother’, Pearse part of the memorialisation Dublin (UCD). She is chooses a female voice to bring of 1916. ‘The Foggy Dew’, by the curator of ‘Reading the combined pride and suffering Canon Charles O’Neill, uses the 1916’, a forthcoming of the bereaved to life. Grief is Irish song tradition to appeal exhibition at UCD assuaged here by an awareness of to popular consciousness, while Special Collections the heroism of the men’s actions. UCD’s Lucy Collins in Dublin’s Garden of Remembrance. Liam MacGabhann’s ‘Connolly’—

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