Spotlight on
- J.M. Synge
Irish Writers | Wicklow County Library
- Yeats: Plays
Digital Books | Dublin City Public Libraries
- Yeats: The Tower
History of Ireland | Galway County Library
- Ferguson: Lays Of The Red Branch
Digital Books | Dublin City Public Libraries
- Synge: The Aran Islands
Arts & Literature | Galway County Library
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George Bernard Shaw received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1925.
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Irish Authors by Dr. Derek Hand traces the development of modern Irish writing from Edgeworth, Synge & Yeats to Banville, Boland & McGahern.
Featured Media
Those Showband Days (Waterford City Library)
Those Showband Days - a cartoon by Robbie O'Keeffe 1991
© Munster Express (O'Keeffe, Dower and Commerford)
Sackville Street, Dublin, late 19th century
Black and white print of Sackville Street, Dublin in The Industries of Dublin, historical, statistical, biographical, an account of leading business men, commercial interests, wealth and growth, page 20, published by Spencer Blackett, 1887 (approx)with illustrations
© Dublin City Public Libraries
Richard Lowell Edgeworth (Longford Co. Library)
Picture of peasants calling at the door of a wealthier house
In past times people in rural Ireland held superstitions and passed them from generation to generation. Those in the gentry were generally suspicious of these traditions. For example there are many associations warning away the evil eye and protecting things of value. There are also associations regarding certain rituals and good luck omens. For example, it is lucky to be awakened by birds singing on the morning of your wedding and if your wedding dress is accidentally torn on the day. It was also thought that keeping a horse shoe or metal over the door of a house would bring good luck to the household.
Pamphlet referring to the Dublin Strike, 1913 (Dublin City Library)
The Dublin Strike by 'A.E' (George W. Russell), A Plea for the workers: a speech delivered in the Royal Albert Hall, London, November 1, 1913, to an audience of 12,000 persons, published by the 'Irish Worker' Press, Liberty Hall, Dublin, 1913
© Dublin City Public Libraries
Oliver Cromwell
Cromwell only spent 9 months in Ireland from August 1649 to May 1650, but his impact was to be everlasting on the island. With fierce brutality Cromwell succeed in completing the English conquest of Ireland where others had failed. Cromwell first set a course to Drogheda. 3,500 men women and children were killed over the two day battle, with the city suffering heavy bombardment. Nearby towns surrendered or evacuated. Less than a month later, Cromwell arrived at Wexford town. Here over 1500 people were slaughtered in the massacre that ensued. Cromwell rested in Youghal until the spring of 1650 and then turned his attention towards Kilkenny and the Tipperary towns of Fethard, Clonmel and Cashel. By May 1650 Ireland had been placed under British rule and Cromwell returned home. Sieges on both Limerick and Galway, the last city under Irish control to fall, ended in October and November 1650 respectively. English rule in Ireland was complete.
O'Connell Bridge, Dublin 1927-1929
O'Connell Bridge, Dublin 1927-1929. The public transport of the time was trams. The automobile is now much in evidence.
By kind permission of Seamus Kearns, Old Dublin Society
More Evictions (Mayo Co. Library)
Patrick MacGill - War Experiences
Patrick MacGill - War Experiences
Courtesy of Donegal Cultural Services
Libraries | Donegal Cultural Services
W.B. Yeats, Plays, Stratford-Upon-Avon, Shakespeare Press, 1914
W.B. Yeats, Plays, Stratford-Upon-Avon, Shakespeare Press, 1914
Digital Books | Dublin City Public Libraries
Yeats, W.B., Later Poems, MacMillan And Co. Ltd., London, 1931
Later Poems by William Butler Yeats (1865-1939) was published in 1931 and is among the final collections of poems produced by the Nobel prize winning Irish nationalist, poet and senator.
D.J. O'Donoghue, The Life and Writings of James Clarence Mangan, Dublin: M. H. Gill and Son, 1897
The Writings of James Clarence Mangan by D. J. O' Donoghue is a biography interspersed with the writings of of the 19th century poet, essayist and Irish nationalist.
Dublin City Public Libraries
Rhiodes, R Crompton, The Plays and Poems Of Richard Brinsley Sheridan, Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1928
The Plays And Poems Of Richard Brinsely Sheridan by R Crompton Rhodes is a collection of the works of the Irish-born, playwright, theatre owner and British parliamentarian Richard Brinsley Sheridan (1751-1816).
Dublin City Public Libraries
Synge, John Millington, The Aran Islands, Part III and IV, Dublin: Maunsel And Company Ltd, 1912
The Aran Islands by John Millington Synge (1871-1909) was first published in 1907. It is a four part series of essays on the geography and people of Islands with whom the playwright and author became intimate with over several summers in the late 1890s.
Arts & Literature | Galway County Library
Synge, John Millington, The Aran Islands, Part I and II, Dublin: Maunsel And Company Ltd, 1912
The Aran Islands by John Millington Synge (1871-1909) was first published in 1907. It is a four part series of essays on the geography and people of Islands with whom the playwright and author became intimate with over several summers in the late 1890s.
Environment & Geography | Galway County Library
W. B. Yeats, The Tower, London: McMillan And Co. Ltd., 1928
The Tower by William Butler Yeats (1865-1939) was first published in 1928 . It contains many of the poet's best known poems such as The Tower, Sailing To Byzantium, Leda And The Swan and Among School Children as just a sample. The themes of the poems in the collection dwell on the elderly poet's angst about the decline of old age, his creative drive, missed romantic opportunities and nationalist disillusionment following Irish Independence.
Irish Writers | Galway County Library
Yeats, W. B. Yeats, Early Poems And Stories, London: MacMillan And Co., 1925
Early Poems And Stories by William Butler Yeats published 1925 contains a collection of poems and stories from the late 1880s and early 1890s.
Digital Books | Dublin City Public Libraries