Imagination of an Insurrection: Dublin, Easter 1916

by William Irwin Thompson

We know from our literary histories that there was a movement called the Irish Literary Renaissance, and that Yeats was at its head. We know from our political histories that there is now a Republic of Ireland because of a nationalistic movement that, militarily, began with the insurrection of Easter Week, 1916. But what do these two movements have to do with one another?… Because I came to history with literary eyes, I could not help seeing history in terms and shapes of imaginative experience. Thus Movement, Myth, and Image came to be the way in which the nature of the insurrection appeared to me. This method of analyzing historical event as if it were a work of art is not altogether as inappropriate as it might seem when the historical event happens to be a revolution. The Irish revolutionaries lived as if they were in a work of art, and this inability to tell the difference between sober reality and the realm of imagination is perhaps one very important characteristic of a revolutionary. The tragedy of actuality comes from the fact that when, in a revolution, history is made momentarily into a work of art, human beings become the material that must be ordered, molded, or twisted into shape.

Genres: Irish Literature, History, Nonfiction, Ireland

262 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1967

About the author

William Irwin Thompson is an American social philosopher, cultural critic, and poet. He received the Oslo International Poetry Festival Award in 1986. He describes his writing and speaking style as "mind-jazz on ancient texts". He is the founder of the Lindisfarne Association.

Reviews

[Bruce · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Dublin uprising, and the Irish literary renaissance, with an emphasis on A.E.,(George William Russell), W.B. Yeats, and Sean O'Casey, and their cultural and historical contributions is examined here. Alas, if either the Volunteers or the Citizen's Army had only thought to secure the ports, the Brits would never had been able to bring their heavy armory over to quash the uprising. A nice piece of scholarship and a riveting story to boot. Theosophy and nationalism do make for strange bedfellows, and perhaps that is the tragedy of the Irish. I did come away with a tremendous appreciation for A.E.


Homeward I go not yet; the darkness grows;
Not mine the voice to still with peace divine:
From the first fount the stream of quiet flows
Through other hearts than mine.

Yet of my night I give to you the stars,
And of my sorrow here the sweetest gains,
And out of hell, beyond its iron bars,
My scorn of all its pains.

A.E.

[David McGinn · Rating 2 out of 5]

Really difficult and unpleasant read. The book is all over the place and isn’t sure what it is; going from sober historical narrative to poetry analysis to philosophy. Chapters too big and meandering - I’m not sure that an editor cast an eye on this. Would have benefitted from better structure and more focus. An ambitious book but I wouldn’t recommend it.