A Terrible Beauty: Poetry of 1916

by Mairead Ashe Fitzgerald (Contributor)

‘A terrible beauty is born’

WB Yeats’s poignant words have come to immortalise the complex legacy of the Easter Rising, 1916. The poetry that emerged at this time of upheaval in Ireland gave voice to the thoughts of a generation. Yeats’s poem, ‘Easter 1916’, sits alongside selected works of other major poets of the era. These include Patrick Pearse, Thomas MacDonagh and Joseph Plunkett, who were executed for their part in the Rising.

In the aftermath of the Rising an outpouring of poetry also expressed the shock and grief of literary figures such as Padraic Colum, Francis Ledwidge, Eva Gore-Booth, James Stephens, Dora Sigerson Shorter and Seán O’Casey. Rebels, soldiers, honorary Irishmen, sympathisers and exiles all held up a mirror, in verse, to the events, beliefs and desires bound up in 1916.

Genres: Poetry, History

160 pages, Hardcover

First published July 28, 2015

About the author

Mairéad Ashe FitzGerald was born in the parish of Columcille in Longford and grew up in County Clare. A former teacher of Irish and History, she studied archaeology and Irish and has a lifelong, profound interest in the Early Irish period and traditions.

Reviews

[Anna P (whatIreallyRead) · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Terrible Beauty is a blend of a poetry collection and a history book. It tells the story of the 1916 Easter Rising - an attempt at establishing Irish independence from Britain, led by poets and visionaries. The attempt failed, and the poets were executed and called terrorists.

Every poem in this book made me cry. To be honest, I started crying at the table of contents before even the foreword. Then I proceeded to read the poems aloud while sobbing. Every word broke my heart 💔💔😭😭😭



The reason why it touched me so much is that Irish history and culture have so much in common with Ukrainian. The struggle for independence from a neighboring empire, the executions of poets who wanted independence for their people, nationalists being called terrorists and traitors, having to find sources for weapons among the empire's enemies, and the ongoing internal debate about a vision for that independence and what it would mean culturally, the struggle to form a national identity when the national language is disappearing and the culture is dominated by the empire. All of this we, Ukrainians, went through too with Russia, and we're still fighting for it today. The poems resonated so much because they could have been written about some of the events of our history.

We also had (and have) a very similar question: How do you form an independent national identity after being suppressed and influenced by the empire for so long, without becoming too rigid in reconstructing the distant past?



The book is broken down into 3 parts: before, during, and after. It contains the poems of the writers who led the Rising, their portraits and biographies, the timeline of the Rising itself, and the poems reflecting on it from writers who didn't participate.

The edition is high quality - it's well illustrated in black, white and emerald green, has a silk ribbon marker, and the cover actually has grooves corresponding to the ornaments on it.

[maryamongstories · Rating 5 out of 5]

Today was the day: I cried over a poetry collection.
This has history facts, author biographies, goodbyes and heartbreaks. Completely crushed my soul. It might be because of my love of Ireland, but I adored it with all my heart.
What a beautiful, beautiful book.

[AL أل · Rating 4 out of 5]

És una edició preciosa, amb retrats, biografia i poemes dels poetes (també dones, quelcom que és estrany quan es parla d'aquella època...). És un bon recull per aprendre d'autors i autores que no coneixies, repassar aquells que sí, llegir un tast de la seva obra relacionat amb l'aixecament de Pasqua del 1916 (i després) i saber com hi van prendre partit o com els va influir. Genials els poemes en gaeilge (irlandès) amb traduccions...

[hols · Rating 5 out of 5]

Extremely thoughtful and well selected anthology!! Big slay as gives the really tender perspectives of the Easter rising as well as the subsequent martyrdom/bigs up rebel vibes that it gave all the nationalists involved post 1916. Also includes lot of women poets which is mega, as they’re not often talked about. Love love love

[Ella · Rating 5 out of 5]

Heartbreaking and moving. Very well crafted, and the short biographies of the poets were very helpful.