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A Terrible Beauty: Poetry of 1916
‘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.
Table of Contents
A COUNTRY’S AWAKENING 11
THE CONFLUENCE OF DREAMS
Pádraic Pearse (1879–1916) 17
The Rebel 21
Fornocht Do Chonac Thú 24
Renunciation (Translation of Fornocht Do Chonac Thú) 26
The Fool 28
Mise Éire 30
I Am Ireland (Translation of Mise Éire) 31
The Mother 32
The Wayfarer 33
Thomas MacDonagh (1878–1916) 35
Wishes for My Son 39
Of a Poet Patriot 42
An Bonnán Buí 43
The Yellow Bittern (Translation of An Bonnán Buí by Cathal Buí Mac Giolla Gunna) 45
The Poet Captain 47
Joseph Mary Plunkett (1887–1916) 51
I See His Blood upon the Rose 55
The Little Black Rose Shall be Red at Last 56
The Stars Sang in God’s Garden 57
This Heritage to the Race of Kings 58
The Dark Way 59
To Grace 61
WHEN THE DAWN IS COME
George William Russell (Æ) (1867–1935) 65
A Leader 68
On Behalf of Some Irishmen Not Followers of Tradition 69
Salutation 71
Continuity 73
Francis Ledwidge (1887–1917) 75
Thomas MacDonagh 79
Ireland 80
To Mrs Joseph Plunkett 81
The Dead Kings 82
O’Connell Street 84
A Soldier’s Grave 85
William Butler Yeats (1865–1939) 87
Easter 1916 91
Sixteen Dead Men 95
The Rose Tree 96
In Memory of Eva Gore-Booth and Con Markiewicz 97
AFTERMATH & REQUIEM
Eva Gore-Booth (1870–1926) 101
Heroic Death, 1916 103
Easter Week 104
Comrades 104
Francis Sheehy-Skeffington 105
Roger Casement 106
Dermot O’Byrne (Sir Arnold Bax) (1883–1953) 109
A Dublin Ballad—1916 111
Martial Law in Dublin 114
Shells at Oranmore 115
James Stephens (1880–1950) 117
Spring—1916 119
Seán O’Casey (1880–1964) 125
Thomas Ashe 127
Thomas Ashe (1885–1917) 129
Let Me Carry Your Cross for Ireland, Lord! 132
Joyce Kilmer (1886–1918) 135
Easter Week 137
Joseph Campbell (1879–1944) 139
Fires 142
The Storm-Thrush on the Shaking Tree 143
Dora Sigerson Shorter (1866–1918) 145
The Star 147
The Dead Soldier 148
Padraic Colum (1881–1972) 151
The Rebel. Roger Casement, 1864–1916 153
Canon Charles O’Neill (1887–1963) 154
The Foggy Dew 155
Index of first lines 158
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.
Table of Contents
A COUNTRY’S AWAKENING 11
THE CONFLUENCE OF DREAMS
Pádraic Pearse (1879–1916) 17
The Rebel 21
Fornocht Do Chonac Thú 24
Renunciation (Translation of Fornocht Do Chonac Thú) 26
The Fool 28
Mise Éire 30
I Am Ireland (Translation of Mise Éire) 31
The Mother 32
The Wayfarer 33
Thomas MacDonagh (1878–1916) 35
Wishes for My Son 39
Of a Poet Patriot 42
An Bonnán Buí 43
The Yellow Bittern (Translation of An Bonnán Buí by Cathal Buí Mac Giolla Gunna) 45
The Poet Captain 47
Joseph Mary Plunkett (1887–1916) 51
I See His Blood upon the Rose 55
The Little Black Rose Shall be Red at Last 56
The Stars Sang in God’s Garden 57
This Heritage to the Race of Kings 58
The Dark Way 59
To Grace 61
WHEN THE DAWN IS COME
George William Russell (Æ) (1867–1935) 65
A Leader 68
On Behalf of Some Irishmen Not Followers of Tradition 69
Salutation 71
Continuity 73
Francis Ledwidge (1887–1917) 75
Thomas MacDonagh 79
Ireland 80
To Mrs Joseph Plunkett 81
The Dead Kings 82
O’Connell Street 84
A Soldier’s Grave 85
William Butler Yeats (1865–1939) 87
Easter 1916 91
Sixteen Dead Men 95
The Rose Tree 96
In Memory of Eva Gore-Booth and Con Markiewicz 97
AFTERMATH & REQUIEM
Eva Gore-Booth (1870–1926) 101
Heroic Death, 1916 103
Easter Week 104
Comrades 104
Francis Sheehy-Skeffington 105
Roger Casement 106
Dermot O’Byrne (Sir Arnold Bax) (1883–1953) 109
A Dublin Ballad—1916 111
Martial Law in Dublin 114
Shells at Oranmore 115
James Stephens (1880–1950) 117
Spring—1916 119
Seán O’Casey (1880–1964) 125
Thomas Ashe 127
Thomas Ashe (1885–1917) 129
Let Me Carry Your Cross for Ireland, Lord! 132
Joyce Kilmer (1886–1918) 135
Easter Week 137
Joseph Campbell (1879–1944) 139
Fires 142
The Storm-Thrush on the Shaking Tree 143
Dora Sigerson Shorter (1866–1918) 145
The Star 147
The Dead Soldier 148
Padraic Colum (1881–1972) 151
The Rebel. Roger Casement, 1864–1916 153
Canon Charles O’Neill (1887–1963) 154
The Foggy Dew 155
Index of first lines 158
160 pages, Hardcover
First published July 28, 2015
About the author
Mairead Ashe Fitzgerald
8 books1 followerMairéad 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.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
July 19, 2022
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.
April 10, 2019
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.
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.
April 18, 2018
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...
November 3, 2024
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
September 27, 2021
Heartbreaking and moving. Very well crafted, and the short biographies of the poets were very helpful.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews