Irish Writers Jonathan Swift, James Term Paper

Thus, in 1714, Swift returned to Ireland, "to die like a poisoned rat in a hole," as he reported (Hunting 22).

Yet Swift slowly reconciled himself to his life in Ireland and the 1720's proved to be an incredibly creative time for him, including his famous "Gulliver's Travels" in 1726 (Hunting 23). In his seventieth year he wrote that walking though the streets of Dublin, he received "a thousand hats and blessings" (Hunting 24).

Swift was a great Irish patriot and became a popular hero and legend in his own lifetime and achieved all the fame he had so passionately desired when young (Rowse 215). After his death he became a figure of folklore, and all around Ireland, there are spots associated with him such as Laracor, Wood Park Kilroot and Gosford (Rowse 215). In the Deanery at St. Patrick's his skull ornamented the sideboard in the dining-room, a secular relic upon which Yeats wrote a play, as he translated the famous Latin epitaph into English verse (Rowse 215). Moreover, Swift's presence looms behind much of the modern Irish literature (Rowse 215).

The Irish are renowned for their gifts as storytellers, and the streets of Dublin are filled with reminders of its rich literary past, as "their words are echoed by the next generation of Dublin's writers who took comfort from them and challenged their dominance" (McConnell Pp). Only the Irish Republic could have chosen a folklorist, Dr. Douglas Hyde, as its first president, but after all this is a country who national symbol is the harp, "signifying the bard as the true inspiration for national policy" (McConnell Pp). The tradition of Irish literacy excellence has been a force since the days of the seventeenth century and Jonathan Swift, and Dublin has been the center of its creativity, catapulting the city to international prominence (McConnell Pp). Many have wondered why this small, sea-bound country has produced such a disproportionate number of the world's great writers in English, but perhaps it is the language itself, the melodic, lyrical way of expression that is so unique to the Irish (McConnell Pp). The Irish language lives on at the subtle level of expression, "creating the nuance and color that are the chief characteristics of Irish speech patterns" (McConnell Pp).

The forced marriage between Irish and English in the late 1800's had, after a century of calamity, produced a soft-spoken, "lyrical kind of English that seemed almost ready-made for literature" (McConnell Pp).

Then around the turn of the century came the great resurgence of Irish writing led by the poet, William Butler Yeats and the novelist James Joyce, among others (McConnell Pp). Although it was probably Yeats who first drew upon the extraordinary possibilities of Irish folklore traditions, "it was Joyce who wrought the most startling transformation" (McConnell Pp).

Though Joyce lived for many years on the European continent, his writing universalized the Irish experience (McConnell Pp). Joyce once claimed that if the city of Dublin was ever destroyed, it could be recreated from the pages of his writings, in fact the entire action of his great novel Ulysses takes place in the streets of Dublin in the span of a single day (McConnell Pp). Anatole France wrote, "A nation is a communion of memories and hopes," and perhaps in Ireland, as no other nation, that communion is nurtured and housed in its literature (McConnell Pp). The very social fabric of Irish life is mingled with the spirit and the emotion of its poets, playwrights and novelists (McConnell Pp).

All three authors, Swift, Yeats, and Joyce, certainly had their differences with their native country, especially concerning politics, however, no matter the distance they traveled or the years of exile, none, including even Joyce, could escape or forget the rich history of their Irish culture.

Works Cited

Ireland: Culture & Heritage" Irish America. 7/31/2004; Pp.

The Bearing of the Green: Some Thoughts on Being Irish-American."

Irish America. 11/30/2000; Pp.

O'Brien, Edna. James Joyce. Viking Penguin. 1999; pp. 2, 9, 10, 11,15.…