The
Context and Development of Irish Literature:
History, Poetry, Landscape
Chapter Two:
The Period of Conquest and Rebellion, page 5
With the political situation stabilized, the18th
century became a relatively peaceful and prosperous time for
Ireland. This period is termed the Protestant Ascendancy,
for Ireland was ruled by Anglican (not radical Protestant)
aristocrats who were determined to sustain their power over
Ireland. These were the descendants of some of the oldest
Anglo-Irish families who had switched their loyalties to the
Protestant Church over the centuries, and now were firmly
established as the great land-owning families throughout
particularly the eastern half of Ireland. The achievements of
this ruling class were in many respects magnificent, and they
accomplished much that was good for Ireland: Trinity College
was their seat of learning, and it became one of the great
universities in western Europe; the
Irish Parliament in Dublin--the only independent Parliament in
any British colony in the entire empire--was renowned for its
great orators and leaders; and Dublin, the
center of the Protestant power, became a magnificent city.
View Georgian Dublin
In literary achievement, this group produced
the brilliant work of Oliver Goldsmith, Edmund Burke, and most
important of all, the great Jonathan Swift. Swift, a clergyman
in the Anglican Church, became Dean of St. Patrick’s
Cathedral in the heart of Dublin, and his
sympathy with the plight of the Dublin poor and his anger at
the injustice of English rule led to his writing some of the
greatest satire in world literature, including "Tale of a
Tub," "A Modest Proposal" (in which he suggests
that the logical solution to the overcrowding of Dublin is for
the Irish poor to begin eating their own young), and of course
his masterpiece, Gulliver’s Travels.
View Jonathan Swift and St.
Patrick's Cathedral
In his famous speech before the Irish Senate
in 1925, Yeats claims kinship with this class and its
heritage: "We are no petty people. We are one
of the great stocks of Europe. We are the people of
Burke; we are the people of Grattan; we are the people of
Swift, the people of Emmet, the people of Parnell. We
have created the most of the modern literature of this
country. We have created the best of its political
intelligence." Thus in "Blood and the Moon," his poem
with which this History text opens, Yeats aligns himself with
the cultural achievements of this era--at least as he
poetically imagines those achievements--the poetic work of
"Goldsmith and the Dean, Berkeley and Burke." The
achievements of the Protestant Ascendancy certainly stand as
one of the great moments in Irish culture. However, as
the 19th century would demonstrate, this Ascendancy was
built upon injustice, an injustice that would require great
suffering and tragedy before it would be replaced by a more
equitable system.
End of Chapter Two
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