Introduction
Throughout the 20th century, Irish poetry has been influenced by historical events and political changes reflected in themes and motifs of poems. The main similarity of pre-WWII period and the Innti generation is close attention to Irish language and folklore. Poems written by pre-WWII poets reflect political and religious battles, social instability and fears experienced by many citizens. The partition between North and South in 1920 was marked by violence and distress. The Irish state was established in 1921 but it did not establish peace and stability so important for Irish community. Heaney was one of the Irish poets who portrayed casualties of life and death. In his poem “Casualty” he claims: “The blurred mesh and murmur/Drifting among glasses/In the gregarious smoke” (Heaney). Many Irish poets believed mankind could control its own destiny for good; but after the World War of 1914-18 they had become painfully conscious that it could also control its destiny for evil. It seemed a matter of extreme urgency to warn the human race of the choices to be made immediately in order to avert a catastrophe towards which choices already made were leading (Kiberd, 2002).
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Another important theme of pre-WWII poetry was religious conflicts between Protestants and Catholics. The Irish republic was established in 1949 but this event caused a bloody Civil War. The most famous poets of this period were Patrick Kavanagh, John Hewitt and Louis MacNeice. These poets paid a special attention to language means and unique styles, rural landscapes and political and religious conflicts. In the poem ‘Epic’ Kavanagh writes: ”That half a rood of rock, a no-man’s land / Surrounded by our pitchfork-armed claims. / I heard the Duffys shouting “Damn your soul” / And old McCabe stripped to the waist, seen” (Kavanagh). During pre-WWII period, the majority of poems were written in English language (Bradley, 1988).
The Innti generation marked a new period in Irish literature and poetry changing traditional patterns and styles of poetry. In contrast to the previous period, the majority of their poems were completed in Irish language aimed to popularize and promote Irish culture and keep century old traditions. The main poets of these period were Maire Mhac an tSaoi, Máirtín Ó’Díreáin, Sean Ó’Ríordáin. The traditional Irish image of the soothing bell-branch was common to Innti generation thus they transformed it and applied to the city and urban themes. The Innti generation tried to apply rural Irish language to modern world and urban environment. With time running out and her natural defenses useless in such surroundings, the mermaid doesn’t fight but withdraws. The Irish language poets who fear time was running out for the language but who, left high and dry like the mermaid with water going down but no tide turning, would not capitulate to English (Crotty, 1995).
Romantic images and rural settings dominated in poems of the Innti generation. For instance, in “The Late Spring” Máirtín Ó’Díreáin writes: “Women in the lake /In the lowest tide / their coats drawn up / reflections down below them ‘//peaceful restful vision”. In contrast to the pre-WWII generation, the Innti poets avoided themes of fear and life grievances, hardship and political battles. Maire Mhac an tSaoi and Sean Ó’Ríordái realized that they were unfitted for great intellectual or artistic achievement, but they still hoped that they might lead Ireland to freedom and become the prophets and central symbols of a new religion. It is possible to say that Maire Mhac an tSaoi blended Christian humility with Christian triumph which became the secret of her success. By referring to traditional symbols very familiar to Irish readers, she wrote some powerful though uncharacteristic lyrics at various stages of her career. Her collections of poems are Margadh na Saoire (1956); Codladh an Ghaiscigh (1973); An Galar Dubhach (1980), and An Cion go dtí Seo (1987)
For pre-WWII Irish poets, folklore was a projection of the yearning, fears, and anxieties of a people, as one might read the legend as a metaphor for the woman in an arranged marriage, the match that was the practice in rural Ireland up almost to the second World War: a marriage based on a woman’s property which was taken by her husband and that held her captive away from her own people and from which she only escaped by silence and distance or by madness or death (Crotty, 1995).Thus, the Innti generation used forklike as the main tool to portray urban settings and city life. The Innti generation portrayed a man wandering through a modern city, thinking about a woman; the reader was thus enabled to form a judgment about the woman that might be strikingly different from the man’s. Very little happens outwardly, but within the man’s mind there was a constant shifting of attitude toward the woman, a constant vacillation among possible courses of action that he might take in regard to her as in An Cion go dtí Seo (1987).collection by Maire Mhac an tSaoi.
Conclusion
In sum, during pre-WWII period and post WWII poets reflected social and economic problems affected Irish society. The main difference is in styles of poets and their use of Irish language and themes. During the pre-WWII period of time, anxiety and desperation dominated in Irish poetry. The Innti generation used traditional folklore and rural settings to depict urban life and new social environment. Irish literature and art are exceptionally rich in the folklore, fantasy in its most pure form is as rare in Ireland as it is elsewhere. The Innti generation does not pay much attention to religious and political battle but portrays romantic ideals and modern life.
References
Bradley, A. (1988). Contemporary Irish Poetry, New and Revised editon. University of California Press; New Rev edition.
Crotty, P. (1995). Modern Irish Poetry. Blackstaff Press.
Kiberd, D. (2002). Irish Classic. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.