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A gallant little ‘tírín’: the Welsh influence on Irish cultural nationalism

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 February 2015

Caoimhín De Barra
Caoimhín De Barra*
Affiliation:
Department of History, University of Delaware
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Extract

Throughout the Irish cultural revival of the later nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Wales was held up as an example by some Irish nationalists of how a nation could revive its traditional culture and language. These writers told their audience of the heroic deeds of the Welsh in restoring their language to show Irish language revivalists that their task was not impossible. The Welsh example was studied by enthusiasts to see what steps were needed to improve the position of Irish. Organisations such as the Society for the Preservation of the Irish Language (S.P.I.L.) and the Gaelic League noted with envy the levels of literacy among Welsh speakers. Revivalists believed that literacy had prevented Welsh from disappearing, and they hoped to boost literacy rates in Irish to save that language. They noted how successful the eisteddfodau were in instilling pride among the Welsh people in their culture. Accordingly, members of the Gaelic League established the Oireachtas to encourage the people of Ireland to celebrate their own distinctive characteristics. Yet while the example of the Welsh language was regularly discussed, this did not reflect a deep understanding of linguistic developments in Wales.

Type
Research Article
Information
Irish Historical Studies , Volume 39 , Issue 153 , May 2014 , pp. 58 - 75
Copyright
Copyright © Irish Historical Studies Publications Ltd 2014

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