ENG32160 Reading the Irish Revival

Academic Year 2020/2021

The Irish Revival, which took place between 1891 and 1922, was an extraordinary era of literary achievement and political ferment. This period generated not only a remarkable crop of artists of world significance, but also a range of innovative political thinkers and activists, among the most influential that Ireland has produced. This module will explore the Irish Revival as an intense phase of intellectual rejuvenation (in contrast to the darker nineteenth century) that fashioned a new civic culture outside the scope of institutional religion, the colonial state and conventional politics. Writers to be considered include: W.B. Yeats, Emily Lawless, Mary Colum, James Joyce, Lady Gregory, J.M. Synge, Alice Milligan, Douglas Hyde, James Connolly, Hanna Sheehy Skeffington and Patrick Pearse.

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Curricular information is subject to change

Learning Outcomes:

Students will develop an understanding of the complexity and diversity of this important cultural phase.
Students will understand ways in which key literary texts of the period were inflected by political debates, and in turn, how literary debate intervened in political discussion.
Students will be able to identify various strands of Irish critical debate that were fashioned during this crucial period.
Students will be able to evaluate the importance of the Irish Revival to contemporary Irish literature and culture.

Indicative Module Content:

Course Schedule

Themes and Methods
https://www.rte.ie/centuryireland/index.php/articles/literature-and-1916

A Country in Paralysis
Read: Lawless, ‘Famine Roads’, Hyde, ‘Necessity’, Joyce, ‘The Sisters’.

A Thought Revival
Read: Colum, ‘Life and the Dream’, Movements and Manifestos, Joyce, ‘Eveline’.

A Sovereign People
Read: Maud Gonne, ‘The Famine Queen’, Yeats, ‘Noble and Ignoble Loyalties’, Rooney, ‘Development of the National Ideal’, Joyce, ‘Ivy Day’.

Language Revival
Read: O’Growney, Atkinson, Synge, Pearse, Joyce, ‘A Mother’.

Theatre Matters
Read: Gregory, Milligan, Yeats, O’Neill, Joyce, ‘A Little Cloud’

Social Conditions
Read: Connolly, Larkin, Colum, Joyce, ‘Ivy Day’
[Essay Plans and annotated bibliography to be submitted in class]

Militarism/Modernism: Reading 1916
Read: Pearse, Louise Gavan Duffy, Yeats, Gonne

After the Revolution
Read: Nevinson, Burke-Plunkett, ‘The Civic Guard’, Shaw

Essay Preparation

Student Effort Hours: 
Student Effort Type Hours
Lectures

12
Tutorial

12
Specified Learning Activities

76
Autonomous Student Learning

100
Total

200
Approaches to Teaching and Learning:
active/task-based learning;
lectures;
critical writing;
reflective learning;
debates;
case-based learning;
student presentations, 
Requirements, Exclusions and Recommendations

Not applicable to this module.


Module Requisites and Incompatibles
Not applicable to this module.
 
Assessment Strategy  
Description Timing Open Book Exam Component Scale Must Pass Component % of Final Grade
Essay: End of semester research essay Unspecified n/a Graded Yes

75
Continuous Assessment: Attendance, class contribution and class presentation Throughout the Trimester n/a Graded No

25

Carry forward of passed components
Yes
 
Remediation Type Remediation Timing
In-Module Resit Prior to relevant Programme Exam Board
Please see Student Jargon Buster for more information about remediation types and timing. 
Feedback Strategy/Strategies

• Feedback individually to students, on an activity or draft prior to summative assessment

How will my Feedback be Delivered?

Students will be required to submit a research proposal and essay plan. Feedback on this will be given individually in advance of final submission.

Declan Kiberd and P.J. Mathews (eds.) Handbook of the Irish Revival (Abbey Theatre Press, 2015).
James Joyce, Dubliners (any edition)
Name Role
Laura Loftus Lecturer / Co-Lecturer