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Sunday, March 16, 2008

A Terrible Beauty Is Born

We know their dream; enough
To know they dreamed and are dead;
And what if excess of love
Bewildered them till they died?
I write it out in a verse -
MacDonagh and MacBride
And Connolly and Pearse
Now and in time to be,
Wherever green is worn,
Are changed, changed utterly:
A terrible beauty is born.

~ from Easter 1916 by William Butler Yeats


Patrick Henry Pearse (Pádraic Anraí Mac Pharais)
Born: 10 November 1879
Executed: 3 May 1916


Thomas MacDonagh (Tomas Ni Donnachada)
Born: 1 February 1878
Executed: 3 May 1916


Thomas James Clarke (Tomas O Cleirigh)
Born: 11 March 1857
Executed: 3 May 1916

Joseph Mary Plunkett (Joseph O Pluingcead)
Born: 21 November 1887
Executed: 4 May 1916

Edward Daly (Eamonn O Dalaigh)
Born: 25 February 1891
Executed: 4 May 1916


Michael O'Hanrahan (Micheal O Hannrachain)
Born: 17 March 1877
Executed: 4 May 1916


William Pearse (Liam Mac Pharais)
Born: 15 November 1881
Executed: 4 May 1916

John MacBride (Sean Mac Giolla Bhride)
Born: 7 May 1865
Executed: 5 May 1916


Con Colbert (Conchuir O Colbaird)
Born: 1888
Executed: 8 May 1916


Eamon Kent (Eamonn Ceannt)
Born: 21 September 1881
Executed: 8 May 1916


Michael Mallin (Micheal O Meallain)
Born: 1874
Executed: 8 May 1916

Sean Hueston (Sean Mac Aodha)
Born: 1891
Executed: 8 May 1916

Thomas Kent (Tomas Ceannt)
Born:
Executed: 9 May 1916


James Connolly (Seamus O Conghaile)
Born: 5 June 1868
Executed: 12 May 1916

Sean MacDermott (Sean Mac Diarmada)
Born: 1884
Executed: 12 May 1916








A Note of Explanation: Although my ancestry is primarily Orange rather than Green, I’ve read the histories and regret the exploitation and oppression my British ancestors imposed on the peoples of Ireland, Africa, Palestine, and India. To celebrate the freedom and martyrs of these folk is about all I can do in restitution.

7 comments:

  1. Although my ancestry is Green, I remember also Orange Irish and the White of the flag that keeps the peace between.
    xx
    pinks

    ReplyDelete
  2. Aye, dear Pink.

    And although my ancestry is primarily Orange, I’ve read the histories, remember and regret the exploitation and oppression my British ancestors imposed on the peoples of Ireland, Africa, Palestine, and India. To celebrate the freedom and martyrs of these folk is about all I can do in restitution.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I never understood Yeats’ poem until I began reading about Irish history. Have you ever read the novel “1916”? Those leaders the British executed after the revolution failed were not revolutionaries. They were romantics and dreamers.

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  4. Slainte!!

    You can probably tell I dig with my left foot.

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  5. ANGUS: I’m the reverse: I didn’t encounter Yeats’ poem until after I began reading the history. I was drawn to Irish history by the song “The Patriot Game” many years ago. I didn’t understand the references and began researching them (long before there was the aid of the Internet). Yes, I’ve read “1916.” It’s a haunting novel. And, yes, they were dreamers—teachers, poets, writers—not revolutionaries.

    COURTNEY: Slainte Mhor!

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  6. We have great empathy with the Greens here in America, I think, not necessarily because we have so many Irish immigrant forebears (though we do) but because we fought the same fight they fought (for independence from a very paternalistic and arrogant master). My forefathers arrived on the Mayflower with a sense of alienation from England and never lost it. At last the American colonial "children" outgrew and outfought their English "fathers" with help from France and had to stand on their own in the world. I think that we hold a special regard for anyone in the world faced with a similar situation.

    ReplyDelete