Mise Éire Explained

Mise Éire (in Irish pronounced as /ˈmʲɪʃə ˈeːɾʲə/, Irish for "I [am] Ireland") is a 1912 Irish-language poem by the Irish poet and Republican revolutionary leader Patrick Pearse.

Background

Mise Éire is a 1912 Irish-language poem by the Irish poet and Republican revolutionary leader Patrick Pearse.

Political relevance

In the poem, Pearse personifies Ireland as an old woman whose glory is past and who has been sold by her children.^[1]

Later use

Described as both a literary and historical text, it was regularly used by Republican prisoners in Long Kesh as a means of learning and teaching Irish.^[2] Is Mise continues to be relevant in post-partition Ireland, suggest scholars, as illustrating of the difficulties in identifying "Irishness" in Northern Ireland.^[3]

Counter view

The title of the poem was used as a title for a 1959 documentary film by George Morrison, which dealt with key figures and events in Irish Nationalism between the 1890s and the 1910s, including Pearse himself.^[4] Seán Ó Riada wrote a soundtrack for the film, also titled 'Mise Éire'.^[5]

A poem of the same name by Eavan Boland was written as a counter to Pearse's poem, and its treatment of Ireland and her children.^[6] Pearse had already written optimistically on the fate of Ireland's strong sons' martyrdom in his poem "The Mother"; Is Mise takes the opposite, more pessimistic view of the sacrifice.^[7] In the words of Boss, Nordin and Orlinder, Boland "opposes and corrects Pearse's view on Ireland...No longer, as in the earlier poem, is the personification of the country 'older than the Old Woman of Beare' but 'a sloven’s mix'. The glory of having born 'Cuchulain the valiant’ is turned into the picture of the woman ‘holding her half-dead baby to her'.^[8]

Cultural usage

In 2016, the poem was set to music composed by Patrick Cassidy and performed by the, RTÉ Concert Orchestra for the score of the PBS documentary series 1916: An Irish Rebellion, curated by the Keough-Naughton Institute for Irish Studies at the University of Notre Dame.^{[9] [10]} It was also performed by Sibéal Ní Chasaide at the Centenary concert commemorating the 1916 Rising.^[9]

The text

Irish (direct translation)

See also

• Kathleen Ni Houlihan
• Róisín Dubh (song)
• The Sean-Bhean bhocht
• Hibernia (personification)
• Four Green Fields

Notes and References

1. Book: Foster, Robert Fitzroy . The Oxford Illustrated History of Ireland . 283–84 . Oxford University Press . 2001 . 0-19-289323-8.
2. Book: Jailtacht: The Irish Language, Symbolic Power and Political Violence in Northern Ireland, 1972-2008. Diarmait Mac Giolla Chriost. 5 January 2012. University of Wales Press. 978-0-7083-2497-4.
3. Book: Affecting Irishness: Negotiating Cultural Identity Within and Beyond the Nation. James P. Byrne. Padraig Kirwan. Michael O'Sullivan. Peter Lang. 2009. 978-3-03911-830-4. 15–.
4. Web site: Mise Éire. The Irish Music Review. 30 March 2014.
5. Book: Clear . Caitriona . Women's Voices in Ireland Women's Magazines in the 1950s and 60s . 2015 . Bloomsbury Publishing.
6. Book: Bourke, Angela. The Field Day Anthology of Irish Writing: Irish Women's Writing and Traditions. New York University Press. 2002. 0-8147-9908-6. 1295.
7. Book: The Oxford History of Ireland. registration. R. F. Foster. Robert Fitzroy Foster. Oxford University Press. 2001. 978-0-19-280202-6.
8. Book: Re-Mapping Exile: Realities and Metaphors in Irish Literature and History. Michael Boss. Irene Gilsenan Nordin. Britta Olinder. 1 May 2006. Aarhus University Press. 978-87-7934-922-3.
9. Web site: Young Gaeltacht vocalist brings Pearse poem to life . 26 March 2016 . .
10. Web site: Making 1916 An Irish Rebellion - Creative Team. 26 March 2016 . Keough-Naughton Institute for Irish Studies at the University of Notre Dame .