An Orchestrated Awakening: Latent Irish-ness at the Heart of Yeats's Seminal Work

Abstract

Abstract:

"The Lake Isle of Innisfree" is more subtle than the poet's more myth- and folklore-facing poems like "Cuchulainn's Fight with the Sea" and "A Faery Song." Yet, it fits squarely in the realm of the nineteenth-century movement known as the Celtic Revival. At its core, the movement sought to reestablish the rich artistic and folkloric traditions of the Irish that had long been outlawed under British rule. To inspire understanding of what it meant to be Irish, writers and artists of all stripes reintroduced Celtic art and dancing, music and theatre, poetry, athletics, and spiritual practices. Myth cycles and pseudo-historical figures took their places once more in the imagination of the Irish, and as a major contributor to the Celtic Revival, Yeats became the high priest of Irish-ness.