You may not realize that when you go around Ireland with me, you end up reading or listening to poetry and other literature being read aloud in strange but appropriate places. This practice has turned out to be one of the most meaningful aspects of the trips I’ve led, with even seasoned cynics giving in to the pure joy of hearing or speaking the words in the place where they were written, or at the place they were written about, or at a locale that is significant to the text or the author in some way. When I’m traveling with students, they are shy about this practice at first but soon find themselves competing to read certain pieces at certain places.

Of course we will read the “Proclamation of the Irish Republic” in front of the General Post Office, where Patrick Pearse read it on Easter Monday in 1916. We will read passages from The Islandman when we are standing at the end of the Dingle Peninsula, looking across the sea to the Great Blasket Island (pictured at the top of this page) where Tomás O’Crohan wrote his famous memoir. We will read W. B. Yeats’s poem “Under Ben Bulben” under Ben Bulben, the massive mountain that rises up just beyond Drumcliff Churchyard. Yeats created his own epitaph as the last lines of this poem: “Cast a cold Eye / On life, on Death / Horseman pass by.” So many Yeats poems are tied to the landscape and history of Ireland. The photo at the beginning of this post shows Meiqing Xiong ’16 on our last trip just after she finished reading “The Lake Isle of Innisfree” on a pier in Lough Gill, Sligo, with the eponymous isle in the background. A work of literature comes to mean something more to you when you’ve been to the place it represents, and nearly every student on the trip wants a picture like this one. I’ve linked the poem’s title to a recording of Yeats reading the poem. Listen for the clues to meaning and nuance his voice gives.

One of my favorite Yeats poems is “The Fiddler of Dooney,” included below in full. Yeats based many of his poems on the Celtic legends he heard growing up in Sligo, but this “legend” is one he is said to have made up on his own. I love this little poem for its celebration of poetry and song (the arts), for its whimsical story, and for the line “Folk dance like a wave of the sea.” This photo shows students reading the poem on the shore of Lough Gill with the gigantic “Rock of Dooney” in the background. If you click on the title of the poem in this paragraph, you’ll be able to hear a beautiful musical rendition of the poem by Sean Doyle.

The Fiddler of Dooney

by W. B. Yeats

When I play on my fiddle in Dooney,
Folk dance like a wave of the sea;
My cousin is priest in Kilvarnet,
My brother in Moharabuiee.

I passed my brother and cousin:
They read in their books of prayer;
I read in my book of songs
I bought at the Sligo fair.

When we come at the end of time,
To Peter sitting in state,
He will smile on the three old spirits,
But call me first through the gate;

For the good are always the merry,
Save by an evil chance,
And the merry love the fiddle
And the merry love to dance:

And when the folk there spy me,
They will all come up to me,
With ‘Here is the fiddler of Dooney!’
And dance like a wave of the sea.

(1899)

Today it is my pleasure to introduce you to my good friend and trusted co-leader, Dave Yeates of Dave Yeates Ireland Tours, who will be our driver-guide for the trip in June.

Dave has led four Agnes Scott student trips, and he has also led a trip for my husband’s extended family (16 people). I’ve recommended him to many other groups planning tours of Ireland. Dave has his own company that does business under the umbrella of Celtic Tours, who make all the arrangements, provide insurance, etc. With over thirty years in the travel industry, Dave is also a Certified Irish National Tour Guide, Bord Failte Approved (that’s the Irish tourism agency–it means “Welcome Board”). But those details don’t begin to describe his vast knowledge of the country’s history, culture, and geography; his energetic and fun-loving spirit, or his kindness and care for everyone on his trips. I know you will enjoy getting to know Dave and seeing Ireland under his guidance!

Just to tell you a few stories on Dave–he spends his vacations exploring the very few corners of Ireland he doesn’t already know well, talking to local musicians and performers, craftspeople, restaurateurs, etc. to devise new, unusual “detours” to enhance his tours. He keeps in touch with people who’ve been on his trips via Facebook and other means, remembering their birthdays, congratulating them on their accomplishments, and always offering an encouraging word or two. When I was living in Ireland last year, he cheerfully drove me around the country in search of some lesser known literary sites, as I documented in my blog: a little known geological formation mentioned in a Yeats’s poem “Man and the Echo” (46 Into the Night); and a privately owned estate home where a famous memoir took place (51 Woodbrook).  Dave will do anything to make your trip to Ireland as wonderful and memorable as it can possibly be.

I’m writing this from Dublin where I’m attending some of the events celebrating 100 years since the Easter Rising. The Rising has a complicated legacy–too much so to enter into here. We’ll explore some of this during our trip. But over the years, the nature of the commemorations of the “insurrection” tells us a lot about Ireland’s transformation during this time. Initially, the Rising was commemorated mainly as as a military event. Those who served and died in 1916 were accorded almost saintlike stature, their families and descendants honored accordingly and given considerable say in what happened during the celebrations, Politics played a huge role, and the party in power determined how the ceremonies went, who sat where, and how the story of the Rising was told. A narrow definition of the Rising and of what it means to be Irish prevailed. The fiftieth anniversary opened things up a bit, with the then Taioseach (prime minister) Seán Lemass (one of my heroes) using the occasion to portray Ireland as a modern, progressive nation leading the way to European unification, excelling at industry, and moving towards rapprochement with Northern Ireland. During the Troubles in Northern Ireland (1968-1998), the military aspect of the commemorations was toned down for fear of inciting further violence. The signing of the Good Friday Peace Agreement and its ratification in Northern Ireland and in the Republic of Ireland in 1998 made it possible to take a fresh look at the past.

Only in the last several decades have historians begun to question and debate everything about the Rising and to challenge the party line. An absolute flood of scholarship, books, films, exhibits, and more has, in the words of historian Diarmaid Ferriter, “complicated the story” of the Eastern Rising–and rightly so. Such a momentous event deserves nothing less. This weekend’s festivities were marked by a step back from politicization, a welcoming of debate, and the embrace of language celebrating diversity and inclusion. Here are the words spoken by Fr. Séamus Madigan at the General Post Office commemoration today.

Look kindly we pray, on the people of Ireland, from all traditions, at home and abroad. Help us listen and respond to the voices that challenge in 2016 as we reimagine our future. Conscious of our troubled past, ‘To you O God, we sing a new song;’ a song of compassion, inclusion and engagement, a song of listening, social justice and respect for all, a song of unity, diversity, equality and peace, a song of Céad Mile Fáilte and of care for our environment. With you O Lord, we long to sing our new song in a spirit of true freedom.

Just a bit more on our Dublin hotel. For a few days we will be living next door to Oscar Wilde, or at least, next door to the house where Oscar grew up, and next door to a wonderful statue paying tribute to him in Merrion Square, one of Dublin’s beautiful Georgian squares. The Wilde home is now an outpost of an American college (shall we find one of these for Agnes Scott?) but looks pretty much as it did in Oscar’s day. The statue, located in a corner of the gorgeous park in the square’s center, is one of Dublin’s best and most unusual. Danny Osborne, an Irish sculptur, chose the casual pose and used colored stone–including several kinds of Jade, thulite, and granite–to capture Wilde’s colorful personality.  I especially love the pillars in the foreground with some of Wilde’s famous sayings etched on them in the handwriting of famous Irish people. If you haven’t read any Wilde, his comic play The Importance of Being Earnest is probably a good place to start. I didn’t “assign” him for our trip because his works are not really about Ireland. But his wit and critical eye definitely have roots in Irish culture. Speaking of wit, all Dublin statues have risqué nicknames–better conveyed in person than written in a serious blog!

Click on the pictures to see them enlarged!

As I mentioned in my earlier email, I am currently in Dublin to attend some of the events celebrating the Easter Rising of 1916. I’m staying across the street from the hotel where we will spend our first nights of the trip, The Davenport, and thought I’d tell you a bit about it, as it has an interesting history. Built in 1863 as a church to accommodate the Plymouth Brethren, the building held 3000 seated, many more standing, and served as a church or prayer hall. Eventually abandoned, it was used as a film location until a fire in 1990 gutted it. Then it was restored as The Davenport Hotel, opening in 1993. The Davenport is in a great location on the lovely Merrion Square across from the Oscar Wilde statue and a short walk from Trinity College, the National Museum (history and archaeology), the National Gallery (visual art), and Grafton Street, Dublin’s main shopping area.

Across the street from the hotel (in fact, you can see the yellow facade of the hotel in the photo at right) is Sweny’s Pharmacy,  one of the many buildings in Dublin whose mention in the works of James Joyce has saved from oblivion. An important stop for Leopold Bloom on his walk through Dublin  in Ulysses, Sweny’s is now a lovely Joyce center with daily readings of his works, books for sale, and lots of atmosphere. Joyce fans will want to drop by while we are in Dublin.

Welcome to the web site for the Agnes Scott Alumnae Trip to Ireland 2016. This site is managed by Christine Cozzens, Agnes Scott faculty member and trip leader. Here you will find all kinds of resources for our trip, including documents and online resources. Additions to the site will be noted on this home page, and all resources will be accessible via the menu at the top right.  Click on those tabs now to see what is already posted.  If you want to ask a question or leave comment, use the comment feature. I’m looking forward to seeing Ireland with you in June!

In the Online Resources section, I’ve added two sites I haven’t previously sent out: an eight minute film about the Easter Rising, and a link to the blog I wrote while living in Ireland in 2014-15. I hope you enjoy them.