Gaelic revival

Gaelic revival

Resurgence of interest in Irish language, literature, history, and folklore inspired by the growing Irish nationalism of the early 19th century. With the 17th-century English conquest and settlement of Ireland, Irish almost disappeared as a literary language. By the mid-19th century, translations of heroic tales from ancient Irish manuscripts led to the popularity, among the educated classes, of poets who wrote in patterns echoing ancient bardic verse. The revival laid the scholarly and nationalistic groundwork for the Irish Literary Renaissance. See also bard.