Preserving the irish identity in modern literature : a study on the writing styles of W.B. Yeats, J.M. Synge and James Joyce

Abstract

In this dissertation I will be looking at how three writers in particular W.B.Yeats, J.M.Synge and James Joyce capture the Irish Identity. These writers do not simply retell history, but use metaphors, symbols and create their own writing styles in order to portray their Irish Identity. They create situations and characters that show the struggles the Irish had to go through in order to retain that sole essence which make them unique and different; their identity. Their writing truly shows their patriotism and through works of fiction they are able to promote and preserve the ordeals that the Irish had to face. In the first chapter I shall briefly prove how the Irish identity has been taken over by that of the British and how different writers have resisted this view through language. In the second chapter I will be focusing on Yeats’s political poems, discussing how he both upholds the notion of hero and yet at the same time deny it. Importance to artistic revival and historical events as seen through the poems will be given importance. In the third chapter I will be looking at Irish Theatre, focusing on its development and the reasons behind it. Yeats’s patriotic language shall be discussed in relation to the play ‘Cathleen Ni Houlihan’, while also looking at concepts such as revival and rejuvenation in Celtic mythology and how these relate to Ireland. In the fourth chapter my research will be based on 'Yeats’s encounter with Synge in Paris and the subsequent visit made by Synge to the Aran Isles. Nature as a central character shall be discussed, with reference to the dichotomous image of the sea in the play, ‘Riders to the Sea’. Synge’s use of dialect in the play will also be presented. In the following chapter, chapter five, I will continue to focus on the Irish Dialect in the play ‘Playboy of the Western World’. Here is where I shall focus on the resistance exhibited by the Irish public against this play which angered Yeats, as they revolted against the national theatre he had originally created. In the last chapter I will look at Joyce’s life and see how it resembles that of Stephen and Gabriel Conroy. I will highlight key events found in, ‘The Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man’ and ‘Dubliners’ and try to see the political and religious factors that drove Joyce out of his motherland. Especially when it comes to radical characters like that of Miss Ivors, Aunt Kate and Dante. The different forms of writing styles; be it kinetic or static will also be discussed in light of the theme of searching for one’s identity.