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LECTURE 14
LITERATURE OF IRELAND
Irish literature includes writings in the Irish, Latin and English languages on the island of Ireland. The earliest recorded Irish writing dates from the 7^th century and was produced by monks. The monks recorded both poetry and mythological tales. There is a large body of Irish mythological writing including such as “The Tain” and “Mat King Sweeny”.
The English language was introduced to Ireland in the thirteenth century, following the Norman invasion of Ireland. But the Irish language remained dominant until the 19^th century. The later part of the nineteenth century saw the replacement of Irish by English language.
The Irish people became literate by the arrival of Christianity in the 5^th century. The introduction of Latin led the adaptation to Irish alphabet and the rise of a small literate class.
The earliest Irish literature consisted of original lyric poetry and ancient tales. The earliest Irish poetry described the world nature. “The Blackbird of Belfast Laugh” was an example of the earliest poetry.
After the Old Irish period there is a large range of poetry from medieval times. The Irish writers created a classical tradition in their own language. Medieval Irish writers also created a large literature in Latin. This Hiberno-latin literature was notable for its learned vocabulary.
The literary Irish language was taught in bardic schools (academies of higher learning) in Ireland and Scotland. These produced historians, lawyers and professional writers. Literary works produced in this period was traditional in character. They were about families and patrons. But the most famous poetry included poetry of personal nature. The most famous Irish writers were: Gofraidh Fionn O’Dalaigh (14^th century) and Tadhg Og O’huiginn (15^th century). Women were excluded from the official literature.

LECTURE 15
MEDIEVAL DRAMA
Drama of Old English period was originally presented by Romans. Later it developed with the stories from Bible.
Some scholars thought that medieval drama was religious drama of the Middle Ages that grew from the Church’s services. Others suggest a different origin of medieval drama, saying that it grew parallel to but outside of Church services.
Medieval drama provided a method for the Church to teach a largely illiterate people. Two main forms of medieval drama were the mystery play and the morality play.
Mystery plays described events from the Bible. Often mystery plays were performed as cycle plays. Some cycle plays were performed by guilds, each guild

took one event to dramatize. Most famous of the play cycles were the York mystery plays and the Chester cycle. They are still performed in England.

The cycles were performed on pageant wagons that moved on a planned way through the city. By staying in the same place, the people could see each play as the wagon stopped and the actors performed before moving on to perform again at the next station.
One of the most famous mystery plays is The Second Shepherds’ Play, part of the Wakefield cycle. The play blends comic action, serious social commentary and the religious story. At the end of play, the religious message came clear when angels announce the birth of Christ.
Morality plays are intended to teach a moral lesson. These plays often use allegory. It is the use of characters or events in a literary work to represent abstract ideas. Morality plays did not act out events from Bible, but instead showed characters much like people watching the play. From characters’ difficulties the people could learn the moral lessons.
One of the most famous morality plays is Everyman. In this morality play, God sends Death to tell Everyman that his time on earth has finished.