Poetry as Commemoration: Introduction
Poetry as Commemoration project, an all island project, will use poetry as a means to deepen our collective understanding of Ireland's past and to explore a challenging period of our history relating to the struggle for independence and Civil War, in a spirit of openness and inclusivity.
Key Strands
Key components of this project include
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The Commissioned work: A core component of this project is to commission a selection of poems, in English and in Irish, on topics, themes and events inspired by primary source materials relating to the War of Independence and Civil War that are held in archives around the country. A selection committee will be drawn up by IPRA, working closely with Poetry Ireland, to select the commissioned poets, ensuring diversity, representation from both sides of the border, and academic input.
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Creative writing workshops: A community engagement programme will include creative writing workshops for adults and children. They will draw inspiration for new creative work by engaging with original documents relating to the War of Independence and Civil War.
- Poetry in public spaces: A programme of poetry in public spaces, including the curation of recordings generated by the project for the mobile Poetry Jukebox will tour towns and cities, together with other poetry exhibitions and installations, such as “Rain Poetry”.
Rain poetry by Nidhi Zakaria Eipe
UCD’s Associate Professor Lucy Collins and Maria McManus of Quotidian with the Poetry Jukebox
Rain Poetry haiku as Gaeilge by Gabriel Rosenstock
This is a temporary webpage . A new website is under development
Examples of archival materials
Kilmichael Ambush destruction
House smashed by auxiliaries after the Kilmichael ambush (UCDA P80/PH/16 Desmond FitzGerald Photographs)
Plan of the Four Courts
Map of the inside of the Four Courts (UCDA P17a/304 Papers of Ernie O'Malley)
Notes on the Civil War
Notes on the Civil war by John Waldron, Tuam, Co Galway. This page refers to the so called 'Tuam Martyrs', 6 members of the anti treaty forces executed in April 1923 at the site of the Tuam workhouse (GS12-10Galway County Archives).
Irish Free State Army Soldier
Thomas MacMahon, armoured car and machine gun division who sustained a hip wound on Dame Street. (UCDA P80/PH/119 Desmond FitzGerald Photographs).
Anti-treaty propaganda leaflet
An anti-treaty propaganda leaflet entitled 'Gentlemen, the King' , published by anti-treaty forces during the civil war (UCD OFM collection in Special Collections)
View of the damaged Four Courts
View of the facade of the Four Courts from Merchants Quay by W.D. Hogan. (UCDA P80/PH/30 Desmond FitzGerald Photographs)
Poblacht na h-Eireann War News
Poblacht na h-EireannWar News – published by anti-treaty forces occupying the Four Courts on June 28th, 1922 at the outbreak of the Civil War (UCD OFM collection in Special Collections).
Letter from Marion O'Malley to Richard Mulcahy
Letter from Marion O'Malley to Richard Mulcahy relating to her three imprisoned sons (UCDA 17a/289 Papers of Ernie O'Malley)
Developing the project
A Creative Producer will be engaged to develop and lead this project .
Work will include developing a dynamic programme of activities to engage diverse audiences on the island of Ireland, including poetry workshops, events, installations and publications. This person will also work with the poetry partners, along with local, regional and national organisations, individual poets and practitioners, to facilitate creative engagement with archives
Process of writing commemorative poems.
"The stories of individual people in our history, held in their letters, diaries and memoirs as well as in public documents, can capture the imagination and create an emotional response in both the writer and the reader. Commemorative poems help us to unpack historic events and to understand the humanity of the people involved." Poet Jane Clarke, commenting on a commissioned poem for a film in the Strokestown Poetry Festival
Jane Clarke also spoke about drawing inspiration from the writings of Asenath Nicholson. She described the role of the poet as being like an outsider …."a sensitive, observant, compassionate outsider… drawing on their emotional, intellectual and imaginative response to archival material to write poetry of and out of these lives".
IPRA
The Irish Poetry Reading Archive (IPRA) at UCD Library is delighted to lead this exciting national commemorations project which will explore poetry as a means of deepening our understandings of the past through archives and other original documents. By engaging contemporary poets to look at Ireland’s past we endeavour to reflect the Ireland of the 21st century. This artistic expression will form the future interpretation of both past events and current commemorations.
Poems, drafts, photographs, manuscripts etc from this project will be archived with the Irish Poetry Reading Archive, in UCD.
Funder
This project is supported by the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media , under the Decade of Centenaries 2012-2023 initiative. It is led by the Irish Poetry Reading Archive at UCD
Working in partnership
The Irish Poetry Reading Archive together with Poetry Ireland and the Arts Council in Northern Ireland will collaborate with a diverse range of poets, institutions, groups, and individuals to deliver innovative and imaginative outputs.
Collaborators will include the Local Government Management Agency, county archivists, arts officers, heritage officers, public libraries, schools, universities, museums, and arts organisations.
Commemorative readings in the IPRA
A selection of poetry readings from the Irish Poetry Reading Archive.