Irish literature in the context of "Samuel Beckett"

The culture of Ireland includes the art, music, dance, folklore, theatre, traditional clothing, language, literature, cuisine and sport associated with Ireland and the Irish people. For most of its recorded history, the country’s culture has been primarily Gaelic (see Gaelic Ireland). Strong family values, wit and an appreciation for tradition are commonly associated with Irish culture.

Irish culture has been greatly influenced by Christianity, most notably by the Roman Catholic Church, and religion plays a significant role in the lives of many Irish people. Today, there are often notable cultural differences between those of Catholic, Protestant and Orthodox background. References to God can be found in spoken Irish, notably exemplified by the Irish equivalent of “Hello” — “Dia dhuit” (literally: "God be with you").

High King of Ireland (Irish: Ardrí na hÉireann [ˈaːɾˠd̪ˠˌɾˠiː n̪ˠə ˈheːɾʲən̪ˠ]) was a royal title in Gaelic Ireland held by those who had, or who are claimed to have had, lordship over all of Ireland. The title was held by historical kings and was also assigned anachronously or to legendary figures.

Medieval and early modern Irish literature portrays an almost unbroken line of High Kings, ruling from the Hill of Tara over a hierarchy of lesser kings, stretching back thousands of years. Modern historians believe this scheme was crafted in the 8th century from the various genealogical traditions of powerful dynasties, and intended to justify their status by projecting it far into the past. John T. Koch explains: "Although the kingship of Tara was a special kingship whose occupants had aspirations towards supremacy among the kings of Ireland, in political terms it is unlikely that any king had sufficient authority to dominate the whole island before the 9th century".

Finnegans Wake is a novel by the Irish writer James Joyce. It was published in installments starting in 1924, under the title "fragments from Work in Progress". The final title was only revealed when the book was published on 4 May 1939.

Although the base language of the novel is English, it is an English that Joyce modified by combining and altering words from many languages into his own distinctive idiom. Some commentators believe this technique was Joyce's attempt to reproduce the way that memories, people, and places are mixed together and transformed in a dreaming or half-awakened state; metaphor mixing.

In addition to English, literature has been written in a wide variety of other languages in Britain, that is the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands (the Isle of Man and the Bailiwicks of Guernsey and Jersey are not part of the United Kingdom, but are closely associated with it, being British Crown Dependencies). This includes literature in Scottish Gaelic, Welsh, Latin, Cornish, Anglo-Norman, Guernésiais, Jèrriais, Manx, and Irish (but the last of these only in Northern Ireland after 1922). Literature in Anglo-Saxon (Old English) is treated as English literature and literature in Scots as Scottish literature.

Trinity College Dublin (Irish: Coláiste na Tríonóide, Baile Átha Cliath), officially branded by the board as Trinity College, the University of Dublin, and by decree as The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, is the sole constituent college of the University of Dublin in the Republic of Ireland. Founded by Queen Elizabeth I in 1592 through a royal charter, it is one of the extant seven ancient universities of Great Britain and Ireland. As Ireland's oldest university in continuous operation, Trinity contributed to Irish literature during the Victorian and Georgian eras and played a notable role in the recognition of Dublin as a UNESCO City of Literature.

Trinity was established to consolidate the rule of the Tudor monarchy in Ireland, with Provost Adam Loftus christening it after Trinity College, Cambridge. Built on the site of the former Priory of All Hallows demolished by King Henry VIII, it was the Protestant university of the Ascendancy ruling elite for over two centuries, and was therefore associated with social elitism for most of its history. Trinity has three faculties comprising 25 schools, and affiliated institutions include the Royal Irish Academy of Music, the Lir Academy, and the Irish School of Ecumenics. It is a member of LERU and the Coimbra Group. Trinity College Dublin is one of the two sister colleges of both Oriel College, Oxford, and St John's College, Cambridge, and through mutual incorporation, the three universities have retained an academic partnership (Oxon, Cantab, and Dubl) since 1636.

The Celtic Revival (also referred to as the Celtic Twilight) is a variety of movements and trends in the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries that see a renewed interest in aspects of Celtic culture. Artists and writers drew on the traditions of Gaelic literature, Welsh-language literature, and Celtic art—what historians call insular art (the Early Medieval style of Ireland and Britain). Although the revival was complex and multifaceted, occurring across many fields and in various countries in Northwest Europe, its best known incarnation is probably the Irish Literary Revival. Irish writers including William Butler Yeats, John Millington Synge, Lady Gregory, "Æ" Russell, Edward Martyn, Alice Milligan and Edward Plunkett (Lord Dunsany) stimulated a new appreciation of traditional Irish literature and Irish poetry in the late 19th and early 20th century.

In aspects the revival came to represent a reaction to modernisation. This is particularly true in Ireland, where the relationship between the archaic and the modern was antagonistic, where history was fractured, and where, according to Terry Eagleton, "as a whole [the nation] had not leapt at a bound from tradition to modernity". At times this romantic view of the past resulted in historically inaccurate portrayals, such as the promotion of noble savage stereotypes of the Irish people and Scottish Highlanders, as well as a racialized view that referred to the Irish, whether positively or negatively, as a separate race.

Edmund John Millington Synge (/sɪŋ/; 16 April 1871 – 24 March 1909), popularly known as J. M. Synge, was an Irish playwright, poet, writer, and collector of folklores. As a key figure of the Irish Literary Revival during the early 20th century, he is widely regarded by critics and scholars as one of the most influential dramatists of the Edwardian era, and by several of his peers, among them William Butler Yeats, as the most prolific playwright in Irish literature.

His play The Playboy of the Western World (1907), one of his best-known works, was initially poorly received, due to its bleak ending, crude depiction of poor Irish peasants, and the idealisation of patricide, leading to hostile audience reactions and street riots in Dublin during its opening run at the Abbey Theatre, which he had co-founded with W. B. Yeats and Lady Gregory. His other major works include In the Shadow of the Glen (1903), Riders to the Sea (1904), The Well of the Saints (1905), and The Tinker's Wedding (1909). Most of his plays were known for their highly realistic depiction of Irish societies and culture, and included plots, themes, landscapes, and settings from places he visited during his travels.