A Poetic Call to Arms

“Those in power write the histories, those who suffer write the songs.” These are the words of Frank Harte, an Irish singer, and song collector. Harte’s quote speaks deeply to the Irish, a people subjugated first by England, then the British Empire spanning almost 800 years of foreign occupation. The Irish have been a resilient and proud people, fighting the firm grasp that was English tyranny.

For many Irish during the eighteenth, nineteenth, and early twentieth century, folk songs became the primary way to educate the Irish people on the valiant leaders for Irish Independence, instilling feelings of patriotism, and a means of immortalizing those whom sacrificed their lives for their country. These songs became a way of educating the common Irish people, on the truth of Irish resilience and English brutality.

Irish folk artist Jerry O’Reilly joined our group at Kilmainham Gaol to offer us a better understanding of the lives and deaths of the brave men and women who sacrificed themselves for an independent Irish state. Kilmainham Gaol was not only a jail constructed by the British in Dublin’s Kilmainham district, but a testament to the power and brutality of the British Empire. Kilmainham originally was built as a jail (or gaol) to replace the old jail better known as Old Gaol of Dublin; however Kilmainham Gaol would better be known through the Victorian era and the early 20th century as detainment center for political radicals whom defied the will of the British Empire. Pass through the cold dank corridors of the Goal to find the small bleak cells that housed Ireland’s patriots for the remainders of their lives.

Jerry O’Reilly stopped periodically in these corridors and yards of the gaol to sing the beautiful Irish songs that once graced the pubs with rallying cries to commemorate their fallen compatriots in the place where they earlier met their brutal demise. Songs of Robert Emmet, and Phoenix Park Murders ushered in a chilling sentiment that awoken the spirit of the Goal, and its history of death and suffering. Jerry’s singing the songs that immortalize the heroes of Ireland in the place where they were persecuted and executed for their endeavors towards freedom rang out as a cry of victory to the success of Irish bravery and resiliency.

Bold Robert Emmet, the darling of Ireland,Bold Robert Emmet will die with a smile,Farewell companions both loyal and daring,I'll lay down my life for the Emerald Isle.

-Irish Folk Song “Bold Robert Emmet”