#George Derwent Thomson

[stairnaheireann]

#OTD in 1904 – Birth of writer, Muiris Ó Suilleabhain, on the Great Blasket Island, Co Kerry. Best known for his book, ‘Twenty Years A-Growing’.

“I am a boy who was born and bred in the Great Blasket, a truly small Gaelic island which lies north-west of the coast of Kerry, where the storm of the sky and the wild sea beat without ceasing from end to end of the year and from generation to generation against the wrinkled rocks which stand above the waves that was in and out of the coves where the seals make their homes.” On the 28th of April…

[mainsapplications]

Peig sayers gravesite

I began to feel sorry for Peig, with her arranged marriage, her sorrows, her hardships, the children who died without the joys of childhood, the reproaches for her grief and mourning, and the bodies falling out of coffins. Their works in Irish have been translated into English and other languages. These include Peig or Machnamh Seanamhná ( An Old Woman’s Reflections) by Peig Sayers (1939), An tOileánach ( The Islandman) by Tomás Ó Criomhthain (1929), and Fiche Blian ag Fás ( Twenty Years a-Growing) by Muiris Ó Súilleabháin (1933). In this climate, a number of books were written in the early 20th century by islanders, recording island traditions and way of life. The islanders were the subject of many anthropological and linguistic studies in the late 19th and early 20th centuries by writers and linguists including Robin Flower, George Derwent Thomson and Kenneth H Jackson. Young infants were buried without coffins or grave markers in unconsecrated ground (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2021) I am typical of my generation when I say I still resent having to read through Peig, and it helped to create many long-lasting negative images of how the Irish language was taught at schools in the 1960s.īut my schoolboy experiences of the Kerry Gaeltacht in Ballinskelligs have left me with a life-long affection for this part of Ireland, and a visit to the Blasket Islands seemed inevitable during last week’s visit to the Dingle Peninsula. Their books continue to be read, and most Irish people are still familiar with the names of Peig Sayers (1873-1958), not matter how negative their memories are of her book, and Muiris Ó Súilleabháin and Tomás Ó Criomhthain. It has been deserted since 1954, but remains a part of Irish literature and cultural identity because of the disproportionate number of islanders whose books were part of the school curriculum for generations of Irish schoolchildren. The Great Blasket Island is one of the most remote parts of the Gaeltacht or Irish-speaking area of Co Kerry. These books together also show where all the ideas came from in the Poor Mouth which satirises this style of literature.The Blasket Islands in summer sunshine … an invitation to a Mediterranean experience – but only in summer (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2021) It well worth a read particularly if it is read along with The Islandman, Twenty Years a Growing and the Western Island. It shows what people did to make a living, entertainment, customs of birth, death, marriage, religion and much more. Peig's autobiography gives a fantastic insight into the lives of ordinary people in rural Ireland in the late 19th and early 20th century, in this case Na Blascaodaí - the Blascket Islands. Despite being an Irish learner, however, I decided to read it in English just in case and to save my Irish reading for more contemporary reading material! You can see why - it is exceptionally rural and old-fashioned and religion is present all through the text which many people felt associated Irish with all things backward looking and damaged the language.Ĭoming at it as someone from Scotland who didn't have to answer interpretation questions on it and who has a suitably positive and modern view of Irish and Scottish Gaelic (which I speak) I was able to take a more open-minded view on Peig. Generations of school children in Ireland had to read through Peig Sayer's autobiography as a set text in Irish language classes and many therefore hold a negative view of the book as I myself do with Shakespeare and other works of literature I had to study at school.

[stairnaheireann]

#OTD in 1950 – Muiris Ó Súilleabháin, writer, drowns while swimming off Co Galway.

#OTD in 1950 – Muiris Ó Súilleabháin, writer, drowns while swimming off Co Galway.

“I am a boy who was born and bred in the Great Blasket, a truly small Gaelic island which lies north-west of the coast of Kerry, where the storm of the sky and the wild sea beat without ceasing from end to end of the year and from generation to generation against the wrinkled rocks which stand above the waves that was in and out of the coves where the seals make their homes.” On the 28th of April…

[stairnaheireann]

#OTD in 1904 – Birth of writer, Muiris Ó Suilleabhain, on the Great Blasket Island, Co Kerry. Best known for his book, ‘Twenty Years A-Growing’.

#OTD in 1904 – Birth of writer, Muiris Ó Suilleabhain, on the Great Blasket Island, Co Kerry. Best known for his book, ‘Twenty Years A-Growing’.

“I am a boy who was born and bred in the Great Blasket, a truly small Gaelic island which lies north-west of the coast of Kerry, where the storm of the sky and the wild sea beat without ceasing from end to end of the year and from generation to generation against the wrinkled rocks which stand above the waves that was in and out of the coves where the seals make their homes.” On the 28th of April…

[stairnaheireann]

#OTD in 1950 – Muiris Ó Súilleabháin, writer, drowns while swimming off Co Galway.

#OTD in 1950 – Muiris Ó Súilleabháin, writer, drowns while swimming off Co Galway.

“I am a boy who was born and bred in the Great Blasket, a truly small Gaelic island which lies north-west of the coast of Kerry, where the storm of the sky and the wild sea beat without ceasing from end to end of the year and from generation to generation against the wrinkled rocks which stand above the waves that was in and out of the coves where the seals make their homes.” On the 28th of April…

[stairnaheireann]

#OTD in 1904 – Birth of writer, Muiris Ó Suilleabhain, on the Great Blasket Island, Co Kerry. Best known for his book, ‘Twenty Years A-Growing’.

#OTD in 1904 – Birth of writer, Muiris Ó Suilleabhain, on the Great Blasket Island, Co Kerry. Best known for his book, ‘Twenty Years A-Growing’.

“I am a boy who was born and bred in the Great Blasket, a truly small Gaelic island which lies north-west of the coast of Kerry, where the storm of the sky and the wild sea beat without ceasing from end to end of the year and from generation to generation against the wrinkled rocks which stand above the waves that was in and out of the coves where the seals make their homes.” On the 28th of April…

[stairnaheireann]

#OTD in 1904 – Birth of writer, Muiris Ó Suilleabhain, on the Great Blasket Island, Co Kerry. Best known for his book, ‘Twenty Years A-Growing’.

#OTD in 1904 – Birth of writer, Muiris Ó Suilleabhain, on the Great Blasket Island, Co Kerry. Best known for his book, ‘Twenty Years A-Growing’.

“I am a boy who was born and bred in the Great Blasket, a truly small Gaelic island which lies north-west of the coast of Kerry, where the storm of the sky and the wild sea beat without ceasing from end to end of the year and from generation to generation against the wrinkled rocks which stand above the waves that was in and out of the coves where the seals make their homes.”

On the 28th of April…

[stairnaheireann]

#OTD in 1950 – Muiris Ó Súilleabháin, writer, drowns while swimming off Co Galway.

#OTD in 1950 – Muiris Ó Súilleabháin, writer, drowns while swimming off Co Galway.

“I am a boy who was born and bred in the Great Blasket, a truly small Gaelic island which lies north-west of the coast of Kerry, where the storm of the sky and the wild sea beat without ceasing from end to end of the year and from generation to generation against the wrinkled rocks which stand above the waves that was in and out of the coves where the seals make their homes.”

On the 28th of April…

[stairnaheireann]

#OTD in 1950 – Muiris Ó Súilleabháin, writer, drowns while swimming off Co Galway.

#OTD in 1950 – Muiris Ó Súilleabháin, writer, drowns while swimming off Co Galway.

“I am a boy who was born and bred in the Great Blasket, a truly small Gaelic island which lies north-west of the coast of Kerry, where the storm of the sky and the wild sea beat without ceasing from end to end of the year and from generation to generation against the wrinkled rocks which stand above the waves that was in and out of the coves where the seals make their homes.”

On the 28th of April…

[stairnaheireann]

#OTD in 1904 – Birth of writer, Muiris Ó Suilleabhain, on the Great Blasket Island, Co Kerry. Best known for his book, ‘Twenty Years A-Growing’.

#OTD in 1904 – Birth of writer, Muiris Ó Suilleabhain, on the Great Blasket Island, Co Kerry. Best known for his book, ‘Twenty Years A-Growing’.

“I am a boy who was born and bred in the Great Blasket, a truly small Gaelic island which lies north-west of the coast of Kerry, where the storm of the sky and the wild sea beat without ceasing from end to end of the year and from generation to generation against the wrinkled rocks which stand above the waves that was in and out of the coves where the seals make their homes.”

On the 28th of April…

[stairnaheireann]

#OTD in 1904 – Birth of writer, Muiris Ó Suilleabhain, on the Great Blasket Island, Co Kerry. Best known for his book, 'Twenty Years A-Growing'.

#OTD in 1904 – Birth of writer, Muiris Ó Suilleabhain, on the Great Blasket Island, Co Kerry. Best known for his book, ‘Twenty Years A-Growing’.

“I am a boy who was born and bred in the Great Blasket, a truly small Gaelic island which lies north-west of the coast of Kerry, where the storm of the sky and the wild sea beat without ceasing from end to end of the year and from generation to generation against the wrinkled rocks which stand above the waves that was in and out of the coves where the seals make their homes.”

On the 28th of April…

[stairnaheireann]

#OTD in 1904 – Birth of writer, Muiris Ó Suilleabhain, on the Great Blasket Island, Co Kerry. Best known for his book, ‘Twenty Years A-Growing’.

#OTD in 1904 – Birth of writer, Muiris Ó Suilleabhain, on the Great Blasket Island, Co Kerry. Best known for his book, ‘Twenty Years A-Growing’.

“I am a boy who was born and bred in the Great Blasket, a truly small Gaelic island which lies north-west of the coast of Kerry, where the storm of the sky and the wild sea beat without ceasing from end to end of the year and from generation to generation against the wrinkled rocks which stand above the waves that was in and out of the coves where the seals make their homes.” On the 28th of April…

[stairnaheireann]

#OTD in 1950 – Muiris Ó Súilleabháin, writer, drowns while swimming off Co Galway.

#OTD in 1950 – Muiris Ó Súilleabháin, writer, drowns while swimming off Co Galway.

“I am a boy who was born and bred in the Great Blasket, a truly small Gaelic island which lies north-west of the coast of Kerry, where the storm of the sky and the wild sea beat without ceasing from end to end of the year and from generation to generation against the wrinkled rocks which stand above the waves that was in and out of the coves where the seals make their homes.” On the 28th of April…