Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Yeats, W. B.

(Encyclopedia)Yeats, W. B. (William Butler Yeats), 1865–1939, Irish poet and playwright, b. Dublin. The greatest lyric poet Ireland has produced and one of the major figures of 20th-century literature, Yeats was ...

Sinn Féin

(Encyclopedia)Sinn Féin shĭn fān [key] [Irish,=we, ourselves], Irish nationalist movement. It had its roots in the Irish cultural revival at the end of the 19th cent. and the growing nationalist disenchantment w...

Bruton, John

(Encyclopedia)Bruton, John bro͞oˈtən [key], 1947–, Irish politician, b. Dublin. A lawyer and farm owner, he is a member of the centrist Fine Gael party. Bruton was first elected to the Irish parliament in 1969...

Parnell, Charles Stewart

(Encyclopedia)Parnell, Charles Stewart pärˈnəl, pärnĕlˈ [key], 1846–91, Irish nationalist leader. Haughty and sensitive, Parnell was only a mediocre orator, but he possessed a marked personal fascination an...

Lover, Samuel

(Encyclopedia)Lover, Samuel, 1797–1868, Irish painter, novelist, and songwriter. Before turning to literature, Lover was a painter, and in 1828 he became a member of the Royal Hibernian Academy of Art. However, h...

rath

(Encyclopedia)rath rä, räth [key], circular hill fort protected by earthworks, used by the ancient Irish in the pre-Christian era as a retreat in time of danger. Some of the larger raths, such as that at Tara, we...

O'Mahony, John

(Encyclopedia)O'Mahony, John ōmăˈhənē [key], 1816–77, Irish patriot. He attended Trinity College, Dublin, and became a proficient Irish scholar. After taking part in the unsuccessful Young Ireland rebellion ...

De Valera, Eamon

(Encyclopedia)De Valera, Eamon āˈmən dĕ vəlârˈə [key], 1882–1975, Irish statesman, b. New York City. He was taken as a child to Ireland. As a young man he joined the movement advocating physical force to ...

Lever, Charles James

(Encyclopedia)Lever, Charles James lēˈvər [key], 1806–72, Irish novelist. He began his career as a practicing physician. His early novels appeared periodically in the Dublin University Magazine, whose editorsh...

Yeats, Jack Butler

(Encyclopedia)Yeats, Jack Butler yāts [key], 1871–1957, Irish painter, son of the painter John Butler Yeats and brother of the poet William Butler Yeats. He began his career as an illustrator and produced his fi...