"The Gaelic League was nonsectarian and apolitical, but its purpose fit nicely into the newer nationalism" (Orel 329), which came as a great uplifting force, especially in the middle classes of Ireland, after being subjugated by the British for so long. "They could not visualize a free Ireland without a Gaelic-speaking Ireland; they aspired to unity through cultural immersion" (Orel 329), and "though their purpose was scholarly, it coincided with a spirit of national resurgence, which fostered on the one hand the literary revival and the formation of the Abbey Theatre, and on the other the Dublin Rising of 1916" (White 18). To create a sense of nationalism was not too difficult in the state Ireland was in at the time, but to carry out such measures were very tedious, due to the Anglo-Irish influences throughout the country, including professors at Trinity College, who said they "despised Gaelic as a language fit only for helots and corner boys," "that there was not a single Gaelic text that was not 'religious, silly, or indecent'," or "dismissed the Gaelic texts as 'metrical rubbish'" (Costigan 262). There were many forces opposing the Gaelic League, but there were also those that embraced it.
"The most important of these [supportive] forces were the Gaelic revival, the republican tradition of violent revolution, the labour movement and Sinn Fein" (Beckett 149) and however hard, "the league sought to maintain an apolitical 'neutrality,' ... [it] proved increasingly difficult as its membership swelled with political nationalists" (Bottigheimer 213). The league gave the Irish people an increased pride in being Irish and this led to them becoming agitated when confronted with British ways or laws infringing on their heritage. This fact led a large group of the league to participate in groups such as Sinn Fein, which were becoming increasingly militant. "Hyde resigned the presidency in 1915 over the League's drift to militancy, but by then the league had accomplished a large part of its objective" (Bottigheimer 213).
The Gaelic League still has strong chapters in the U.S., which act as meeting places for those that
embrace the Irish language and the literature which comes from that tongue. The Gaelic League
did succeed in keeping the Irish language around, because there are people still speaking it on a
daily basis, studying it at colleges and remembering how the Irish have their own heritage and
their own identity.
Works Cited
Bartlett, T., Curtin C., O'Dryer R. and Tuathaigh, G. eds. Irish Studies: A General Introduction. Dublin: Gill and MacMillan, 1988.
Beckett, J.C. A Short History of Ireland: From Earliest Times to the Present Day. 6th ed. London: Hutchinson, 1979.
Bottigheimer, Karl S. Ireland and the Irish: A Short History. New York: Columbia UP, 1982
Costigan, Giovanni. A History of Modern Ireland. New York: Pegasus, 1969.
Foster, R.F., ed. The Oxford History of Ireland. Oxford: Oxford UP, 1989
Orel, Harold ed. Irish History and Culture: Aspects of a People's Heritage. Wichita: The UP of Kansas, 1976.
White, Terence D.V. Ireland. New York: Walker and Co., 1968.