Book description
Cathleen Ni Houlihan is a one-act play written by the renowned Irish poet and playwright, William Butler Yeats. The play was first performed in 1902 and is set in rural Ireland during the early 20th century. The story revolves around a family who is preparing for the wedding of their…
Why read it?
1 author picked Cathleen Ni Houlihan as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?
This play conveys the inner world of nationalism in both its romance and fanaticism.
Yeats’s play became a cult for young revolutionary nationalists in celebrating blood sacrifice for the nation. A young man joins an uprising on the eve of his wedding after meeting an old woman, Cathleen ni Houlihan (a folk name for Ireland), who pleads for his help to recover her green fields. By his sacrifice, Cathleen is transformed into a beautiful young woman with "the face of a queen."
Yeats later agonised over this play and developed a more ambivalent attitude to nationalism. When young nationalists staged…
From John's list on The best books about nationalism and identity.
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