If they had a “soundtrack of the summer” back in 1726, it might have been the Ballad of Sweet Molly Mogg, said to have been composed in an English pub earlier that year by three infatuated customers. That the customers were Jonathan Swift, Alexander Pope ... See more
There’s a tense moment in the documentary It’s Never Over, Jeff Buckley when the eponymous musician is invited once too often to discuss the legacy of his singer-songwriter father, Tim. “What did you inherit from your father?” a questioner asks. “People w... See more
“There were nights as if I was on a fishing boat at sea; house lights dipping through the washing of rain and wind blowing salty in the throat.” (Ernie O’Malley, On Another Man’s Wound) “Darkness came quickly. I spread out my map on the ground while I sea... See more
The same week that Seán O’Casey’s The Plough and the Stars opened at the Abbey Theatre in February 1926, the Free State government was setting up a “Committee on Evil Literature”. Comprising three laymen and two clergy – Catholic and Protestant – it met f... See more
“Forty years before the Deluge, Ceasair came to Ireland with 50 girls and three men; Bith, Ladhra and Fintain, their names.” (Annals of the Four Masters) “He slew the serpent of Loch Sileann that brought a treacherous deluge on our host, and the two serpe... See more
