The issue of nationalism treated in the following texts “The Dead” by James Joyce,

the poems “The Stolen Child” and “Easter 1916” by W.B. Yeats and Virginia Woolf’

Mrs. Dalloway.

Silvia Pastor Calvo

Literature and culture of the first language 3 (English)

Group 310

This essay will address the issue of nationalism in three texts: "The Dead" by James Joyce, "The

Stolen Child" and "Easter 1916" by W.B. Yeats and Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf. Joyce and

Woolf belong to Modernism while Yeats is part of Symbolism. Modernism is an ant movement

which reacts against the tradition. One of the characteristics of Modernism is the use of

stream of consciousness which is a “technique which commonly ignores orderly sentence

structure and incorporates fragments of thought in an attempt to capture the flow of

characters’ mental processes.” (Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2019). This technique is use in The

Dead and in Mrs. Dalloway. On the other hand, according to Cambridge dictionary (2020)

“symbolism is tries to express ideas or states of mind rather than represent the real world,

using the power of words and images”.

To begin with, an introduction to the historical context of these novels will be given. These

novels are set in the late 19th and early 20th century. During this period the population had

lost faith in God due to the First World War. This is reflected in the literature as there is no

longer an omniscient narrator. This war brings with it a political, social and economic

fragmentation that can be seen in the authors of the early 1920s such as James Joyce.

Emphasizing the historical context of Ireland (as it is treated by Joyce and Yeats in the works to

be analysed in this essay) is found as a colony of the British Empire since 1801, but from the

19th century begin to appear movements that claim the independence of Ireland, but it is not

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until 1916 when they begin to appear an even stronger feeling of independence, which will

culminate with the revolution of Holy Week 1916 (theme that Yeats treated in the poem with

the same name)

The first text to be discussed is The Death by James Joyce. He was born in Ireland although he

lived between Dublin and Zurich. He came from a poor, working class, urban, Catholic family.

He considered himself an internationalist who rejected the British Empire and the more

classical Irish nationalism. “Although all of Joyce's comrades urged him to join the revolution

he never participated” (Rodriguez Moran, María 1999). According with Estevez- Saá (2014),

Joyce was a cultural and peaceful nationalist. Cultural because his works vindicate Irish

heritage (legends, traditions or songs) thus making them known to the whole world. Peaceful

because he was excited about leaders like Charles Stewart Parnell whose claims were peaceful.

Joyce was disappointed with the radical violence of many nationalists but he continued to

devote not only his work but his life to getting people to know Ireland, including both the

defects and the virtues of the island and its inhabitants, which he said were peculiar in

comparison to what Europe was going through in the 20th century.

In this novel, it is possible to see some anti-nationalist feelings that the main character,

Gabriel, has towards Ireland. Gabriel has a feeling of superiority towards Ireland and the Irish

because "he wonders if they will understand the quote from Robert Browning that he has

chosen to include in his speech, as if anything outside Ireland is too obscure and complicated

for the simple members of his Dublin family" (Egeland, Anna. 2017). Also, in this text

nationalism is reflected in the character of Miss Ivory. She and Gabriel have a conversation

about her travels (Miss Ivory travelled around Ireland and Gabriel travelled around Europe). In

this conversation, Miss Ivory reproaches Gabriel for choosing other countries to visit instead of

his own, for being more interested in foreign culture and languages than in his own (Irish

culture and Irish language). In addition, Miss Ivory reproaches Gabriel for his column in "The

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Daily Express," calling him "West Briton" which means that Gabriel is sympathetic with

England. Although Gabriel denies this, it can be observed throughout the novel who Gabriel

react Ireland and his feelings towards England.

The next author to be analysed is Yeats. He belonged to an Anglo-Irish family, was very

religious although he replaced Christianity with a certain mysticism. He believed in a cultural

renaissance of Ireland and supported nationalism although this led him to support fascist

movements. It is important to point out the importance of celticism in his work and how it

creates a first attempt to establish a sense of iridescence. In addition, two of the worst

preserved traditions according to Yeats are the Irish language and the Anglo-Irish tradition. It is

important to note that the writer and literary critic García Noriega (1981- 1982) claims that

"Yeats' nationalism was as aesthetically pleasing and as lacking in any commitment to any

political need as Valle-Inclán's Carlism, which found in him the charm of the old Gothic

cathedrals

The theme of nationalism in both of Yeats' works (The Stolen Child and Easter 1916) is a

recurring issue as it belongs to an Anglo-Irish family (so it is influenced by Irish nationalism and

English culture). Also, is important to highlight that Yeats believe that literature is very

connected with the nationalism. On the one hand, Yeats uses popular motifs in The Stolen

Child in order to prevent the British from imposing their literature on Ireland (the fairies and

the scenarios). Thus, the author recovers Irish popular themes as something that should be

protected and valued. It also uses place names of Ireland so that people do not forget these

territories (“the hills above Glen-Car” or “the rocky highland of Sleuth Wood”). Moreover, the

fairies can be interpreted as England because it "steals" Ireland's resources, i.e. innocent

young people, and corrupts them. Finally, “the poem reflects the poet’s interest in the belief in

the supernatural that he found in the west of Ireland, in particular the idea that the faeries

carried off children from the human world.” (Nuri, Ataullah. 2009).

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On the other hand, Easter 1916 is a poem based on the Irish Revolution against Great Britain

on April 24, 1916, also called the Easter Revolution 1916. This revolution lasted 6 days and was

put down by the British army. As a result, many Irish cities were destroyed, many civilians died,

the leaders of the revolution were killed, and Ireland did not get independence. It was in 1921

that it got its independence. it's important to note that Yeats does not share the same

principles as the revolutionaries. Yeats believed in long-term historical change.

Throughout the poem we can see allusions to the Irish revolution and nationalism. In the first

stanza, Yeast explains the current situation in Ireland. The population is in a very static

situation, there are no major events. Yeats has a conception of the population as a mass not as

independent individuals. It can be seen at the end of each stanza the expression "A terrible

beauty is born" is repeated. This expression refers to “the effects of the uprising in Ireland. The

uprising destroyed the streets of Dublin, claimed many lives, and resulted in the execution of

15 leaders, many of whom were Yeats's personal friends ( Course Hero, 2017). In the second

stanza, Yeast mentions the leaders of the revolution : Constance Gore “That woman's days

were spent in ignorant good-will” , Pearse “ This man had kept a school”, MacDonagh “He

might have won fame in the end” and John MacBride “a drunken, vainglorious lout”). When

he talks about Professor Pearse it can be seen how Yeast believes that literature has a

fundamental role in the creation of a nation. In this stanza, the author uses “in the casual

comedy” to refer to the revolution, he doesn’t know how the thing are going to end.

Furthermore, in the last stanza, he questioned the revolution. Is important to note that “like

the rebels Yeats was also willing to free Ireland from all kinds of English dominance but he

hated the violence. He indirectly accused the rebels for overturning the works of years and felt

very despondent about the future” (Nuri, Ataullah. 2009).

Finally, Yeats uses green as the symbol of Ireland. At the beginning of the poem, the author

uses the colour grey to create an image in the reader's mind of a depressing and sad Ireland.

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“He also describes the country as "motley"—"where motley is worn"—suggesting that under

English rule, Ireland lacks a unique identity, with English and Irish culture jumbled together in

"motley" mix.” (Course Hero, 2017). But in the end Yeats uses the colour green to signal that

the rebels are now immortal, that they will be reminded "wherever green is worn." The rebels

managed to unite all the Irish against their deaths creating a "terrible beauty". In the end the

grey disappears to make way for a bright green that represents the wonderful future of an

Ireland free from English rule.

Finally, the last author to be discussed is Virginia Woolf. Virginia Woolf was born in London.

Both her life and her work are marked by the depression, the mental illness and the impacts of

the Second World War. Both reasons pushed her to commit suicide in a river near her home.

Virginia Woolf was very interested in women's rights. She belonged to the Bloomsbury group

which was a group of artists, thinkers and writers who lived in the Bloomsbury district near the

British Museum in London.

It is important to highlight that Woolf's work has been studied in relation to issues such as war

and British society. In Mr. Dalloway, Virginia Woolf describes British society during change

since World War I. At this time, colonies like India begin to reject the British Empire.

The last text to be dealt with is Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf. One of the most recurrent

themes in Virginia's work is the impact of war on English society. This theme is reflected in this

work, as Virginia started writing it three years after the war. The novel takes place in 1923 and

in it one can see the efforts of the Englishmen and women to rebuild “their nation after the

devastations of the First World War. But these attempts to reconstruct England rested on a

seeming contradiction evident in Woolf’s diary, where in 1920 she lamented that her

“generation is daily scourged by the bloody war,”” (Donovan, Colleen. 2006).

Most of the characters in this novel try to recover from the war by eliminating or forgetting the

most painful memories of the war. But Woolf uses the figure of Septimus Warren Smith as an

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example that war wounds cannot be forgotten as quickly as Mr. Dalloway believes. “The novel

suggests that the war acts as a “scourge” because the national community wants to forget it,

leading its ignored effects to threaten its vision of England, particularly by undermining its

national language and their understanding of their recent national history.” (Donovan,

Colleen. 2006).

“In this novel, Woolf highlights not only what was destroyed and what was rendered

ineffective by the Great War, but also the steps taken by national subjects to fabricate a new

England out of the ashes of the old one” (Donovan, Colleen. 2006).

Virginia Woolf uses characters like Lady Bruton, Mr. Dalloway and Bradshaw for the

reconstruction of the country through the national language “inflected by an imperial rhetoric

of conquest and assumed superiority, that seeks to remove or marginalize the more disruptive

memories and consequences of the war” ( Donovan, Collen. 2006). In this work, Virginia Woolf

examines how the English create a national community starting from a defence of a national

culture after the great impact of the First World War. Most of the characters do not conceive

of England in the same way as T.S. Eliot ("as a Waste Land") did.

It is also important to note that in Mrs. Dalloway, Virginia Woolf mentions several English

newspapers: Peter Walsh compares Richard Dalloway to the views of the Morning Post. On the

other hand, The Times is also mentioned because according to Peter Walsh, Hugh Whitbread is

so concerned about the English community that he frequently writes letters to that newspaper

with the aim of cleaning up London and putting an end to the smoke in the city.

Besides, one of the main themes of this novel is the discontent with the British Empire since at

the beginning of the 19th century it seemed totally invincible with the First World War, the

empire started to be vulnerable, the Allies won the war and England was devastated. So, it's

normal for the British to lose faith in almighty England. “Citizens were less inclined to willingly

adhere to the rigid constraints imposed by England’s class system, which benefited only a small

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margin of society but which all classes had fought to preserve.” (SparkNotes Editors. 2004).

Another theme of this novel is the criticism of English society. In Woolf's time, England was a

powerful empire that had colonies all over the world (such as Canada) and as mentioned

above, with the end of the war the empire began to disappear. That's why in Mrs. Dalloway

the upper-class characters cling to the old traditions and pretend nothing happened. “The

empty tradition and conservatism of the aristocracy is also shown in the characters of Lady

Bruton, Aunt Helena, and Hugh Whitbread, who have traditional values and manners but are

hopelessly removed from modern life” (Cosby, Matt. 2014)

One of Mrs. Dalloway's symbols is the Prime Minister. Virginia Woolf uses the prime minister

as a symbol of the traditional and hierarchical values of England that have begun their decline

due to World War I. It is important to note that Lady Bruton uses "Prime Minister" as a

compliment to Whitbread (another element of British culture). Clarissa spends the entire novel

waiting for the Prime Minister and when he finally arrives at Mrs. Dalloway's party, he is a

disappointment as is British society. Also, the Prime Minister is an example of the order of the

empire, repression and classism.

To finish with the analysis of Mrs. Dalloway, it is important to note the symbolic power that

London plays in this work, since Virginia like Yeats uses many references to real places in her

work (such as St. James Park or Broad Sanctuary). In addition, London represent the centre of

the British Empire and it can be this because there is a character related with the British

Empire, which is Peter Walsh which is Anglo-Indian.

To conclude, as we have seen, both novels deal with the subject of nationalism. Joyce and

Yeats speak of an Irish nationalism marked by the economic and political dominance of the

British Empire while Virginia Woolf speaks of a British nationalism in decline as a result of a

loss of power after World War I. On the other hand, both Joyce and Yeats (the last one at a

higher level) focus their work on nationalism and the defence of traditional Irish values, but

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Virginia Woolf focuses her work not only on the criticism of the English post-war society but

also on other issues such as the situation of women or mental problems.

Bibliography:

Cambridge Dictionary. (2020). Symbolism, art, literature. https://dictionary.cambridge.org

/es/diccionario/ingles/symbolism. Last access: 03/01/2020.

Course Hero. (2017). Easter, 1916 Study Guide. https://www.coursehero.com/lit/Easter-

1916/ . Last access: 04/01/2020.

Cosby, M. (2014). Mrs Dalloway Themes: Social Criticism. LitCharts.

Www.litcharts.com/lit/mrs-dalloway/themes/social-criticism Last access: 6/01/2020

Encyclopaedia Britannica. (2019). Modernism: Literature. https://www.britannica.com/

art/Modernism-art Last access: 03/01/2020.

Egeland, A. (2017). The Dead Themes: Ireland, Anti-Nationalism, and the Foreign. LitCharts.

https://www.litcharts.com/lit/the-dead/themes/ireland-anti-nationalism-and-the-foreign .

Last access: 3/01/2020.

Estévez- Saá, J. M. (2014) Joyce y el nacionalismo. El correo Gallego.

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cia-866817 Last Access: 05/01/2020.

García Noriega, I. (1981-1982). Yeats o el nacionalismo lírico. Revista El Basilico. Nº 13, pages

76-78. http://www.fgbueno.es/bas/bas11309.htm

Nuri, A. (2009). Irish Nationalism in W . B Yeats' Poetry. Literary Articles. http://www.literary-

articles.com/search/label/W.B.%20Yeats?updated-max=2013-08-04T 21: 46:00-07:00&max-

results=20&start=10&by-date=false. Last access: 04/01/2020.

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 Rodríguez Moran, M. (1999). Nationalism in James Joyce. University of Valencia.

http://mural.uv.es/romoma/nationalism.htm. Last access: 04/01/2020.

SparkNotes Editors. (2004). SparkNote on Mrs. Dalloway.

http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/dalloway/. Last access: 06/01/2020

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