Thorns and roses: The international dimension of ‘Old English’ literature in Ireland

Abstract

AbstractThe amount of extant early modern “Old English” literature written in Ireland in English is scant and little referenced by modern scholars, and its historical and political dimensions are often ignored. This paper surveys the important place of the Old English community in early modern English and Irish letters. The modern, international, often Catholic, and renaissance dimension to Old English art, life, and letters in the Pale and beyond is emphasized. The Old English always looked beyond Ireland and England while directly or subtly referring to their own tumultuous affairs in their writing.