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Literacy and Orality in Eighteenth-Century Irish Song

thesis
posted on 2009-03-04, 00:00 authored by Julia Henigan
The notion that a dichotomy exists between the cultureÌ¢‰âÂ'and even mentalityÌ¢‰âÂ'of literate and oral cultures has deep historical and theoretical roots, although its strongest proponents in recent years have been mid-late twentienth-century figures like Albert Lord, Marshall McCluhan, Walter Ong, and David Olson. While many scholars have since accepted that no radical dichotomy exists between oral and writtenÌ¢‰âÂ'or indeed elite and 'vernacular' culture--the debate continues, and 'correctives' are still waiting to be articulated in some academic fields. Although a number of Irish folksong scholars have contested the idea of such a dichotomy, there is yet no comprehensive work on the subject in relation to traditional Irish song. Drawing on both secondary and primary sources (including interviews, manuscripts, and printed ballads), I describe and anaylze the interaction between oral and literate, 'high' and 'low' culture in several distinct genres of eighteenth-century Irish song: the Irish-language songs of the so-called 'dispossessed' Gaelic poets; the caoineadh, or keen; the 'hedge schoolmaster song'; and the printed ballad. Because a different set of social, historical, and literary dynamicsÌ¢‰âÂ'as well as theoretical questionsÌ¢‰âÂ'are pertinent to individual genres of song, I devote an entire chapter to each one, and include a prefatory chapter on medieval Irish literature. In each case, I conclude that, although often operating in different ways according to the different genre in question, the interaction between the world of oral and literary song-poetry and between the spheres of the educated and uneducated, elite and 'vernacular' is demonstrable and pervasive. The centrality of oral performance in Irish culture is obviously one of the unifying forces at work; but so are cultural attitudes, including respect for education, for artistic prowess, and even for recondite language--as well as for practices like the composition of bardic poetry or the improvisation of verse. The relatively close proximity of the classes, narrowed by the historical events of the sixteenth-eighteenth centuries, reinforced this interaction. These influences can be demonstrated even in communities in which literacy was scanty; and they continue to shape the repertoire and outlook of the singing tradition to the present day.

History

Date Modified

2017-06-05

Defense Date

2008-12-04

Research Director(s)

Luke Gibbons

Committee Members

Christopher Fox Peter McQuillan Luke Gibbons Patrick Gaffney

Degree

  • Doctor of Philosophy

Degree Level

  • Doctoral Dissertation

Language

  • English

Alternate Identifier

etd-03042009-151534

Publisher

University of Notre Dame

Program Name

  • English

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