Folk Music of the Great Irish Famine
Folk music plays an important role in the interpretation of modern history. Historically, ballads and various other forms of folk song allow people in lower class positions to communicate newsy stories and opinion in the form of oral communication. These ballads allowed for people who were illiterate to spread news from the perspective of the impoverished, which was not typically offered in most major newspapers and official documents. These ballads are an important part of interpreting history in a more developed way.
The ballads of the Great Irish Famine of the 19th century typically spite the British for the several failed relief efforts for the the Irish people. Several of these ballads refer to the 19th century Irish state as a “prison” in which they were slaves to the Great British empire. This slave analogy is a significant contrast to the general British perception of the Irish people, which believed them to be a burden to the British government. The ballads of the Irish Famine reflect a narrative that is seldom emphasized in modern history.
Folk Song: Emigrant’s Farewell to Donegall
There is little known of the origins of “Emigrant’s Farewell to Donegall”. This is not an uncommon characteristic of broadside ballads of the 19th century, and this mysterious source is even less surprising when taking into consideration the large lack of regard to Irish culture during the 19th century. While this ballad undoubtedly refers to the Great Irish Famine, there is no sure date nor author associated with the song. According to scholars, the earliest that it could have been written is in 1846.
Good people all on you I call
give ear to those lines you soon shall hear¹
Gaus’d [Caused] me to weep deprived of sleep for parting my relations dear
My hardships here I can’t injure [endure] there’s nothing here but slavery²,
I wil take my lot & leave this spot & try the land of liberty….
My father holds 5 acres of land it was not enough to support us all³,
Ohich [Which] bannishes me from my native land to old Ireland dear
I bid fa ew il [farewell],
My hardships here I cant injure since here no longer I can stay
I take my lot & leave this spot & try the land of liberty. . . .
It was in the ydar [year] of 46 I was forced⁴ to leave my native land
To old Ireland I bid a lang adieu and to my fond relations all,
But now I’m in America no rents or taxes we pay at all
So naw I bid a long farewell to my native and old Donegall.
- “Good people all on you I call/ give ear to those lines you soon shall hear…”: Broadside ballads often begin with a first line that draws in an audience in similar style to that of a story in a newspaper. This is a distinct characteristic of ballads during the 19th and 20th centuries.
- “My hardships here I can’t injure [endure] there’s nothing here but slavery…”: The implication of the Irish acting as slaves in their own country is not unique to this ballad. This is a theme that occurs in several other Irish ballads during the 19th century. This notion of slavery could refer to the degradation of British governmental policies and the implementation of workhouses. Several families in Ireland preferred death or emigration to working in one of these workhouses.
- “My father holds 5 acres of land it was not enough to support us all…”: This line references the insufficient amount of land given to the Irish farmers prior to the famine. Typically, the small plot of land was the only thing that a father could pass down to his child upon marriage. Thus, these plots of land only decreased in size over time.
- “It was the ydar [year] of 46 I was forced to leave my native land…”: The word “force” is important to the Irish perspective of having the freedom of choice taken away from them. This can either be referring to the effect of the famine or the cause of the British relief.
Oster, Harry. “English and Irish Broadsides in the Edwin Ford Piper Collection”. Books at Iowa 4 (April 1966). Accessed 15 November, 2017.
Folk Song: Ireland’s Enemy
“Ireland’s Enemy” was written by Irish nationalist, Brian O’Higgins. This ballad was frequently sung during the Irish Nationalist movement of the early twentieth century. This is an excellent example of revisionist literature that depicts a simple image of British antagonism.
Revisionist literature during the early twentieth century was a massive part of the movement to separate from Great Britain. Ireland is consistently written as an innocent victim of the British government, and the point of view of these texts are very one-sided.
Who sent in thousands o’er the sea to slavery¹ and shame
The children of the Irish land to end their race and name²?
Who sold them like a herd of sheep³?
Who laughed with hellish glee,
When Irish mothers, mad with grief,
Sought death beneath the sea?Who robbed our land in ‘47
Of all its stores of food,
While at its gate with tainted breath,
Gaunt famine grimly stood?
Who filled the fields with whitened bones,
And sent across the seas
The kindliest hearts in all the land,⁴
The kin of you and me?
- “Who sent in thousands o’er the sea to slavery and shame…”: Again, slavery is directly referenced in this document. O’Higgins describes the Irish people as slaves to the British “regime”.
- “…to end their race and name…”: This suggests that the famine was not just a consequence of diseased crop and poor governing, but a deliberate genocide by the British.
- “Who sold them like a herd of sheep…”: Not only is it insinuated that this is a genocide, but O’Higgins also suggests that the Irish were sold in a slave trade as a result of the famine as caused by the British government.
- “The kindliest hearts in all the land,/ The kin of you and me?”: O’Higgins depicts the Irish as victims of cruelty in the famine, thus describing them as the “kindliest hearts in all the land”.
O’Higgins, Brian. “Ireland’s Enemy”. Songs and Recitations of Ireland (Cork: National Publications Committee): 28.
Undeserving Poor Conclusion
Based on these Irish ballads and many others that are not listed above, the Irish people believed themselves as slaves under the British regime. This is a direct reflection of the Irish perception of undeserving poor. While there are several texts from British officials that describe those who do and do not deserve aid in Ireland, these ballads suggest that the Irish people thought that the British believed none of them deserved aid. Although this claim is not completely false, as British efforts were limited and often not very well organized, these ballads show a very one-sided perspective of British relief. It is clear that the Irish people saw themselves as undeserving poor in the eyes of the British.
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