Art and Culture Ireland
For an island of relatively small population, Ireland has made a disproportionately large contribution to world literature in all
its branches, mainly in English. Poetry in Irish represents the oldest vernacular poetry in Europe with the earliest examples dating
from the 6th century; Jonathan Swift, still often called the foremost satirist in the English language, was wildly popular in his
day (Gulliver's Travels, A Modest Proposal etc.) and remains so in modern times amongst both children and adults.
In more recent times, Ireland has produced four winners of the Nobel Prize for Literature: George Bernard Shaw, William Butler
Yeats, Samuel Beckett and Seamus Heaney.
The Irish culture & tradition of folk music and dance is also widely known. In the middle years of the 20th century, as Irish society was attempting to modernise, traditional music tended to fall out of favour, especially in urban areas. During the 1960s, and inspired by the American folk music movement, there was a revival of interest in the Irish tradition led by such groups as The Dubliners, The Chieftains, the Clancy Brothers, Sweeney's Men, and individuals like Seán Ó Riada. Irish and Scottish traditional music are similar.