Kathleen Ni Houlihan - Selected Literary Treatments of The Myth

Selected Literary Treatments of The Myth

The figure of Kathleen Ni Houlihan has appeared in several folk songs and poems. Ethna Carbery's "The Passing of the Gael" (1906), which was a sentimental treatment of the Irish diaspora during the 19th century (partly because of the Irish Potato Famine), suggested that Irish emigrants longed for their homeland. Carbery refers to Kathleen Ni Houlihan by name as the personification of Ireland that the emigrants miss.

Seán O'Casey's The Shadow of the Gunman (1923) quotes the last line of Carbery's "The Passing of the Gael," as the character Seumas Shields complains about various aspects of Irish culture. O'Casey's treatment of the myth is generally viewed as ironic or sardonic.

Irish poet Seamus Heaney has suggested that the character of Sarah in Brian Friel's Translations (1980) can be seen as a Kathleen Ni Houlihan-like figure desperately trying to regain her voice and identity.

See Tommy Makem's Celtic/folk song, "Four Green Fields."

In James Joyce's Dubliners the selection "A Mother" contains the character Kathleen whose mother "determined to take advantage of her daughter's name" during the Celtic Revival.