賴世雄高級08課
Hello, everyone, welcome again to Radio English on Sunday. This is Bruce,
/ and this is Peter.
/ Join in us today, we're going to take a look at unit eight, beginning on page sixty of your book, if you remember from last week, we did talk a little bit about the beauty of Ireland as an Island. Today we're also going to be looking at the beauty of Ireland, but this time not in terms of geography. Rather, in terms of its English literature. That's why the title is "Ireland's Contribution to English. ", here "English" refers to the world of English literature. We'll read through all of these paragraphs for you as we always do, please remember that this program is a more advanced level. If you are a beginning student, you'll probably have a lot of trouble with this program, and it will be difficult, too, for intermedia level students. For our advanced students, we promise you each week you can learn a lot not only to increase your English, but increase your knowledge about important things around the world.
Let's get busy with our reading then. We are on page sixty, if you just joined in our program, get ready to read the first paragraph.1:33
Nearly everyone knows that countries such as the United Kingdom, the USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand are primarily English-speaking countries, that is, English is the mother tongue used in these countries. What is less well known is that English is also the mother tongue in countries such as Republic of Ireland, officially called Eire, Barbados, Jamaica, Trinidad, and Guyana. Among these latter few, the Irish have made contributions to the English language in both its lexicon and literature which can be considered second to none.
---lexicon:
A dictionary.
詞典
A stock of terms used in a particular profession, subject, or style; a vocabulary:
專門詞匯用在特殊的職業(yè)、學(xué)科或文體中的一種語系的專用名詞；詞匯：
the lexicon of surrealist art.
超現(xiàn)實(shí)主義藝術(shù)的詞匯
Linguistics
Ok, today we'll be talking about literature and in this first paragraph, a little bit about geography, and language usage. English is used in many countries around the world as the mother tongue. Not only in countries like the US, the UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, but in some smaller countries, too. The most important use of English among these smaller countries is in Ireland. By the way, this was officially called Eire for a period of time, but today its official name is the Republic of Ireland. And it is the Irish, the people of Ireland, over the last few hundred years, who has made great contributions to both vocabulary or lexicon of English, as well as its literature. You can say that their contributions are second to none, this means no other countries has contributed more to the English language than have the Irish.
/ That's really ..of them.
/ It is. Because as we see, it's a small country, but they have had a number of geniuses in English language and literature.
/...
/ then maybe my English would be better. haha.
/ ..is second to none, quite useful.
/..I am second from the last...倒數(shù)第二名的說法？
/ When it comes to singing, he is second to none. Sometimes, you know, we also hear people say, he is unrivaled. (he has really no competition, he's the best at doing something. )
---這樣的表示太多了，incomparable, unrivaled, without a rival, unsurpassable, unparalleled, unequaled,
Ok, let's go ahead to our second paragraph.
Virtually, every aspect of English literature has been graced by the writings of the Irish. This fact is all the more amazing because Ireland is a relatively small country with never more than four million people throughout its long history. Yet, many great English writers were indeed born and often raised in Ireland, though, many too, emigrated to the United Kingdom, at some point in their lives. Among these pillars of English literature were ..接下來是一連串亂糟糟的名字。Many other lesser-known figures had punctuated English literature as well. These men's contributions to the English language and to Western thought in general are immeasurable. A review of two of these writers' major works will reveal why.
Whoo! There's a lot in this paragraph, because we're giving you a general picture of the contributions of the Irish to the English language.
/ Also these are ..long names, some of which are really familiar to me, because they are my friends, we are very close to uhh...well-listed.
/ Yeah, you went to school with some of these guys...
Ok, we will be choosing two of these list of names to talk about on other pages, on the next two pages. But it's important to see that these writers have written in every aspect of English literature, from satire to plays to novels and philosophy. So the Irish have really contributed not only to English, but to Western thought as well.
/satire, is a play, which makes sophisticated fun of a particular situation, a political or social situation, and sometimes it reads like almost like a children story, so we can read it on two levels. We can read it just for fun as children would read it, but it also is trying to make more serious point as well.
/ 諷刺片
The fact is all the more amazing...這種用法 , all the more + 比較級，其實(shí)相當(dāng)于much more的意思。
She looks all the more beautiful in that sloppy dress.
She looks much more beautiful in that sloppy dress. :P
--their contributions are immeasurable.
/Well, another word we can use would be "invaluable". Because both of these cannot be measured, we cannot give a price, or we cannot weigh them, or tell you a particular figure or fact or statistic, it's beyond measuring how great the contribution was.
Alright, we are ready for our next page now as we look at the first of our two special authors here.
Janathan Swift, sixteen sixty seven to seventeen forty five, by most reckoning is the best English language satirist ever, and one of the world's greatest as well. Born in Ireland of English parents, Swift went to school there through his bachelor's degree, ..地名, capital of Ireland. Thereafter, he frequently traveled between England and Ireland, including years spent at Oxford College, where he earned his master's degree. Swift wrote a great deal of poetry, but he is best regarded as a prose satirist. He wrote prolifically both in Ireland and England nearly constantly shuttling from one to the other. In Ireland, he worked on Gulliver's Travels, which he late had published in England in seventeen twenty six. Already famous by that time, Swift would become immortalized with this last great work. What child does not know this story of the brave sailor Gulliver as he travels through lands in which he is at turn both a giant and midget.
(1015) Yet most readers are not aware of Swift's intent satirize the political, academic and religious leaders of his time. Read either way, Swift's genius as a writer of English cannot be denied.
In that long list of authors, which we saw on page sixty, we chose the first one as one of the two to showcase for today's lesson. Janathan Swift is certainly one of the most famous of all English language writers. He was a seventeen and eighteen century novelist and poet and satirist, probably most famous for his book, a collection of stories called Gulliver's Travel. Gulliver's been the name of a sailor, who from one time to another meets fortune and misfortune, as he goes to very strange lands on fantastic journeys. To children or to adults not familiar with the England and Ireland of ..Swift's time, they seem like wonderful children stories. But for those who are interested in politics, religion, history and literature, they probably know better writer in the history of English language satire than Swift.
/Mmm, just now you used a word "showcase", ohh, what does this mean?
/ Well, we are showcasing a couple of special authors from my list, this means that we pay special attention to them or we focus on them because of their contributions to English.
/ It is right like the word "feature"? Featuring.
/ Good word.
/ 以他們?yōu)閷懻眨运麄優(yōu)橹攸c(diǎn)來談他們所做的一些表現(xiàn)。
/ Feature can be used, as Peter has just now, as a verb, and of course can also be used as a count noun. There are many features of Swift's writings, which interest today's experts on literature.
/ ..born in Ireland of English parents, 這里, 如果他是出生在一個poor, rich的家里，要說he was born into a poor family, he was born into a rich family, 但是如果是由一對夫婦生的，要說he was born of a rich couple, a poor couple. 由一對夫婦生的，要用of. 但如果說由某個女士所生，要說he was borne by Mary.
---showcase,
A display case or cabinet, as in a store or museum.
玻璃陳列柜一種展覽箱或柜，如在商店或博物館中的
A setting in which someone or something may be displayed, especially to advantage.
展示地可供某人或某物進(jìn)行展示的場景，尤指為獲取利益
To display prominently, especially to advantage.
展示突出地展示，尤指為獲取利益
immortalize:
To make immortal.
使不朽
Well, let's go ahead and find out the second showcased or featured author.
A giant of English theatre was Geoge Burnard Shaw, eighteen fifty six to nineteen fifty. Born in Dublin, Shaw moved to England with his family when he was twenty, and stayed there for most of the rest of his long life. His early fiction writing was so poor that he could not find a publisher. Only when he began to work as a play writer --playwright-- did his fortune improve. Among the many many plays for which Shaw is famous, perhaps his most lasting, though not his most critically acclaimed, is Pygmalion, nineteen sixteen, the story of a language teacher, who attempts to civilize a young prostitute by training her to speak correctly. If this story sounds familiar? It should. Pygmalion was later filmed winning an Oscar for Shaw and later again transformed into the highly popular Broadway musical "My Fair Lady", nineteen fifty six. A good story never dies. The original Pygmalion has since been updated in the hit movie "Pretty woman", nineteen ninety, starring ...Jullia Robert, as with Shakespeare, many of Shaw's plays are continually restaged or rewritten into new media because Shaw wrote on many things --themes---which touch on the human condition, independent of time and space.
The second featured writer is Geoge Burnar Shaw, who has a long, long list of plays and some novels, but perhaps Pygmalion is the most familiar to our listeners and readers, it was called Pygmalion when first written, later it was changed into "My Fair Lady" on Broadway, and now in the age of movies we have the same story, but with RiChard Geer and Juiliar Robert in a "Run Away" hit movie "Pretty Woman" of nineteen ninety.
/ A run away hit movie, what's that?
/ Well, a hit something means a very very popular one. And we also use the adjective "hot" by the way with the same meaning. A run away hit movie means one of the most popular of the most popular movies, so there's no question that this movie or this book or this play is fantastically popular.
/ But "hit" usually also is used an a noun.
That movie was a hit. That book was a hit. That song, that singer was a hit.
/ yeah, a person also can be a hit.
/ ..independent of ...不依賴。。。用of,
He is dependent on his parents. 依賴，用on。
/ Yes. Independent of, 但是 dependent on.
/ 改編， 用adapt into,
The story was adapted into a movie.
/ adapt, it's the same verb we use when we talked about people moving to another country and adapting to the local culture.
/ adapt to, 適應(yīng)的意思。改編一般用into.
Alright, let's finish our story about Irish contributions to English literature.
18:20
Among the constellation of Irish talents, perhaps Swift and Shaw are two among the more brilliant stars, but much more could be written of those mentioned above and many others. Though English literature written by the British suffices as an eternal and shining canon of literature, it would be nonetheless dimmer without the considerable talents of its Irish contributors.
Here we are saying that Shaw and Swift are perhaps two of the most famous of a long list of contributors from Ireland to English literature. Indeed, the English themselves, of course, have produced one of the world's great bodies or canons of literature, but it would still be a little less satisfying if we didn't not also have the important contributions of Irish writers.
/ constellation, multitude, 很多的意思，
/ Mmm, right, 本來是星座的意思，but here it means, as Peter just said, a collection, a group, a number of..
/ Or a multitude of, a multitude of something.
/ You know, this article also gives another feeling, gives me at least, that a great people, especially great man of letters, usually were born somewhere in the countryside where life is very easy, so that they had very little difficulty surviving. Usually in this kind of situation, they would (rather) stay very (slover) and they can come up with very beautiful works or something.
/ Well, I think great man of letters, as you say, could be born independent of time and space, as we just read, great man of letters are born everywhere and every time, but I would expect that in the countryside people can compose themselves a little bit easier to do better writing.
/ a man of letters, 文學(xué)家。學(xué)者，作家，
Ok, that's it for today's lesson, join us next Sunday.
_____________________Pan. 2003.4.
*************************************************************************************
Lesson 8, Ireland's Contribution to English
1, Reading,
Nearly everyone knows that countries such as the United Kingdom, the United States of America, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand are primarily English-speaking countries; that is, English is the mother tongue used in these countries. What is less well known is that English is also the mother tongue in countries such as the Republic of Ireland (officially called Eire), Barbados, Jamaica, Trinidad, and Guyana. Among these latter few, the Irish have made contributions to the English language in both its lexicon and literature which can be considered second to none.
Virtually every aspect of English literature has been graced by the writings of the Irish. This fact is all the more amazing because Ireland is a relatively small country, with never more than four million people throughout its long history. Yet many great "English" writers were indeed born and often raised in Ireland, though many, too, emigrated to the United Kingdom at some point in their lives. Among these pillars of English literature were Jonathan Wsift, William Butler Yeats, James Joyce, Samuel Beckeff, Oscar Wilde, George Bernard Shaw,and Edmund Burke. Many other lesser-known figures have punctuated English literature as well. These men's contributions to the English language and to Western thought in general are immeasurable. A review of two of these writers' major works will reveal why.
Jonathan Swift (1667-1745) by most reckoning is the best English-language satirist ever, and one of the world's greatest as well. Born in Ireland of English parents, Swift went to school there through his bachelor's degree (Trinity College, Dublin, capital of Ireland). Thereafter he frequently traveled between England and Ireland, including years spent at Oxford College, where he eared his master's degree. Swift wrote a great deal of poetry, but he is best regarded as a prose satirist. He wrote prolifically both in Ireland and England, nearly constantly shuttling from one to the other. In Ireland he worked on Gulliver's Travels, which he later had published in England in 1726. Already famous by that time, Swift would become immortalized with this last great work. What child does not know the story of the brave sailor Guliver as he travels through lands in which he is at turn both a giant and a midget? Yet most readers are not aware of Swift's intent to satirize the political, academic, and religious leaders of his time. Read either way, Swift's genius as a writer of English cannot be denied.
A giant of English theater was George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950). Born in Dublin, Shaw moved to England with his family when he was 20 and stayed there for most of the rest of his long life. His early fiction writing was so poor that he could not find a publisher. Only when he began to work as a playwright did his fortunes improve. Among the many, many plays for which Shaw is famous, perhaps his most lasting (though not his most critically acclaimed) is "Pygmalion" (1916), the story of a language teacher who appempts to "civilize" a young prostitute by training her to speak correctly. If this story sounds familiar, it should: "Pygmalion" was later filmed winning as Oscar for Shaw and later again transformed into the highly popular Broadway musical "My Fair Lady" (1956). A good story never dies: the original "Pygmalion" has since been updated in teh hit movie "Pretty Woman" (1990) starring Richard Gere and Julia Roberts. As with Shakespeare, many of Shaw's plays are continually restaged or rewritten into new media because Shaw wrote on many themes which touch on the human condition, independent of time and space.
Among the constellation of Irish talents, perhaps Swift and Shaw are two among the more brilliant stars, but much more could be written of those mentioned above and many others. Though English literature written by the british suffices as an eternal and shining canon of literature, it would be nonetheless dimmer without the considerable talents of its Irish contributors.
Hello, everyone, welcome again to Radio English on Sunday. This is Bruce,
/ and this is Peter.
/ Join in us today, we're going to take a look at unit eight, beginning on page sixty of your book, if you remember from last week, we did talk a little bit about the beauty of Ireland as an Island. Today we're also going to be looking at the beauty of Ireland, but this time not in terms of geography. Rather, in terms of its English literature. That's why the title is "Ireland's Contribution to English. ", here "English" refers to the world of English literature. We'll read through all of these paragraphs for you as we always do, please remember that this program is a more advanced level. If you are a beginning student, you'll probably have a lot of trouble with this program, and it will be difficult, too, for intermedia level students. For our advanced students, we promise you each week you can learn a lot not only to increase your English, but increase your knowledge about important things around the world.
Let's get busy with our reading then. We are on page sixty, if you just joined in our program, get ready to read the first paragraph.1:33
Nearly everyone knows that countries such as the United Kingdom, the USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand are primarily English-speaking countries, that is, English is the mother tongue used in these countries. What is less well known is that English is also the mother tongue in countries such as Republic of Ireland, officially called Eire, Barbados, Jamaica, Trinidad, and Guyana. Among these latter few, the Irish have made contributions to the English language in both its lexicon and literature which can be considered second to none.
---lexicon:
A dictionary.
詞典
A stock of terms used in a particular profession, subject, or style; a vocabulary:
專門詞匯用在特殊的職業(yè)、學(xué)科或文體中的一種語系的專用名詞；詞匯：
the lexicon of surrealist art.
超現(xiàn)實(shí)主義藝術(shù)的詞匯
Linguistics
Ok, today we'll be talking about literature and in this first paragraph, a little bit about geography, and language usage. English is used in many countries around the world as the mother tongue. Not only in countries like the US, the UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, but in some smaller countries, too. The most important use of English among these smaller countries is in Ireland. By the way, this was officially called Eire for a period of time, but today its official name is the Republic of Ireland. And it is the Irish, the people of Ireland, over the last few hundred years, who has made great contributions to both vocabulary or lexicon of English, as well as its literature. You can say that their contributions are second to none, this means no other countries has contributed more to the English language than have the Irish.
/ That's really ..of them.
/ It is. Because as we see, it's a small country, but they have had a number of geniuses in English language and literature.
/...
/ then maybe my English would be better. haha.
/ ..is second to none, quite useful.
/..I am second from the last...倒數(shù)第二名的說法？
/ When it comes to singing, he is second to none. Sometimes, you know, we also hear people say, he is unrivaled. (he has really no competition, he's the best at doing something. )
---這樣的表示太多了，incomparable, unrivaled, without a rival, unsurpassable, unparalleled, unequaled,
Ok, let's go ahead to our second paragraph.
Virtually, every aspect of English literature has been graced by the writings of the Irish. This fact is all the more amazing because Ireland is a relatively small country with never more than four million people throughout its long history. Yet, many great English writers were indeed born and often raised in Ireland, though, many too, emigrated to the United Kingdom, at some point in their lives. Among these pillars of English literature were ..接下來是一連串亂糟糟的名字。Many other lesser-known figures had punctuated English literature as well. These men's contributions to the English language and to Western thought in general are immeasurable. A review of two of these writers' major works will reveal why.
Whoo! There's a lot in this paragraph, because we're giving you a general picture of the contributions of the Irish to the English language.
/ Also these are ..long names, some of which are really familiar to me, because they are my friends, we are very close to uhh...well-listed.
/ Yeah, you went to school with some of these guys...
Ok, we will be choosing two of these list of names to talk about on other pages, on the next two pages. But it's important to see that these writers have written in every aspect of English literature, from satire to plays to novels and philosophy. So the Irish have really contributed not only to English, but to Western thought as well.
/satire, is a play, which makes sophisticated fun of a particular situation, a political or social situation, and sometimes it reads like almost like a children story, so we can read it on two levels. We can read it just for fun as children would read it, but it also is trying to make more serious point as well.
/ 諷刺片
The fact is all the more amazing...這種用法 , all the more + 比較級，其實(shí)相當(dāng)于much more的意思。
She looks all the more beautiful in that sloppy dress.
She looks much more beautiful in that sloppy dress. :P
--their contributions are immeasurable.
/Well, another word we can use would be "invaluable". Because both of these cannot be measured, we cannot give a price, or we cannot weigh them, or tell you a particular figure or fact or statistic, it's beyond measuring how great the contribution was.
Alright, we are ready for our next page now as we look at the first of our two special authors here.
Janathan Swift, sixteen sixty seven to seventeen forty five, by most reckoning is the best English language satirist ever, and one of the world's greatest as well. Born in Ireland of English parents, Swift went to school there through his bachelor's degree, ..地名, capital of Ireland. Thereafter, he frequently traveled between England and Ireland, including years spent at Oxford College, where he earned his master's degree. Swift wrote a great deal of poetry, but he is best regarded as a prose satirist. He wrote prolifically both in Ireland and England nearly constantly shuttling from one to the other. In Ireland, he worked on Gulliver's Travels, which he late had published in England in seventeen twenty six. Already famous by that time, Swift would become immortalized with this last great work. What child does not know this story of the brave sailor Gulliver as he travels through lands in which he is at turn both a giant and midget.
(1015) Yet most readers are not aware of Swift's intent satirize the political, academic and religious leaders of his time. Read either way, Swift's genius as a writer of English cannot be denied.
In that long list of authors, which we saw on page sixty, we chose the first one as one of the two to showcase for today's lesson. Janathan Swift is certainly one of the most famous of all English language writers. He was a seventeen and eighteen century novelist and poet and satirist, probably most famous for his book, a collection of stories called Gulliver's Travel. Gulliver's been the name of a sailor, who from one time to another meets fortune and misfortune, as he goes to very strange lands on fantastic journeys. To children or to adults not familiar with the England and Ireland of ..Swift's time, they seem like wonderful children stories. But for those who are interested in politics, religion, history and literature, they probably know better writer in the history of English language satire than Swift.
/Mmm, just now you used a word "showcase", ohh, what does this mean?
/ Well, we are showcasing a couple of special authors from my list, this means that we pay special attention to them or we focus on them because of their contributions to English.
/ It is right like the word "feature"? Featuring.
/ Good word.
/ 以他們?yōu)閷懻眨运麄優(yōu)橹攸c(diǎn)來談他們所做的一些表現(xiàn)。
/ Feature can be used, as Peter has just now, as a verb, and of course can also be used as a count noun. There are many features of Swift's writings, which interest today's experts on literature.
/ ..born in Ireland of English parents, 這里, 如果他是出生在一個poor, rich的家里，要說he was born into a poor family, he was born into a rich family, 但是如果是由一對夫婦生的，要說he was born of a rich couple, a poor couple. 由一對夫婦生的，要用of. 但如果說由某個女士所生，要說he was borne by Mary.
---showcase,
A display case or cabinet, as in a store or museum.
玻璃陳列柜一種展覽箱或柜，如在商店或博物館中的
A setting in which someone or something may be displayed, especially to advantage.
展示地可供某人或某物進(jìn)行展示的場景，尤指為獲取利益
To display prominently, especially to advantage.
展示突出地展示，尤指為獲取利益
immortalize:
To make immortal.
使不朽
Well, let's go ahead and find out the second showcased or featured author.
A giant of English theatre was Geoge Burnard Shaw, eighteen fifty six to nineteen fifty. Born in Dublin, Shaw moved to England with his family when he was twenty, and stayed there for most of the rest of his long life. His early fiction writing was so poor that he could not find a publisher. Only when he began to work as a play writer --playwright-- did his fortune improve. Among the many many plays for which Shaw is famous, perhaps his most lasting, though not his most critically acclaimed, is Pygmalion, nineteen sixteen, the story of a language teacher, who attempts to civilize a young prostitute by training her to speak correctly. If this story sounds familiar? It should. Pygmalion was later filmed winning an Oscar for Shaw and later again transformed into the highly popular Broadway musical "My Fair Lady", nineteen fifty six. A good story never dies. The original Pygmalion has since been updated in the hit movie "Pretty woman", nineteen ninety, starring ...Jullia Robert, as with Shakespeare, many of Shaw's plays are continually restaged or rewritten into new media because Shaw wrote on many things --themes---which touch on the human condition, independent of time and space.
The second featured writer is Geoge Burnar Shaw, who has a long, long list of plays and some novels, but perhaps Pygmalion is the most familiar to our listeners and readers, it was called Pygmalion when first written, later it was changed into "My Fair Lady" on Broadway, and now in the age of movies we have the same story, but with RiChard Geer and Juiliar Robert in a "Run Away" hit movie "Pretty Woman" of nineteen ninety.
/ A run away hit movie, what's that?
/ Well, a hit something means a very very popular one. And we also use the adjective "hot" by the way with the same meaning. A run away hit movie means one of the most popular of the most popular movies, so there's no question that this movie or this book or this play is fantastically popular.
/ But "hit" usually also is used an a noun.
That movie was a hit. That book was a hit. That song, that singer was a hit.
/ yeah, a person also can be a hit.
/ ..independent of ...不依賴。。。用of,
He is dependent on his parents. 依賴，用on。
/ Yes. Independent of, 但是 dependent on.
/ 改編， 用adapt into,
The story was adapted into a movie.
/ adapt, it's the same verb we use when we talked about people moving to another country and adapting to the local culture.
/ adapt to, 適應(yīng)的意思。改編一般用into.
Alright, let's finish our story about Irish contributions to English literature.
18:20
Among the constellation of Irish talents, perhaps Swift and Shaw are two among the more brilliant stars, but much more could be written of those mentioned above and many others. Though English literature written by the British suffices as an eternal and shining canon of literature, it would be nonetheless dimmer without the considerable talents of its Irish contributors.
Here we are saying that Shaw and Swift are perhaps two of the most famous of a long list of contributors from Ireland to English literature. Indeed, the English themselves, of course, have produced one of the world's great bodies or canons of literature, but it would still be a little less satisfying if we didn't not also have the important contributions of Irish writers.
/ constellation, multitude, 很多的意思，
/ Mmm, right, 本來是星座的意思，but here it means, as Peter just said, a collection, a group, a number of..
/ Or a multitude of, a multitude of something.
/ You know, this article also gives another feeling, gives me at least, that a great people, especially great man of letters, usually were born somewhere in the countryside where life is very easy, so that they had very little difficulty surviving. Usually in this kind of situation, they would (rather) stay very (slover) and they can come up with very beautiful works or something.
/ Well, I think great man of letters, as you say, could be born independent of time and space, as we just read, great man of letters are born everywhere and every time, but I would expect that in the countryside people can compose themselves a little bit easier to do better writing.
/ a man of letters, 文學(xué)家。學(xué)者，作家，
Ok, that's it for today's lesson, join us next Sunday.
_____________________Pan. 2003.4.
*************************************************************************************
Lesson 8, Ireland's Contribution to English
1, Reading,
Nearly everyone knows that countries such as the United Kingdom, the United States of America, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand are primarily English-speaking countries; that is, English is the mother tongue used in these countries. What is less well known is that English is also the mother tongue in countries such as the Republic of Ireland (officially called Eire), Barbados, Jamaica, Trinidad, and Guyana. Among these latter few, the Irish have made contributions to the English language in both its lexicon and literature which can be considered second to none.
Virtually every aspect of English literature has been graced by the writings of the Irish. This fact is all the more amazing because Ireland is a relatively small country, with never more than four million people throughout its long history. Yet many great "English" writers were indeed born and often raised in Ireland, though many, too, emigrated to the United Kingdom at some point in their lives. Among these pillars of English literature were Jonathan Wsift, William Butler Yeats, James Joyce, Samuel Beckeff, Oscar Wilde, George Bernard Shaw,and Edmund Burke. Many other lesser-known figures have punctuated English literature as well. These men's contributions to the English language and to Western thought in general are immeasurable. A review of two of these writers' major works will reveal why.
Jonathan Swift (1667-1745) by most reckoning is the best English-language satirist ever, and one of the world's greatest as well. Born in Ireland of English parents, Swift went to school there through his bachelor's degree (Trinity College, Dublin, capital of Ireland). Thereafter he frequently traveled between England and Ireland, including years spent at Oxford College, where he eared his master's degree. Swift wrote a great deal of poetry, but he is best regarded as a prose satirist. He wrote prolifically both in Ireland and England, nearly constantly shuttling from one to the other. In Ireland he worked on Gulliver's Travels, which he later had published in England in 1726. Already famous by that time, Swift would become immortalized with this last great work. What child does not know the story of the brave sailor Guliver as he travels through lands in which he is at turn both a giant and a midget? Yet most readers are not aware of Swift's intent to satirize the political, academic, and religious leaders of his time. Read either way, Swift's genius as a writer of English cannot be denied.
A giant of English theater was George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950). Born in Dublin, Shaw moved to England with his family when he was 20 and stayed there for most of the rest of his long life. His early fiction writing was so poor that he could not find a publisher. Only when he began to work as a playwright did his fortunes improve. Among the many, many plays for which Shaw is famous, perhaps his most lasting (though not his most critically acclaimed) is "Pygmalion" (1916), the story of a language teacher who appempts to "civilize" a young prostitute by training her to speak correctly. If this story sounds familiar, it should: "Pygmalion" was later filmed winning as Oscar for Shaw and later again transformed into the highly popular Broadway musical "My Fair Lady" (1956). A good story never dies: the original "Pygmalion" has since been updated in teh hit movie "Pretty Woman" (1990) starring Richard Gere and Julia Roberts. As with Shakespeare, many of Shaw's plays are continually restaged or rewritten into new media because Shaw wrote on many themes which touch on the human condition, independent of time and space.
Among the constellation of Irish talents, perhaps Swift and Shaw are two among the more brilliant stars, but much more could be written of those mentioned above and many others. Though English literature written by the british suffices as an eternal and shining canon of literature, it would be nonetheless dimmer without the considerable talents of its Irish contributors.