Welcome to Cartlann

A free and accessible archive of Irish literary works.

We host one of the largest collections of Irish historical material available online.

Our collection encompasses all periods of Irish history, and includes a wide range of political, economic, cultural, literary and historical works.

Featured Collections

A Mightier Question

James Fintan Lalor

Collected letters and articles by James Fintan Lalor, from the Nation and the Irish Felon.

Gleo na gCaṫ

Pádraig Pearse

Selected essays and editorials from the Gaelic League newspaper, An Claidheamh Soluis, between 1899 to 1909.

Dubliners

James Joyce

1914 modernist collection of short stories set in Dublin.

Blog

  • November 2023 Update
    Over the past year, some new and significant changes have been made to the site’s design. In brief, they are as follows: HOME PAGE TEXTS FORMATTING CLÓ GAELACH Notes: LIGHT MODE Note: The background image changes with the setting. PDFs Note: The ‘Contents’ section contains hyperlinks which will lead you directly to each chapter directly. Or, alternatively, you can click on ‘Document outline’ on the top-left of the page. AN CHARTLANN.
  • An Craoibhín Aoibhinn: The Thought of Douglas Hyde
    ‘The work of Douglas Hyde will live after him. It is not now possible that Irish can die, as but for him it would most assuredly have died. Even should it become extinct as a spoken language, reams of Irish literature have been preserved which but for Hyde would have perished.’ – An Craoibhin Aoibhinn, Diarmuid Coffey, 1917.
  • The Lesser-Known Works of P. H. Pearse
    His complete writings can be found here. Still subject to further addition. Any general analysis on the work of Pádraig Pearse almost invariably focuses on his political writings and speeches, and to some extent his poetry of a more nationalistic tenor. It is unmistakeably the most famous Pearse, the Pearse most vivid in collective Irish memory, the Pearse of Bodenstown and Glasnevin, the Pearse of Easter Week. But as an analysis, it is too singular, if not one-dimensional. Pearse was not merely an eloquent rebel with a few quatrains to his name. From his earliest youth, Pearse was a prolific…

Latest

  • On Language and the Irish Nation

    The following is the most famous excerpt of an address De Valera gave on Raidió Éireann on St. Patrick’s Day 1943, commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of the founding of the Gaelic League. The ideal Ireland that we would have, the Ireland that we dreamed of, would be the home of a people who valued material…

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  • Speech to the League of Nations

    Speech to the Sixteenth General Assembly of the League of Nations, Geneva, 16 September 1935. Mr. President, I come to this Tribune with a feeling of deep sadness. The speakers who preceded me doubtless have had the same feeling; for no one can avoid being affected by the contrast between the high ideals and lofty…

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  • Speech on Irish Neutrality

    From a speech delivered in Cork on December 12, 1941, the day after Germany’s declaration of war against the United States. Here, in Cork district, you have in combination all the dangers which war can inflict. You are a very important point. Your military and marine defences cannot be too carefully organized nor too fully…

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  • Éamon De Valera

    Éamon De Valera (1882-1975) was an Irish statesman, revolutionary and politician who governed as Ireland’s longest-serving Taoiseach. Born in America to an Irish mother and Spanish father, De Valera fought in the 1916 Easter Rising, commanding Irish Volunteer troops at Boland’s Mill. He avoided execution thanks to poor British intelligence and his status as an…

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  • Unconquered Ireland

    We have no sympathy with the pessimists who at times like this speak as if Ireland had lost her spirit. Ireland has never in a century shown a more self-respecting spirit than she does now.

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  • Not Conquered Yet!

    From Sinn Féin, July 1st, 1911. AIR: “Fainne Geal an Lae.” Thou art not conquered yet, Dear Land,Thy spirit still is free,Though long an alien tyrant’s handHas triumphed over thee.Though oft obscured by clouds of woeThy sun has never set;‘Twill blaze again in golden glow,Thou art not conquered yet. Chorus:Thou art not conquered yet, Dear…

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