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

Gleo na gCaṫ
Pádraig Pearse
Selected essays and editorials from the Gaelic League newspaper, An Claidheamh Soluis, between 1899 to 1909.

Collected Mitchel
John Mitchel
Selected writings and speeches of the 19th-century nationalist from The Nation and the United Irishman.
Blog
- November 2023 UpdateOver 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. PearseHis 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
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The Bold Fenian Men
See who comes over the red-blossomed heather, Their green banners kissing the pure mountain air, Heads erect, eyes to front, stepping proudly together, Sure freedom sits throned on each proud spirit there. Down the hill twining, Their blessed steel shining, Like rivers of beauty that flow from each glen, From mountain and valley, ’Tis Liberty’s…
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Jackets Green
When I was a maiden fair and young, on the pleasant banks of Lee, No bird that in the greenwood sung was half so blithe and free. My heart ne’er beat with flying feet, no love sang me her queen, Till down the glen rode Sarsfield’s men, and they wore the Jackets Green.
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Michael Scanlan
Michael Scanlan (1833-1917), was a nationalist poet and writer. Known as ‘the Fenian Poet’, he authored a number of well-known ballads such as ‘Bold Fenian Men’ and ‘Jackets Green’. Born in Castlemahon, Co. Limerick, his family emigrated to Chicago when he was 15 years old. He joined the Irish Republican Brotherhood and wrote for a…
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Essentials
From An Claidheamh Soluis, August 27, 1904. One great cardinal principle the Gaelic League has set before it. That principle is, that to preserve the National Language of Ireland is the surest and, under all the circumstances, the most practical permanent way to maintain the identity of Ireland as a Nation, to keep unbroken the…
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The Education Question
From An Claidheamh Soluis, August 13, 1904. The Ard-Fheis concerned itself with so many different phases of League activity that one desirous of evaluating its work or underlining its decisions must necessarily take up its Agenda Paper section by section and point by point. We prefer to commence with what appears to us to have…
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The Philosophy of Education
From An Claidheamh Soluis, November 12, 1904. In bringing to a conclusion the series of leading articles which we have devoted to the Bilingual Programme, we may with advantage dwell on certain maxims and methods of modern educationists which are, indeed, applicable to unilingual equally with bilingual teaching, but which in our opinion are especially…