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 Authors

W. B. Yeats

‘He must picture saint or hero, or hillside, as he sees them, not as he is expected to see them, and he must comfort himself, when others cry out against what he has seen, by remembering that no two men are alike, and that there is no “excellent beauty without strangeness.”’

—Ireland and the Arts

James Joyce

‘It lay thickly drifted on the crooked crosses and headstones, on the spears of the little gate, on the barren thorns. His soul swooned slowly as he heard the snow falling faintly through the universe and faintly falling, like the descent of their last end, upon all the living and the dead.’

—The Dead, Dubliners

Peadar Ua Laoghaire

‘“A Shéadna,” arsa ’n sagart, “ceapaim go dtuigim an sgeul fé dheire. Tuigtear ad’ aigne dhuit go ndéanfá éagcóir ar Mháire Ghearra, dá bpósfá í. Táir ag diúltadh do’n éagcóir sin ar son an chirt. Táir ag gabháil de chosaibh ad’ chroídhe féin ar son an tSlánuightheóra”’

—Séadna

Collections

The New Evangel

James Connolly

An early pamphlet collecting five of Connolly’s previous essays from Workers’ Republic.

The Re-Conquest of Ireland

James Connolly

A socialist manifesto arguing that Ireland’s freedom from foreign rule requires an economic revolution.

Labour, Nationality, and Religion

James Connolly

Explores the Catholic Church’s relation to English colonialism in Ireland.

Blog

Arthur Griffith: Sinn Féin’s TheoristJanuary 2, 2025
The following are quotes from our extensive collection of Arthur Griffith’s writings from his earliest editorials to his final testament. One of the most prolific Irish journalists of his time and a founding father of the early Irish state, his writings are of very great interest to those researching the early Sinn Féin movement.
November 2023 UpdateNovember 22, 2023
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 HydeMay 12, 2023
‘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.

Latest

Dogma and Food

At a meeting of the Sacred Heart Home in Dublin the other day a most powerful and impassioned appeal was made by the Archbishop of Dublin for funds to provide proper care and training for the Catholic children who, from the poverty and carelessness of their parents, frequently fall into the clutches of ‘proselytisers’ who make their misery a weapon of warfare against their religion.

February 25, 2025Read more →

A Plea for the Children

We wonder how many of our readers fully appreciated the significance of that plank in our municipal programme which demands the free maintenance of children at School. In no item of the Socialist programme are the economic and humanitarian aspects of the movement so closely blended, and none are so much required in the interest of future generations.

February 25, 2025Read more →

The South African War II

... And what about the war? Well, I think it is the beginning of the end. This great, blustering British Empire; this Empire of truculent bullies, is rushing headlong to its doom. Whether they ultimately win or lose, the Boers have pricked the bubble of England’s fighting reputation.

February 25, 2025Read more →

Landlordism in Towns

In an early issue of the Workers’ Republic we pointed out that the Corporation of Dublin had it in its power to sensibly mitigate the sufferings of the industrial population in the City by a wise and intelligent application of its many powers as a public board.

February 22, 2025Read more →

Imperialism and Socialism

As Socialists—and therefore anxious to at all times throw the full weight of whatever influence we possess upon the side of the forces making most directly for Socialism—we have often been somewhat disturbed in our mind by observing in the writings and speeches of some of our foreign comrades a tendency to discriminate in favour of Great Britain in all the international complications in which that country may be involved over questions of territorial annexation, spheres of influence, etc., in barbarous or semi-civilised portions of the globe.

February 22, 2025Read more →

Chapter XXII

On hearing that he had been summoned to Tlachtga, the Historian placed a motor-car at his service, and gave him a letter for the Princess, and one for Sorcha. Schliemann was not surprised to find that the young man who had driven him to Tlachtga on his first visit to that palace was again his...

February 11, 2025Read more →