"A Nation Once Again"—Irish Patriotic Song

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Title: "A Nation Once Again"

Composer: Thomas Osborne Davis
Lyricist: Thomas Osborne Davis
Performer(s): The Dubliners
Written: 1840s
Performed: 1993

"A Nation Once Again" is a song written in the early to mid-1840s by Thomas Osborne Davis (1814–1845). Davis was a founder of Young Ireland, an Irish movement whose aim was for Ireland to gain independence from Britain. This performance omits a stanza with religious references.


[0:08–1:00] The first image used features O'Connell Street in Dublin in the aftermath of the 1916 Easter Rising, with Nelson's Pillar in the background.

[1:00–1:50] The second image used shows the shelling of the Four Courts building by Free State forces—an event symbolising the beginning of the Irish Civil War. The Anti-Treaty forces were housed in the Four Courts.

[1:50–2:40] The third image used shows celebrations on the O'Connell Bridge when Ireland officially became a republic on the 18th of April, 1949.


—LYRICS—
[I]
When boyhood's fire was in my blood,
I read of ancient freemen.
For Greece and Rome who bravely stood,
Three hundred men and three men;
And then I prayed I yet might see,
Our fetters rent in twain,
And Ireland, long a province, be,
A nation once again!

[Chorus]
A nation once again,
A nation once again,
And Ireland, long a province, be
A nation once again!

[II]
And from that time, through wildest woe,
That hope has shone a far light,
Nor could love's brightest summer glow
Outshine that solemn starlight;
It seemed to watch above my head —
Through forum, field, and fane,
Its angel voice sang round my bed,
A nation once again!

[Chorus]

[III] (OMITTED)
It whisper'd too, that freedom's ark,
And service high and holy,
Would be profaned by feelings dark,
And passions vain or lowly;
For, freedom comes from God's right hand,
And needs a Godly train;
And righteous men must make our land,
A nation once again!

[Chorus]

[IV]
So, as I grew from boy to man,
I bent me to my bidding.
My spirit of each selfish plan,
And cruel passion ridding;
For, thus I hoped some day to aid,
Oh, can such hope be vain?
When my dear country shall be made
A nation once again!

[Chorus]

——

Tags: #irish #irishmusic #irishnationalism #irishrebelmusic #rebelmusic

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