Poetyka romantyczna „Melodii irlandzkich” Thomasa Moore’a

Mirosława Modrzewska

doi:10.36744/k.4375

The Romantic Poetics of “Irish Melodies” by Thomas Moore

Peer-reviewed article, Submitted 27.03.2025, Accepted 10.06.2025

Mirosława Modrzewska

miroslawa.modrzewska@ug.edu.pl
Uniwersity of Gdańsk (Poland)
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6460-0601

DOI: https://doi.org/10.36744/k.4375

Abstract

Thomas Moore, composer and poet, published his Irish Melodies in ten subsequent volumes (1807–1834) as lyrical poems with musical accompaniment. In the first decades of the nineteenth century, songs sung solo and with the accompaniment of individual instruments became a new, emancipated way of artistic expression. In Moore’s time, it was a new medium, extremely desirable due to its capacity of reconciling authentic lyrical expression and mass distribution of texts. On the one hand, a new reader/listener of such works could represent a national or ethnic group heading for political emancipation, and, on the other hand, the performer or the addressee could be an individual personality seeking emotional identification with native legends and local history. Moore's song was part of the cultural trend of the democratization and politicization of literature in the era of revolution and liberation movements. According to the philosophy of Romanticism, music was a language of spirit and a voice of feelings, so the performative combination of poetry and music provided an opportunity to express meanings about personal and autobiographical experiences, and at the same time the experiences of a community, which could be symbolic and transcendental.

In Moore’s Irish lyrics, as in the works of many other poets and philosophers of the time, there occur a characteristic sacralization and mythologization of art as an attribute of “Old Erin”, the legendary but lost land of harpers, which was old Ireland. Its tragic story in Moore’s poetry also refers to the history of Europe and America, as the history of the struggle for freedom. His songs, as pieces that could be performed in any space and for any type and size of audience, were an ideal means of expression and a vehicle for national iconography in the political culture of the time.

Keywords:

Thomas Moore, romantic song, legendary country of harpers, romantic Irish iconography, romantic cultural media

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Published

2025-09-10

Cited by

Modrzewska, M. (2025) “The Romantic Poetics of ‘Irish Melodies’ by Thomas Moore”, Konteksty, 349(2), pp. 34–39. doi: 10.36744/k.4375.

Authors

Mirosława Modrzewska
miroslawa.modrzewska@ug.edu.pl
Uniwersity of Gdańsk Poland
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6460-0601

Mirosława Modrzewska – prof. UG. Jej zainteresowania badawcze koncentrują się wokół zagadnień literatury nowożytnej, zwłaszcza wieku XIX i romantycznej literatury angielskiej, polskiej i europejskiej. Jest współautorką poetyckiego tłumaczenia na język angielski poematu Juliusza Słowackiego Beniowski (Pieśni I–V) we współpracy z Peterem Cochranem (Poland’s Angry Romantic. Two Poems and a Play by Juliusz Słowacki (2009). Była współredaktorką wielojęzycznego wydania European Romanticism ze Stephenem Prickettem oraz redaktorką polsko-angielskiej części Polish Romanticism (2010). Jest członkinią International Association of Byron Societies i Gesellschaft für Englische Romantik. W latach 2014–2023 była założycielką i prezeską Polskiego Towarzystwa Studiów nad Europejskim Romantyzmem. W latach 2016–2018 współorganizowała cykle spotkań seminaryjnych na UG z pisarzami Gdańska i Pomorza (ukazały się jako: Pośród nas: twórcy gdańscy i pomorscy: rozmowy niedokończone 2016, 2018, 2019. Najważniejsze książki: Byron and the Baroque (2013) i Byron: Reality, Fiction and Madness (współredakcja z Marią Fengler) (2020).