The Fool by Patrick H. Pearse - Traditional Irish Poem animation
The Following Text Is Quoted:
Originally Posted by MsJacquiiC
Heres a virtual movie of Patrick Henry Pearse (1879-1916)The Irish poet, educator, and revolutionary nationalist leader of the Easter Rising of 1916 against the British reading his much loved poem "The Fool".
Patrick H. Pearse was born in Dublin on Nov. 10, 1879, the son of an English father and an Irish mother. In his youth he was a fervent supporter of the Irish language revival movement, and he developed a mystical devotion to the ideals of Ireland's ancient Gaelic civilization. After graduating from the Royal University in 1901, he practiced law briefly but soon turned his talents to education. In 1908 he founded St. Enda's College, an experimental secondary school for boys.
Pearse became increasingly active in politics during the home rule controversy of 1912-1914. He gained a reputation as an orator and moved steadily toward an extreme nationalist position. In November 1913 he helped to form the Irish Volunteers, a nationalist militia, and he probably joined the secret Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB) soon afterward.
When the Volunteer movement split in September 1914 over the question of its policy on World War I, Pearse became director of organization for the militant minority that opposed support of Britain against Germany. Thereafter, he rose rapidly in the councils of the IRB, playing an important part in its plans for an insurrection against British rule. His forceful speeches and writings helped to build support for the separatist cause, while his key position in the Volunteer militia enabled him to coordinate its activities with those of the IRB.
When plans for a countrywide insurrection were frustrated by last-minute errors, Pearse and his fellow conspirators resolved to proceed with an armed rising in Dublin. They knew they had no chance of military success, but they believed their example would rouse the Irish people from political apathy and inspire them to fight for national freedom. On Easter Monday, April 24, 1916, the rebels occupied buildings in the center of Dublin and proclaimed the Irish Republic. Pearse served as supreme commander of the 1,600 insurgents and signed the surrender order on April 29, when further resistance to British attacks appeared futile. The rebel leaders were quickly tried and condemned to death by military courtsmartial. Pearse was executed on May 3, 1916.
Pearse was an impassioned idealist who dedicated himself completely to the cause of Irish nationalism. The executed leaders of 1916 became popular martyrs for the cause of Irish liberty, and the Easter Rising opened a struggle with Britain that won independence for most of Ireland in 1921. Although Pearse did not realize his dream of a united and Gaelic Ireland, he remains for many of his countrymen the heroic incarnation of the Irish revolutionary ideal; it seems that this was the role in which Pearse desired to be cast.
The Fool by Patrick H. Pearse
Since the wise men have not spoken, I speak that am only a fool;
A fool that hath loved his folly,
Yea, more than the wise men their books or their counting houses or their quiet homes,
Or their fame in men's mouths;
A fool that in all his days hath done never a prudent thing,
Never hath counted the cost, nor recked if another reaped
The fruit of his mighty sowing, content to scatter the seed;
A fool that is unrepentant, and that soon at the end of all
Shall laugh in his lonely heart as the ripe ears fall to the reaping-hooks
And the poor are filled that were empty,
Tho' he go hungry.
I have squandered the splendid years that the Lord God gave to my youth
In attempting impossible things, deeming them alone worth the toil.
Was it folly or grace? Not men shall judge me, but God.
I have squandered the splendid years:
Lord, if I had the years I would squander them over again,
Aye, fling them from me !
For this I have heard in my heart, that a man shall scatter, not hoard,
Shall do the deed of to-day, nor take thought of to-morrow's teen,
Shall not bargain or huxter with God ; or was it a jest of Christ's
And is this my sin before men, to have taken Him at His word?
The lawyers have sat in council, the men with the keen, long faces,
And said, `This man is a fool,' and others have said, `He blasphemeth;'
And the wise have pitied the fool that hath striven to give a life
In the world of time and space among the bulks of actual things,
To a dream that was dreamed in the heart, and that only the heart could hold.
O wise men, riddle me this: what if the dream come true?
What if the dream come true? and if millions unborn shall dwell
In the house that I shaped in my heart, the noble house of my thought?
Lord, I have staked my soul, I have staked the lives of my kin
On the truth of Thy dreadful word. Do not remember my failures,
But remember this my faith
And so I speak.
Yea, ere my hot youth pass, I speak to my people and say:
Ye shall be foolish as I; ye shall scatter, not save;
Ye shall venture your all, lest ye lose what is more than all;
Ye shall call for a miracle, taking Christ at His word.
And for this I will answer, O people, answer here and hereafter,
O people that I have loved, shall we not answer together?
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