This course looks at some of the major literary figures of Ireland in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, writing in both Irish and English. Authors examined may include W. B. Yeats, Patrick Pearse, Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill, Seán Ó Riordáin, Seamus Heaney and Claire Keegan. Through a close reading of poetry, prose and critical texts, students will examine how Ireland's past, present and future are variously figured in its greatest modern literature. All Irish-language works will be read in English translation.