Module convenor - Professor Greg Toner

This module will explore the evidence for the religion and beliefs of the Celtic-speaking peoples from the earliest times. We will examine early Irish texts dealing with native gods and the Otherworld including the Battle of Moyturra and the Book of Invasions, and we will explore literary, archaeological and inscriptional evidence from Britain and the Continent for parallels among other Celtic-speaking peoples. We will also investigate the supernatural aspect of early Irish sacral kingship and mythical representations of Irish society, as well as the nature of goddesses and their connection with war and landscape.

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Module convenor - Dr Marcas Mac Coinnigh

This module explores the concept of folklore and its application in Ireland since the 19th century. Subjects under analysis may include (i) folk narrative and performance, (ii) ritual, belief, festival and worldview, and (iii) material culture and lifestyle.

This module is taught and assessed through the medium of Irish

Module convenor - Professor Greg Toner

In this module, you will read and analyse a selection of key, early medieval Irish myths and sagas including The Cattle-Raid of Cooley and the Tale of Mac Dathó’s Pig. You will be taught how to properly contextualise and critically analyse selected tales and explore recurrent themes such as love, greed and war. Although these tales can be read now like fiction and have inspired much of modern fantasy writing such as Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, we will see how medieval audiences viewed these tales as true accounts of their own past.

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‌Module convenor - Dr Marcas Mac Coinnigh

This module will examine the short story as a distinct genre within the Irish-language literary canon. We will analyse the development of the short story from the early 20th Century to the present day using a selection of representative texts from authors such as Pádraig Mac Piarais, Pádraig Ó Conaire, Seosamh Mac Grianna, Máirtín Ó Cadhain, Liam Ó Flaithearta, Máire Mhac an tSaoi, Síle Ní Chéileachair, Alan Titley, Angela Bourke, Biddy Jenkinson, and numerous others. Students will investigate the historical and cultural factors that effected the ‘introduction’ of the short story in Irish-language writing, and analyse how opposing theories dealt with the modernist question. The formal aspects of the short story will be examined in detail– including plot, narrative progression and characterisation– and this analysis brought to bear on the intricate relationship between structure, style and subject matter.

This module is taught and assessed through the medium of Irish‌

Modern Irish prose (including the short story, the autobiography and drama), with an emphasis on Ulster writers.

Module Convenor - Dr Charlie Dillon

This module deals with the Irish poetic tradition of the modern period. Poetry was a revered art form in Gaelic Ireland and its practitioners held a high status in society. As this society changed in the period during and after the disruption of the seventeenth century, the nature of poetry was transformed as new forms and themes were adopted, and the voice of the common people came to be heard. The module will allow students to appreciate the roots of the poetry and song still so vibrant throughout today’s Ireland.

This module is taught and assessed through the medium of Irish

An introduction to Scottish Gaelic Language. The classes are held in the Language Centre, using the multi-media language laboratory. The textbook used is Gaelic: A Complete Course for Beginners (units 1 - 12), and each unit in it is supplemented by material that is accessed each week in class on the computer terminals. Students also have access to the computer material in their own time.

Module convenor - Professor Greg Toner
This module examines the evolution of modern Irish poetry from 1940 to the present day, including the major poets of the period such as Seán Ó Ríordáin, Máire Mhac an tSaoi, Máirtín Ó Direáin, Cathal Ó Searcaigh, and Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill. We will explore themes such as language, displacement, nationhood, existence, sexuality and religion.

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Module convenor - Dr Marcas Mac Coinnigh

This module examines the relationship between filmmaking and literary narrative in Irish, focusing in particular on the period from the 1920s to the present. Representations of literary narratives will be examined in a variety of genres, with particular emphasis on the short film and the film documentary. The cultural and socio-political ideologies that inform narratives, in both literature and Irish-language visual media, will also be discussed. Films examined may include: Mise Éire, Cré na Cille, Rotha Mór an tSaoil­–The Hard Road to Klondike, Poitín, Draíocht, Kings, Cosa Nite, The Running Mate, and short films from the Oscailt and Lasair series (An Leabhar, Aqua, Cáca Milis, Clare sa Spéir, Filleann an Feall, Lipservice, Tubberware, Yu Ming is Ainm dom).

This module is taught and assessed through the medium of Irish‌

Further information will be available soon.

Module convenor - Professor Greg Toner

This module provides an introduction to the Irish language of c.700 AD - c. 1200 AD in which the great sagas and myths were written. The language is studied through close examination of a selection of texts including samples from the Cattle-Raid of Cooley (the Táin). Particular attention is paid to early Irish verse in the original language, with particular emphasis on nature poetry.

Further information will be available soon.

Module Convenor - Dr Charlie Dillon

This module analyses the relationship between Irish and her neighbouring languages, and how that relationship has been shaped and moulded, both historically and recently, through translation. Practical work will enable students to appreciate the dynamics of translation activity between two languages so diverse in idiom and structure as Irish and English. How are new words and technical terms dealt with? Can a perfect translation be achieved? What’s the Irish for Large Hadron Collider? These and other issues will be investigated.

NB This module is taught and assessed through the medium of Irish.

An introduction to the varieties of Irish spoken in Ulster, Connacht and Munster with reference to phonology (sound system), morphology (word structure), syntax (sentence structure) and lexis (vocabulary).