Through My Eyes, In My Words:

The Land and Landscape of Ireland

Taught by Joseph J. Martin, associate professor emeritus of English, and Jack Truten, visiting assistant professor of English

Chrissy Morgan of Flemington, N.J., is a Marquis Scholar pursuing an A.B. with two majors, government and law and an individualized, interdisciplinary major in public health. A member of Phi Beta Kappa and Pi Sigma Alpha (political science) honorary societies, she is a Writing Associate in the College Writing Program. The co-president of College Democrats, she is a member of Concert Choir and Association of Lafayette Feminists.

By Chrissy Morgan '05

Before we left for Ireland, our class met to learn about the history, politics, economics and culture of Ireland. We learned about important figures in Irish history and became familiar with the long series of events that culminated in Ireland’s becoming independent from English rule. We also discussed the roots of and nature of the conflict in Northern Ireland within the context of the Irish independence movement. Finally, we studied the works of Irish writers like W.B. Yeats and James Joyce and analyzed their significance in the context of Irish history.

I didn’t know it then, but when I arrived in Ireland, everything I had learned would take on a whole new meaning.

Right before my eyes, all of those facts and figures and stories were brought to life. I saw with my own eyes the round towers in which monks hid their sacred texts from Viking invaders. I walked along an old stone wall intended to protect the English city of Derry in Northern Ireland from those hoping to reunite the North with the South. I visited an entire museum devoted to Michael Davitt’s formation of a Land League to protect tenants from unjust eviction by their wealthy landlords. I saw models of emigrant ships that brought those starving during the Great Famine to the United States in search of a better life and saw a play about a man who escaped from a penal settlement in Australia.

Suddenly, everything I’d read about was so much more than just a chapter in a book. One of my favorite experiences was visiting Kilmainham Jail, which held captive almost every major figure in the movement for Irish independence between 1798 and 1922. I saw there, for example, the cells in which numerous men were held for their roles in organizing the Easter Rising of 1916. I saw where Joseph Plunkett spent the night before his execution and visited the chapel in which he and his wife were married in the final hours of his life. Minutes later, I stood in the very spot where Plunkett and his comrades were executed, one by one, for their actions. It was truly humbling to realize that I was literally standing in a place where people had sacrificed their lives in the name of Irish freedom.

In addition to all that I learned, I also loved my course in Ireland because of the beautiful sites and impressive landscape. We saw gorgeous castles, hiked up to an ancient stone fort in the Aran Islands, and lay on the edge of the Cliffs of Moher overlooking the Atlantic Ocean.

Even the little things about Ireland made it beautiful. For example, it never ceased to amaze me how green and alive everything seemed to be, even in the bleak month of January. Every day we drove through valleys of bright green grass. Rain or shine, the scenery around me always took my breath away. Making my first trip to Europe a trip to Ireland was definitely a good decision, certainly one I’ll be grateful to have made for years to come!