W.B.Yeats’s Contribution to the Irish Nationalism and Literary Revival

Nationalism, as an ideology and a discourse, has its origins in Europe and North America. As an ideology, it exerted a strong influence on the American and French Revolutions. The dates which, according to Hutchinson and Smith, mark the advent of nationalism include 1775 (the first Partition of Poland), 1776 (the American Declaration of Independence), 1789 and 1792 (the commencement and the second phase of the French Revolution), and 1807 (Fichte’s Address to the German Nation). Yet, it was not until the middle of the nineteenth century that it became the subject of either historical or social analysis. Difficulties arise, however, when one begins to try and define the concept. It has been variously equated with national sentiment, national ideology and language and with nationalist movements. Then again, emphasis has also been varied between those who value its cultural rather than its political aspects.