"A Nation Once Again" is a song written in the early to mid-1840s by Thomas Osborne Davis (1814–1845). Davis was a founder of

Young Ireland Young Ireland ( ga, Éire Óg, ) was a political and cultural movement in the 1840s committed to an all-Ireland struggle for independence and democratic reform. Grouped around the Dublin weekly ''The Nation'', it took issue with the compromise ...

, an Irish movement whose aim was for Ireland to gain independence from Britain. Davis believed that songs could have a strong emotional impact on people. He wrote that "a song is worth a thousand harangues". He felt that music could have a particularly strong influence on Irish people at that time. He wrote: "Music is the first faculty of the Irish... we will endeavour to teach the people to sing the songs of their country that they may keep alive in their minds the love of the fatherland." "A Nation Once Again" was first published in ''

The Nation ''The Nation'' is an American liberal biweekly magazine that covers political and cultural news, opinion, and analysis. It was founded on July 6, 1865, as a successor to William Lloyd Garrison's '' The Liberator'', an abolitionist newspaper t ...

'' on 13 July 1844 and quickly became a rallying call for the growing Irish nationalist movement at that time. The song is a prime example of the "

Irish rebel music Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

" subgenre. The song's narrator dreams of a time when Ireland will be, as the title suggests, a free land, with "our fetters rent in twain". The lyrics exhort Irish people to stand up and fight for their land: "And righteous men must make our land a nation once again". It has been recorded by many Irish singers and groups, notably John McCormack,

The Clancy Brothers The Clancy Brothers were an influential Irish folk music group that developed initially as a part of the American folk music revival. Most popular during the 1960s, they were famed for their Aran jumper sweaters and are widely credited with popu ...

The Dubliners The Dubliners were an Irish folk band founded in Dublin in 1962 as The Ronnie Drew Ballad Group, named after its founding member; they subsequently renamed themselves The Dubliners. The line-up saw many changes in personnel over their fifty-ye ...

The Wolfe Tones The Wolfe Tones are an Irish rebel music band that incorporate Irish traditional music in their songs. Formed in 1963, they take their name from Theobald Wolfe Tone, one of the leaders of the Irish Rebellion of 1798, with the double meaning of ...

(a group with

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

leanings) in 1972, the Poxy Boggards, and

The Irish Tenors The Irish Tenors are a singing trio from Ireland that was started in 1998 by a group of television producers for a PBS special ''The Irish Tenors''. They have since recorded five PBS specials and eight albums. The group's members are Declan ...

( John McDermott,

Ronan Tynan Ronan Tynan (born 14 May 1960) is an Irish tenor singer and former Paralympic athlete. He was a member of The Irish Tenors re-joining in 2011 while continuing to pursue his solo career since May 2004. In the United States, audiences know him ...

Anthony Kearns Anthony Kearns (born 17 August 1971, in Kiltealy, County Wexford, Ireland) is an internationally acclaimed tenor, record producer, and a member of The Irish Tenors. Early life Anthony Kearns is one of six children in a musical family; as a resu ...

) and

Sean Conway Sean Conway, (born July 24, 1951) is a former provincial politician in Ontario, Canada and a university professor. He served for 28 years as a Liberal member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1975 to 2003, and was a high-profile cabin ...

for a 2007 single. In

the Beatles The Beatles were an English rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the most influential band of all time and were integral to the developmen ...

' movie '' A Hard Day's Night'',

Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained worldwide fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John Lennon. One ...

's Irish grandfather begins singing the song at the Metropolitan Police after they arrest him for peddling autographed pictures of the band members. In 2002, after an orchestrated e-mail campaign, the

Wolfe Tones The Wolfe Tones are an Irish rebel music band that incorporate Irish traditional music in their songs. Formed in 1963, they take their name from Theobald Wolfe Tone, one of the leaders of the Irish Rebellion of 1798, with the double meaning ...

' 1972 rendition of "A Nation Once Again" was voted the world's most popular song according to a BBC World Service global poll of listeners, ahead of "

Vande Mataram ''Vande Mataram'' (Sanskrit: वन्दे मातरम् IAST: , also spelt ''Bande Mataram''; বন্দে মাতরম্, ''Bônde Mātôrôm''; ) is a poem written in sanskritised Bengali by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee in th ...

", the national song of India. Davis copied the melody for the chorus from the second movement of Mozart's clarinet concerto. Famously, Winston Churchill used this phrase in an attempt to get Ireland to join forces with the British during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. Churchill said ‘now or never. A nation once again’ proposing that if Ireland joined forces with Britain then a united Ireland would be the reward. The Irish Prime Minister

Éamon de Valera Éamon de Valera (, ; first registered as George de Valero; changed some time before 1901 to Edward de Valera; 14 October 1882 – 29 August 1975) was a prominent Irish statesman and political leader. He served several terms as head of govern ...

did not respond to Winston Churchill's telegram.Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade/National Archives of Ireland/Royal Irish Academy. Retrieved 25 February 2019
"Telegram from Winston Churchill to Eamon de Valera (Dublin) (No. 120) (Most Immediate) "
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Lyrics

The lyrics use a simple ABABCDCD

rhyme scheme A rhyme scheme is the pattern of rhymes at the end of each line of a poem or song. It is usually referred to by using letters to indicate which lines rhyme; lines designated with the same letter all rhyme with each other. An example of the ABAB r ...

, with verses of eight lines, and alternating lines of

iambic tetrameter Iambic tetrameter is a poetic meter in ancient Greek and Latin poetry; as the name of ''a rhythm'', iambic tetrameter consists of four metra, each metron being of the form , x – u – , , consisting of a spondee and an iamb, or two iambs. Ther ...

and

iambic trimeter The Iambic trimeter is a meter of poetry consisting of three iambic units (each of two feet) per line. In ancient Greek poetry and Latin poetry, an iambic trimeter is a quantitative meter, in which a line consists of three iambic ''metra''. Ea ...

. Davis describes how he learned of ancient fighters for freedom as a boy — the three hundred

Sparta Sparta ( Doric Greek: Σπάρτα, ''Spártā''; Attic Greek: Σπάρτη, ''Spártē'') was a prominent city-state in Laconia, in ancient Greece. In antiquity, the city-state was known as Lacedaemon (, ), while the name Sparta referre ...

ns who fought at the Battle of Thermopylae. The "three men" may refer to Horatius Cocles and his two companions who defended the Sublician Bridge, a legend recounted in Macaulay's poem "Horatius, published as part of the Lays of Ancient Rome, in 1842, or alternatively to the three assassins of

Julius Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (; ; 12 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC), was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in a civil war, ...

(

Brutus Marcus Junius Brutus (; ; 85 BC – 23 October 42 BC), often referred to simply as Brutus, was a Roman politician, orator, and the most famous of the assassins of Julius Caesar. After being adopted by a relative, he used the name Quintus Serv ...

Gaius Cassius Longinus Gaius Cassius Longinus (c. 86 BC – 3 October 42 BC) was a Roman senator and general best known as a leading instigator of the plot to assassinate Julius Caesar on 15 March 44 BC. He was the brother-in-law of Brutus, another leader of the co ...

and

Decimus Junius Brutus Albinus Decimus Junius Brutus Albinus (27 April 81 BC – September 43 BC) was a Roman general and politician of the late republican period and one of the leading instigators of Julius Caesar's assassination. He had previously been an important support ...

) who aimed to preserve the

Roman Republic The Roman Republic ( la, Res publica Romana ) was a form of government of Rome and the era of the classical Roman civilization when it was run through public representation of the Roman people. Beginning with the overthrow of the Roman Ki ...

from tyranny. He relates this to his own hopes that Ireland may yet be freed, and be no longer a British "province" but a nation of its own. The use of the term "once again" refers to Gaelic Ireland, the pre-modern island of Gaelic culture largely independent of foreign control. Davis mentions his belief that only moral, religious men could set Ireland free, and his own aims to make himself worthy of such a task.

References

External links

''A Nation Once Again'' on IrishSongs.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nation Once Again 1844 songs Songs about Ireland The Dubliners songs