This is my research paper for my English class, I'd really like an A so can you help me? PLEASE!
Ireland
Ireland the land of: castles: rolling green hills; striking accents; festivals; and… beer. The land where: the music is loved worldwide; the holidays and festivals are classic and… interesting; the literature is known throughout the world; the cuisine is both unique to the country and loved around the world; and the language, while little known comes with a handsome accent.
Music
In Irish music the singers tell tales through songs called “ballads.” Most ballads are sad; not for romantic reasons, but to tell of long centuries of suppression. One of the singers would be called an “Irish Tenor.” Irish Tenor’s have a clear high voice that is dramatic yet lyrical (Blashfield, 113).
The instruments used in traditional music comes from: harps; fiddles; flutes; uilleann pipes (the Irish version of bag pipes); and a bordan (a one sided goat skin drum) (Blashfield 112).
When Queen Elizabeth I, banned Irish music, she had all instruments destroyed and anyone singing the songs arrested. She did not like Irish music. Her attempts worked for a while, but today classic Irish is popular world wide.
Today less traditional, but very popular music is listened to world wide as well. Some favorite artists in America are actually from Ireland. U2, Enya, the Cranberries, and Rory Gallagher are from Ireland.
Holidays and Festivals
Ireland has a number of public holidays, such as: New Years Day; St. Patrick’s Day; Good Friday; Easter Monday (not Sunday); May Day; Spring Bank (North Ireland at a different time than South Ireland); Autumn Bank; and Christmas Day.
The most well known Irish holiday is St. Patrick’s Day. St. Patrick’s Day is in celebration of the day that St. Patrick drove all of the snakes out of Ireland.
The Irish also enjoy a number of festivals. The Adare Jazz Festival and Ballyshannon International Folk Festival are both music festivals.
The Kilkenny Arts festival lasts ten days in mid august. It is the top festival in Ireland. The locals do craft work and the festival in general includes: classical music; crafts; movies; and drama.
Last but not least is the Lisdonnvarnaa Match Making Festival. The name pretty much sums up the entire festival’s purpose. People gather in pubs to sing and dance and look out for potential spouses.
Literature
Here in America we read books from all over the world. Some very well known classics have been written in Ireland. Bram Stroker and C.S. Lewis for example were Irish writers. In the newer fiction there is Eoin Colfer, the author of Artemis Fowl. Eoin Colfer and C.S. Lewis are probably more popular with the young adult readers than Bram Stroker.
Other than the world renowned books there are a few that are about the supernatural world of Ireland. Mairtin O’Griofa wrote, The Book of Irish Weirdness, and Michael Scott wrote, Irish Ghosts and Hauntings.
“A ghost is a ghost no matter what coast.” –Spence.
Language
Nothing is known about the first Irish language, what is known is that the Celts brought Gaelic. Gaelic was Ireland’s dominate language for about two thousand years. “By 1850 less than a quarter spoke Gaelic” (Fradin, 95).
Douglas Hyde and Eoin MacNeill founded the Gaelic League whose purpose was to restore the Gaelic language. While they were meagerly successful only 11% of people speak Gaelic fluently enough for everyday conversations. (Yip, 28) But because of their actions every student must learn Gaelic and government workers must have an understanding of it.
When speaking Gaelic, whoever is speaking places emphasis on the first syllable of every word. The Gaelic alphabet consists of eighteen letters, five vowels and thirteen constants. When the Irish speak English they have an attractive accent, which is called a brague.
Food
There are three Irish meals, a fry, dinner, and tea. Traditionally the fry is a large breakfast; dinner is also a large meal served at noon; and tea is a lighter meal later in the day. In modern times breakfast and dinner are lighter, and tea is a larger meal. The traditional fry is still served in inns.
The traditional breakfast consisted of: fried eggs; bacon; sausages; grilled tomatoes; and bread. More modern breakfasts consists of: oatmeal porridge; and all types of bread, especially soda bread.
For the other meals the Irish enjoy a variety of different foods: fish soups; bacon and cabbage casserole; ham and French fries; bacon; eggs; potato cakes; lamb; fresh fish; local cheese; and scones.
Agriculturally the Irish have begun to grow more and more. In more recent days they’ve begun growing things like: wheat; barley; and sugar beets.
A European island country, with a culture as rich as any other, An oppressed country with music to tell the tales, with holidays and festivals worth learning about what other country could it be than… Ireland. “Often a person’s mouth has broken his nose” (famous Irish saying).
