Poem ~ The Rise Of Ireland: A City On The Edge - Thursday, 27 April 1916

                                          Sites of 1916: GPO
                            Dr John Gibney discusses the events 

                    around the GPO during the 1916 Easter Rising. 

                            Published on Jan 7, 2016. YouTube

Source: File: Easter Proclamation of 1916. [online] See original image at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proclamation_of_the_Irish_Republic> (PD-US) [Accessed: 27 April 2016]

Thursday - Steadfast Rebels

While the initial British reaction

Had been slow to start,

Fierce resistance to Irish rebellion

Grew - so by the 4th day,

Prolonged street battles marked

Out each daylight hour;

Public buildings became fortresses.

Dublin had become a city on edge -

The imposing presence

Of the GPO at the heart of rebellion

Was by Thursday, isolated -

An option of messed infantry attack 

Used at Mount Street

Was abandoned, for another tactic.

Inside the GPO a nationalist stand

Of men and women

Remained, in the seat of Ireland's

Provisional government -

With German made mousers to fire

Against occupying forces,

Behind a bullet riddled frontage.

Backed up by artillery, Britain

Attacked its second

City - their intent to bring down

The idea of an illegal

Republic - the solid front held,

As the interior began
To burn, Irish hold crumbled.

by Jamie Mann.

Source: File: Easter Rising 1916: Six days of armed struggle that changed Irish and British history. Online. Available at: <http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-35873316> [Accessed 27 April 2016]

Source: File: Easter Rising From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Online. Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Easter_Rising> [Accessed 27 April 2016]

Source: File: Easter Rising. Online. Available at: <http://www.history.com/topics/british-history/easter-rising> [Accessed 27 April 2016]

Source: File: The 1916 Easter Rising. Online. Available at: <http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/ireland-1845-to-1922/the-1916-easter-rising/> [Accessed 27 April 2016]

Source: File: The Battle for the South Dublin Union 1916 by Paul O'Brien Author, Irish Military Historian. Online. Available at: <http://www.paulobrienauthor.ie/436-2/> [Accessed 27 April 2016]

Mann, J., 2016. 100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal communication, 27 April 2016). 

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