"The Almighty, indeed, sent the Potato Blight, but the English Created the Famine." Reactions in Poetry and Politics to the Great Irish Famine

The Great Irish Famine is the historical-literary place where politics meet sociology, history meets legend, catastrophe meets literature, and human experience becomes narrative. It is strikingly modern; it is fertile ground for interdisciplinarity, and the best observatory for a true appreciation of how literature can contain the complete spectrum of human experience. In the light of so much “food for thought” I propose the classroom exploration of select aspects of famine Ireland. I set out with the following student learning objectives: students should develop sufficient awareness of the basic historical and cultural facts concerning the famine in order to understand that mass starvation in Ireland resulted from natural as well as ‘artificial’ (i.e. political, cultural, racial) causes; it is important they realize that food production, consumption and distribution are strictly connected with politics. The quick study of select passages from Lady Jane Wilde’s poem "The Famine Year" will provide students with textual evidence of the famine, and will stimulate awareness as to the elaborative, symbolic and social function of the literary text. All through the learning process students will be made aware of the linguistic instruments needed to deal with historical and literary matters. This article is a concise outline of the contents of my proposal; which is particularly suited for students attending their last year of high school.