Gray, Jane (1993) Folk Poetry and Working Class Identity in Ulster: An Analysis of James Orr’s ‘The Penitent.’. Journal of Historical Sociology, 6 (3). pp. 249-275.

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Abstract

This paper explores changing patterns of collective identity amongst rural industrial producers in the North of Ireland through an extended analysis of a single poem, 'The Penitent,' (see Appendix) written by the weaver-poet James Orr in 1800. The poem was written at the culmination of a time of great social and political upheaval in Ireland, particularly in the north-east. The growth of rural domestic linen production in the eighteenth century had been accompanied by rapid population growth, land subdivision and (by the end of the century) the emergence in some districts of petty entrepreneurs who employed poorer weaving households to manufacture cloth by the piece.

Item Type:	Article
Keywords:	Folk Poetry; Working Class; Identity; Ulster; James Orr; The Penitent;
Academic Unit:	Faculty of Social Sciences > Sociology
Item ID:	1118
Depositing User:	Jane Gray
Date Deposited:	08 Jan 2009 15:37
Journal or Publication Title:	Journal of Historical Sociology
Publisher:	Blackwell Publishing
Refereed:	Yes
URI:
Use Licence:	This item is available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial Share Alike Licence (CC BY-NC-SA). Details of this licence are available here

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