William Drennan’s poetic output included some powerful and moving pieces. He is chiefly remembered today for “Erin” written in 1800, in which he penned the first reference in print to Ireland as “The Emerald Isle”:
“Nor one feeling of vengeance presume to defile
The cause, or the men, of the Emerald Isle.”
Drennan came to national attention with the publication in 1784 and 1785 of his Letters of…

1561 – The first court of High Commission, a group of officials and Protestant clergy, is set up to enforce the Reformation in Ireland.
1754 – Birth of Dr. William Drennan in Belfast; physician, poet, educationalist political radical and one of the chief architects of the Society of United Irishmen. Drennan’s poetic output included some powerful and moving pieces. He is chiefly remembered today…