Tone's Grave, often referred to as Bodenstown churchyard, was written by Thomas Davis (1814-1845), the Young Ireland leader, and published first in their newspaper "The Nation". It was written following his visit to the grave of Wolfe Tone in Bodenstown, co. Kildare c. 1843 when he found Tone's grave unmarked but guarded by a local blacksmith who would allow nobody to set foot on it.
The song mourns the failure of the United Irishmen and the loss of leaders like Wolfe Tone but hints at the impending awakening of Irish nationalism much hoped for by the Young Ireland movement.
Read more about Tone's Grave: Lyrics
Famous quotes containing the words tone and/or grave:
“It hurts me to hear the tone in which the poor are condemned as “shiftless,” or “having a pauper spirit,” just as it would if a crowd mocked at a child for its weakness, or laughed at a lame man because he could not run, or a blind man because he stumbled.”
—Albion Fellows Bacon (1865–1933)
“Death can only be profitable: there’s no need to eat, drink, pay taxes, offend people, and since a person lies in a grave for hundreds or thousands of years, if you count it up the profit turns out to be enormous.”
—Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (1860–1904)