Pearse was deeply versed in this Platonic, mythopoetic mode of thinking. When he invoked the mythical hero Cuchulain as a symbol of Irish resistance, he made that ancient Gaelic champion a dynamic, live-action reality again. Cuchulain stalked indeed ‘through the Post Office’ and gave an extra, mythic edge to what otherwise might just have been another routine political uprising.

'He Who is wrapped in purple robes,

With planets in His care,

Had pity on the least of things

Asleep upon a chair.

In three days' time, Cuchulain with a moan

Stood up, and came to the long sands alone:

For four days warred he with the bitter tide;

And the waves flowed above him, and he died.