ISLE OF HOPE, ISLE OF TEARS

( by Brendan Graham)

Sean Keane
Also recorded by : Finbar Wright ; Anthony Kearns; Ronan
Tynan.

(VERSE1)

On the first day on January,

Eighteen ninety-two,
They opened Ellis Island and they let
The people through.
And the first to cross the threshold
Of that isle of hope and tears,
Was Annie Moore from Ireland
Who was all of fifteen years.

CHORUS:

Isle of hope, isle of tears,

Isle of freedom, isle of fears,
But it's not the isle you left behind.
That isle of hunger, isle of pain,
Isle you'll never see again
But the isle of home is always on your mind.

(VERSE 2)

In a little bag she carried

All her past and history,
And her dreams for the future
In the land of liberty.
And courage is the passport
When your old world disappears
But there's no future in the past
When you're fifteen years

(VERSE 3)

When they closed down Ellis Island

In nineteen fourty-three,
Seventeen million people
Had come there for sanctuary.
And in Springtime when I came here
And I stepped onto its piers,
I thought of how it must have been
When you're fifteen years.
 Date:

ISLE OF HOPE, ISLE OF TEARS

( by Brendan Graham)

Sean Keane
Also recorded by : Finbar Wright ; Anthony Kearns; Ronan
Tynan.

LISTENING ACTIVITY
aACTIVITY
Listen to the song and try to identify the rhymes.

Listen again , then fill in the script with the missing words.

(VERSE1)
On the day on . ,
. ...,
They. Ellis . and they let
The . through.
And the first to . the threshold
Of that .of .and .,
Was .Moore from .
.was all of . years.
CHORUS:
Isle of ., isle of .,
.of ., isle of .,
But it's not the isle you . behind.
That isle of ., isle of .,
.you'll never see .
But the isle of.is . on your .
.
(VERSE 2)
In a little . she .
All her .and.,
And her . for the .
In the . of ..
And . is the .
When your . world .
But there's no . in the .
. you're . .
(VERSE3)

When they. down . .

In . .,
. . people
Had . there for sanctuary.
And in . when I . here
And I . onto its .,
I . of how it . have .

SONG STUDY: Isle Of Hope, Isle Of Tears

The Irish Tenors : Anthony Kearns/ Finbar Wright /

Ronan Tynan (2001)

Use what you remember and the additional information given in the toolbox to
complete the introduction of the song .

performed tribute classic Irish Brendan Great

processed anthem story album recorded
2001 search which lyrics honours Hall contemporary
composer Graham

The song we have here tells the of

, is called , . . It
was ..in the at
. by The Finbar Wright,
Anthony Kearns and Ronan Tynan in .

This . song was originally .

by , and . by Sean Keane on
his CD, "The man that I am". Brendan Graham who
in 1945 is an . novelist
and . who also wrote the. to You raised Me
Up.

Isle of Hope, Isle of Tears has become a. in

... and the .. thanks to
The Irish Tenors . : Ellis Island. It is an .
to Annie Moore , the . to . the
threshold of Ellis Island, and the song . all who
courageously . their homes and loved ones in .
of a . life. The song is a moving .. to
. , in New York . , where
. Immigrants and others were .
for over . years.

When listening to the song for the first time, discuss what impression it leaves you
with.

STUCTURE OF THE SONG. : Take a close look at the song and complete .

The song which is Isles of Hope, Isle of Tears

is... of 3 .. consisting of
.. lines each , and a made up of 6
. Here we can notice that the songs .. begins the
.. while each verse ends with the same 2 words :
. At the end of each verse, the .
which is . is the .

The main of the song which is Ellis Island is expressed in

the and the of the song is included in the
chorus as well. The. sticks to the mind of the .
because it is . and it contrasts with the .

The story of Ellis Island and Annie Moore is told in the .

person by the . who is also the . .

Take a closer look ate the song and say what each verse deals with .

The first verse deals with

FIRST NAME :
The second verse explores

LAST NAME :

The last verse refers to

DATE OF BIRTH :

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN :
Fill in the first immigrant s Passport.
NATIONALITY:
 Study the dates and figures . Say who or what they refer to according to the song .

January
1st, 1892

1943

15
17
million

Pick out all the references to the Isle of Dreams or to the Emerald Isle.

The ISLE OF DREAMS The EMERALD ISLE

Say what or who the following pronouns or possessive adjectives refer to .

VERSE 1

they :

Who :
 VERSE 2
CHORUS

her :
I:

your :
that :

you:

VERSE 3

they :

there :

I:

its :

your

Say which line (s) the following statements could correspond to .

She and her family must have suffered from a lack of food and a lack of freedom . It is
very likely that her parents escaped the potato famine in Ireland.

They must have been treated like cattle (btail ) on the island and considered as
second-rate citizens (citoyens de seconde zone) on account of their differences of
religion, culture, language.

The line refers to all the hardships (difficults) and humiliations the immigrants had
to go through before becoming American citizens.

This line illustrates Annies inner desire to fulfil (raliser) the American Dream.

Most Irish emigrated because of the Great Famine in Ireland between 1845 and 1852.
They were starving back home. They did not have much choice, they had to leave or risk
starving to death.

For centuries the Irish had lived under English oppression, poverty and disease.
(maladie)

It reminds us that on that island immigrants had to take and pass a legal and medical
examination before being allowed to enter America .

It reminds us that they had left their homeland, parents behind , putting their faith and
hope into a new life in the New World.

It makes you think of how it must have been to leave your native country at an early
age to start a new life in a foreign country all alone.

It reminds us that Ellis Island was a gateway for millions of immigrants seeking for a
better life.

Irish immigrants moved onto the United States in search for better opportunities and a
brighter future.
 It illustrates the idea of leaving everything familiar behind and starting a new life in a
foreign country.

All immigrants had enormous strength and courage .

To an unfortunate few, it became a place of detention and possible rejection. When

they reached their new land, the immigrants cried tears of loneliness and frustration.

But also left behind were friends and family, as well as tradition and customs.

Connect the sentences so as to express contrast/contradiction/concession.

and yet / however / even though / even if / although / nevertheless / nonetheless / despite the fact
that / in spite of

their families let them go they never gave up their allegiance to Ireland

going to America became the dream
of those Irish who just wanted a better
life
these new Americans loved America
it quickly became a heart-break island where
families were to be separated.
they could not help thinking of the Emerald
Isle.

She had been looking forward to what they experienced on Ellis island was
setting foot onto the promised land another story.

Ellis island was known as an isle of they came.

hope
Coming here gave them hope that
they couldnt get at home
Those early immigrants were afraid of
what lay ahead in America
America was supposed to be the land
of equality and opportunity
millions of people poured through its doors.
Those early immigrants were afraid of what lay
ahead in America
They were more afraid to return to what they
had left behind.
they knew they would never see them again!

with determination and courage they did not know what they would encounter.

all the hardship they had to go they created a new life for themselves and
through at Ellis island those who came after them.

many never saw their homeland she was nervous about being processed to
again. the island.

GOING FURTHER ANNIE

MOORE

Heres a short biography of Annie Moore. Put the verbs into

brackets in the correct form and tense.
January 1, 1892, Annie Moore ........................ off (STEP) a ship at Ellis Island
and into the history books. Annie Moores story ........................ (BE) typical of
many Irish immigrants. She ............................. (BE BORN) in 1877 in Cork, the
second child and only daughter of Matthew and Mary Moore. Anna "Annie"
Moore ........................ (BE) the first immigrant to the United States to pass
through the Ellis Island facility in New York Harbor. She ........................ (SET)
sail from County Cork, Ireland aboard the steamship Nevada on her 15th
birthday, January 1, 1892. Early that cold winter morning she
.................................. (STAND) among several hundred immigrants aboard a
ferry docked at Ellis Island. When the gangplank .........................................
(PASSIVE / LOWER), she was the first to head down it. To her surprise she
......................................... (PASSIVE/ GREET), by city, state, and federal officials
who ......................................... (PRESENT), her with a certificate and a ten-dollar
gold piece. All this ......................................... (OCCUR), not because Annie
Moore .................... (BE), the first off the ferry that day, but because she
.................... (BE), the first immigrant to set foot on Ellis Island, the brand
new federal immigration processing center. It was the largest sum of
money she ....................................... (BE/ ever/OWN),. Annie Moore
................................................. (NOT/TRAVEL), alone, but she
............................................. (PASSIVE/ACCOMPANY), by her brothers Phillip and
Anthony. She and her two brothers ..................................... (COME), to America
to meet their parents, who ............................................ (MOVE), to the United
States a few years before and ............................................ (LIVE) in Manhattan.
Seeking a brighter future for their family, Annies parents
........................................... (DECIDE) to immigrate to America in 1888 . Like
many immigrants they ............................................ (NOT/ KNOW) what to expect
in America , so they ..................................... (LEAVE) Annie and her two
younger brothers in the care of an aunt. After years of hard work
establishing themselves, they ............................................ (SEND) for their
children. The three ............................................ (BOARD) the ship Nevada in
Queenstown (Cobh) and ............................................ (SPEND) 12 days at sea
before arriving in New York harbor.
Anne Moore ,the Irish girl in this song, ............................................ (LIVE OUT)
her whole life in New York where she ............................................ (MEET) and
............................................ (MARRY) a German immigrant and
............................................ (BEAR) 11 children ! Her whole life was one of
poverty and toil . She .............................. (DIE) of heart failure in 1923 and
............................................ (PASSIVE/ BURY) in Calvary Cemetery, Queens, N.Y.
Her previously unmarked grave ............................................ (PASSIVE/IDENTIFY)
in September 2006. On October 11, 2008, a dedication ceremony
............................................ (PASSIVE/HOLD) at Calvary which
............................................ (CELEBRATE) the unveiling of a marker for her
grave, a Celtic Cross made of Irish Blue Limestone.

For her the Isle of hope ............................................ (NOT COME) true , the grass,
sadly is not always greener . But her story is part of the story of America ,
she should be remembered as such ! Moore ............................................
(PASSIVE/HONOR) by bronze statues at the Ellis Island Immigration Museum
and in Cobh, the Irish seaport town from which she ............................................
(SAIL).
The last person to come through Ellis Island ........................ (BE) a Norwegian
merchant seaman by the name of Arne Peterssen in 1954.

Your writing TASK : Annie Moore recalls her arrival at

Ellis Island in 1892, with her brothers , at the age of 15. Imagine
how she might have felt when she arrived at the Immigration
station . ( Emotions / mixed feelings :
Happiness/ Hope/ regrets/ Nostalgia/ Fear etc )

Your writing TASK : Annie Moore recalls her arrival at

Ellis Island in 1892, with her brothers , at the age of 15. Imagine
how she might have felt when she arrived at the Immigration
station . ( Emotions / mixed feelings :
Happiness/ Hope/ regrets/ Nostalgia/ Fear etc )

Your writing TASK : Annie Moore recalls her arrival at

Ellis Island in 1892, with her brothers , at the age of 15. Imagine
how she might have felt when she arrived at the Immigration
station . ( Emotions / mixed feelings :
Happiness/ Hope/ regrets/ Nostalgia/ Fear etc )

Your writing TASK : Annie Moore recalls her arrival at

Ellis Island in 1892, with her brothers , at the age of 15. Imagine
how she might have felt when she arrived at the Immigration
station . ( Emotions / mixed feelings :
Happiness/ Hope/ regrets/ Nostalgia/ Fear etc )