When the expression of Irish patriotic poetry and song was outlawed during Ireland's troubled and turbulent past, the Irish bards would disguise their nationalistic verse as love songs. In the figure of Roisin Dubh ("Dark Rosaleen"), a Gaelic poem translated by James Clarence Mangan in 1835, the name became a poetic symbol of Ireland, reflecting the Irish tradition of disguising outlawed patriotic verse as love songs.

"O my Dark Rosaleen, Do not sigh, do not weep! The priests are on the ocean green, They march along the deep. There 's wine from the royal Pope, Upon the ocean green; And Spanish ale shall give you hope, My Dark Rosaleen!"