between the rock and the cold, cold sea

And I'm probably not making too much sense in the above, for which apologies. Especially the Keatsian thing. I mean to say (stupid comments should have an edit function) that the idea of Ireland held by, let's say Fenians, since that's a good catch-all term, as opposed to the reality, holds/held more relation to literature and poetry and imagination than it does/did to the state of affairs they had to deal with.

And I'm still not making much sense, am I?