There has always been argument about whether Pearse's leadership of the Easter Rising in 1916 represented a failure or a triumph. Ireland certainly thrives on her martyrs and Pearse, who found himself on Easter Monday proclaimed President of the Provisional Government and Commander-in-Chief of the army of the Republic, took on himself the most bitter of roles at the finish: he was the first to make the move to surrender - and he was the first to be executed.
Pearse has an extraordinary reputation in Ireland today (although ironically his father was an Englishman): he is seen popularly as a romantic poet and playwright, educational theorist and political thinker, socialist, nationalist and military leader.