Although a small country, Ireland has a large reputation.
Often, this reputation seems to verge on the patronising, while other times it steps right over that mark and becomes practically insulting.
One landscape on which Ireland can justly be said to have made its mark over the years, however, is on the literary scene, and it is a literary history which is very proudly recognised in the city of Dublin.
Per capita, a case could be made for Ireland having the highest proportion of literary legends, if one were to keep score.
One writer whose legacy is remembered fondly and recognised with a great range of heritage attractions is Oscar Wilde.
The writer of plays such as The Importance of Being Earnest and An Ideal Husband as well as the classic novel The Picture of Dorian Gray is considered by devotees to have been the greatest wit of the modern era, and his writings have stood the test of time, being committed to film on several occasions.
There are various museums in his memory in the city of his birth, including at a house where he lived with his parents, in Merrion Street.
Another great writer who hailed from the city is George Bernard Shaw.
Like Wilde he was a versatile writer, turning his not inconsiderable talents to novels, short stories and plays.
His most famous work - which when transferred to the cinema screen won him an Oscar - is the play Pygmalion, although his collected works are of a volume far too long to list here.
Dublin was also home to one of the writers who divides opinion to a great extent.
James Joyce is one of those authors who readers either love or hate.
His novel Ulysses is held up as a classic by fans, but derided as being completely impenetrable by critics.
Certainly, it is not one to be read in your lunch break, with a dense writing style that is considered pretentious by many.
Nonetheless, Joyce is held in some affection by many, with the central protagonist of Ulysses remembered in a particularly singular way.
The novel is about a man named Leopold Bloom, and covers the events that take place in his life on the 16th of June 1904.
This informs the celebrations dedicated to Joyce, which take place every year on that same date and involve fans of the novel "reliving" that day.
It usually involves dramatisations of sections of the book, pub crawls and more.
On the 100th "anniversary" of Bloomsday, an open air free breakfast was held in which 10,000 people tucked into a traditional Irish cooked breakfast.
Perhaps Ireland's greatest poet, W.
B.
Yeats is held in great respect.
Like Wilde and Shaw, he was a dramatist among other things, but is remembered most fondly for his poems, including An Irish Airman Foresees His Death and The Lake Isle of Innisfree.
The former poem is particularly popular for its powerful exploration of the feelings of a man who has come to be sceptical about the glory of war, and is bracketed by many with the great work by British poet Wilfred Owen, Dulce et Decorum Est.