The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1896-09-05
IRISH POETS

oOI1c Oh TIC oWSSI 0lN&SFS WIN A1dVS
0Iaddened the World.
There must be something in the atmos-
phere of Ireland peculiarly congenial to
poetry and the poet faculty, for the Irish
poets have ever been among the sweetest
the most soulful and the best The "uld
Sod" it is true, has never produced a
Shakespeare, Milton, Pope, a Dryden,
a Byron, Shelley-in other words, &
towering, awe-inspiring master of the
Tyre, but it has brought forth perfect
flood of tuneful songsters whose graceful
and melodious warblings have echoed
around the world and found responsive
throbb:ngs in many and many a heart,
says the Hesperian.
Perhaps the anomalous political sit
uati0n Of the country, the overmastering
sense of oppression that all high-strung
patriotic Irishmen have always felt and
their restiveness under English rule have
had something to do with promoting the
growth Of Irish poetry; but whatever
may have been the cause or causes, the
fact of the marked merit of the Irish poets
remains, and not without reason. was
the harp chosen as the nations emblem.
In what lands catalogue of its children
of song can be found more lustrous
names than those which belong to Ire
land? Look at portion of the list:
Thomas Moore, whose lyrics will never
be forgotten; Oliver Goldsmith, whose
Deserted Village" is everywhere consid-
cred as q model for imitation; Richard
Brinsley Sheridan, whose songs are still
$famo,as; Father Prout, whose Reliques"
contains floods Of beautiful and amusing
poems, among them "The Bells of Sham
DON" and ''The Graves of Blarney;I
Samuel Lover, who wrote .'The Angel3
Whisper ttThe Haunted Spring., "Th4
Low Back'd Car and scores of othel]
songs that have become as household
words in Ireland; Sheridan Lie Fanu,
whose ''shamus O'Brien" will forever re-
main living monument to his genius;
Gerald Griffin, whose ballads have been
universally admired; John Banim, a ball
ladist of wide celebrity; Clarence Man
gan, the bard of tender sentiment; DR..
william Maginn, the king Of rollicking
Wrists; Dean Swift, the satirist, whose
gall-tipped pen probed to the core the fol-
lies of his time; Charles Lever, right
royal bacchanalian warbler; Father
Ryan, author of 1.-THE Conquered Ban
ner;;'' Thomas Davis, the patriotic song
ster whose "GreenAbove the Red once set
Ireland in blaze; Charles Wolfe, who
wrote 1.-THE Burial OF Sir John Moore, y
and Lady Dufferin, whose Lament of
the Irish Emigrant" almost deserves to
be a classic.
These bards may not be great-with
two or thre exceptions-in the most ex-
tended sense Of the word, but they are all
true poets whose verses touch the heart
and make the chords of passion, patriot
ism and mirth vibrate at will, whose
beauties lie not merely in words and
word painting, but rather in sentiment,
thought and innate power. Verify, the
harp of ireland has been (and is YETI
swept by able fingers, and their touch
has known how to awaken echoes in
the human breast which will not cease
ringing while time endures. Ireland has:
a just right to- be proud Of her poets.
They are part Of her unfading glor.es
and form the brightest gems in her 1T
erary crown.