New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1899-06-25

m
v,llous rhymlng system poeticai code deSer'
ing the epithet used by DR.. Hyde, "astouhdlhs
thew produccd no clean built epic. Minute rules
they could master. The broad prihcIP'@S VI
that architectural" kind Of poetry to when
Goethe refers with such profundty they never
even began to grasp That they could make eH-
ceIIont rhymes We are willing to believe on Dr
Uyde's assurance though language in when
/ "Lughaidh" IS pronounced "LeWy' IS naturaHy
one in which the unnstructed must move with
great caution But that they could be con
str,lctivo i'm the best sense of the word that
they could sing one Of their old romantic themes
/ in a clear and Illuminating manner, we do not
consider to have been demonstrated. Their IN
Vulnerable rules kept them from seeing things
broadly Furthermore the material they used
and the temper Of the race were against lucidlty
and really great art The heroes and the battles
that they sang were sometimes drawn from
their history sometimes from their mythology
lint most often from a sphere hall mortal ana
half divine. Their poems are full Of men VINO
might have been gods. of gods who may have
be on men and the final impression they leave
is Of a strange world filed at once by tangible
figures end by the creatures Of dreams 1t is
an ncOherent world. The poetry is lncoherent
Nothing that Or. Hyde quotes SEXES the
Imagination sharply. dramatically. One Is
rather affected as by some dim, remote and
fabulous story in which the poetry. if it exists
at all is a matter Of picturesque images ana
vague haunting atmcspheres. This is the weak
ness of Irish literature 1t is also its strength
one may not be impressed. DR.. Hyde has
been impressed. to such extent that one Is
ready to call it a great literature The work Is
too nebul0us too fragmentary, for that But
ore cannot deny the presence in many Of these
poems Of that indefinable quality which is called
poetic. 1t is the Celtic quality, the charm
which the young Irish poets Of to-day. writing
in English are ceaseessly striving 10 recapture.
Hyperboc and pungency are frequently noticed.
Il saw then. three testers at the hTe Ihey
wore three dark gray cloaks. and if all the men
OF Erin were in one place and though the BODY
OF the mother or the father Of each man OF them
were lying dead before him, not one ~ them
could refrain from laughing at them That Is
an excellent specimen Of bardic eXaSgeration.
And now the personages in the old poems could
abuse ore another is shown by the retort or
"perverse. bald h, AIDED Conan" to the Carroll
who had described him in those words. black
Nisaged nail-torn. skin-scratched little strength
Carroll" is the characterization hung Back by
tho outraged Conan. 1t may Ee noted. as mat
ter Of course. that with vituperative phrases
like these at their command the bards were
fond Of rcciting poems in which hard blows are
exchanged and much blood is shed. They dearly
loved a quarrel But it is for their atmosphere
rather than for their incidents that the irish
battle poems are to be read. Witness this pas
sage in the romance Of the "lntoxication OF the
Uitonians." "A work concerned with fierce CON
fict Of chariots:
Not long were they there. the two watchers
and the two druds. until full. fierce rush OF
the first band broke hither past the glen. Such
was the fury with which they advanced that
there was not left a spear on rack. nor shield
on a spike nor a sword in an armOury in Tara
I.uachra that did not fall down. From every
house on which was thatch in Tara Luachra 1t
fell in immense flakes one would think 1t was
the sea that had come over the walls and over
the corners Of the world upon them. The forms
of cuuntenances were changed. and there was
chattering of teeth in Tara Luachra within. The
two druids fell in fits and in Paintings and in
paroxysms. one of them out over the wall ana
the other over the wall inside
There is a hint here, partly in the pictorial
side of the lines and partly in the Biblical ac-
cent of poetic quality. The hint is clearer in
this lyrical fragment:
There is a distant isle
Around which sea horses gliSten.
4 fair course against the white-sWelling surge,
Four feet uphold it,
Feet of white bronze under it.
Gitterng through beautiful ages.
Lovely land throughout the worlds age
On which the many blossoms drop.
An ancient tree there is with blossoms
On which birds call to the Hours.
'Tis i'm harmony, ii is their wont
To call together every Hour.