The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1901-12-07

tell her she cannot know. With Kathe-
rine lyman the case is different
Thoroughly Irish in thought and feel
ing, she knows instinctively how her
own people feel and, consequently, how
they would act in almost any given
emergency; hence she does not need to
draw so carefully from models-she can
invent her characters, create them, as
the idealist does, from the inside. Hence
we find i'll IAN Isle in the Waters" a
richness of coloring, n passionate in
tensity and a certain weird undernote,
which are wholly absent from the "Irish
1dylls," though the latter, judged from
the purely artistic standpoint, must be
pronounced the most finished fiction.
When the Nation was started in 1912,
Davis, Gavan, Duffy, Mccartney, Man.
gan, Darcy Magee, "Speranza," O'Sulli-
van-all the young patriot poets in the
country-hastened to contribute, and the
Young Ireland movement commenced.
We all know how disastrously it end
ed, yet that patriotic outburst was not
wholly in vain. The political hopes it
nurtured were, it is true, frustrated. but
the wild passion of it lives in Ozark
Rosaleen," "Fontenoy" and "Shan Van
Vocht," and thrills today in the hearts
of the Gael. The poetry of the Young
Ireland period, considered purely as
poetry, is, perhaps, disappointing. There
is wonderful music in some of Mangan's
lyrics, and fine vigor in those of Davis;
but, taken as a whole, the poems and
ballads are wanting in that subtle sug-
gestiveness and melody which mark the
highest lyrical poetry.
Yet it did what poetry of a higher
order might have failed to dot reused
the spirits Of nation and kindled a
flame which will spread far ere it sinks.
At this same time a small group Of
workers We're, in another fashion, seek.
ing to help Ireland. Petrie was prepar-
| ing his essay on Ground Towers and
studying archaeological treasures of the
country; O'Donovan, O'Curry and
O'Daly were examining and translating
the valuable Celtic manuscripts which
had lain so long neglected.; and Fergu
son was striving to make old time glo,
! ries live again in prose and verse.
! His antiquarian lore and his knowl-
edge of the Celtic legends and romances
made him peculiarly fitted to do this;
and his "Hibernian Knights Entertain
ment" and "Deidre" may be regarded
as the forerunner of O'Grady's history
Of Ireland, "Heroic PERIOD" and Yeats
''Wanderings OF Oisin." Like Aubrey
De We're, Ferguson is, perhaps, best
known by his shorter LYRICS such as tho
''Fairy Thorn" '"The Burial of King
Cormac" and "Una Phelimy." His
prose and verse, though never widely
popular, has created Il strong influence,
and, with Joyce's "Old Celtic Roman
ces," and O'Curry's lectures, has done
much to awaken and foster that inter-
est in things Irish to which we owe the
so-called Celtic renaissance movement
today.
We cannot speak of the movement
without thinking instinctively Of those
writer's whose works are most deeply
imbued with the spirit of it. We think
of Standish O'Grady, the poet-historian,
the golden-voiced proclaimer of heroic
deeds, the magician at whose call the
long-dead champions Of valor-Finn,
Cuchulain and Fergus MacRoy-start
again in life; Of Yeats, the author OF
''The Celtic Twilight" and the quaint
i "Fairy Tales" the poet whose verses
are full Of melody and beauty; Of Doug
las Hyde, the fine Celtic scholar and en-.
I, thusiastic lover of all things Irish, to
whom we owe "The Love Songs of Con-
naught' and the s'Story Of Early Gaelic
Literature" of Katherine lyman, whose
(, best poems are so good that we forget
! to criticise the others; and Of "a. e."
the author of those mystical "Home-
ward Songs by the Way" which have,
perhaps, more of the true Celtic longing
for the ideal than can be found in any
other verses published during the CEN
fury.
These writer's have all in special
degree love for higher heroic things, a
sympathy with all that is beautiful in
art and nature, and profund belief
in the future of Ireland.