New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1903-11-21
IRISH LITERATURE.
q ITS Characteristics an the Past and IN
the Present.

cUGTgTS OF gTETHE5'5 = sIg 4e A zs5 cd
and Put Into English by Lacy t'rtsVIS. ~, ga
fr rFs1sSe b " Charles seri6ners Sons.
POETS AND DREAMERs: Studies. and Tra 15slaY
lions from m6 66f ldi b2 charles as cr5nsTs sons
IDEAS OF GOOD AND EVIL. BY ". 3; Yeats.
limo pp. vii. 81. The Macmillan Company
IN THE SEVEN WOODS. Being Poems Chiefly
OF the Irish Heroic age. BY W IS; Gus 1-'i0'
WHERE THERE Is NOTHING. Being Volume yn1 1
81 PLAYS Tor an Irish Theatre. BY ". Is Yeas
limo Do. % The Macmillan Company
Three or four years ago a fearful and wonder
.rl nbenomenon affrighted the disnterested OBJ
server o. contemporary literature. L was called
The Celtic Revival" and il was. indeed, ter
rsfying thing compounded OF the dark mouth
ings Of minor poets in their frenzy, ana the
pompous esoteric pronounc- nlenJs OF journal
lists who wanted ali and sUndry TO understand
that q new era had dawned, in which lrlsn
literature could not fail to be recognized as
quite the most glorious gift ever NouchsaIeo 10
man Sober readers were sadly bored by thls
outcrv. but Renan and Arnold had prepared
them TO keep an open mind on the subject and
they were willing to give the 'Celts" trial.
They were willing to overlook the rharsoolcaA
nonsense OF the poets and Journal Is aforesaid
10 admit that things Celtic ould have. on occa-
sion, something of the charm Of things poeuc'
10 wait for Irish literature TO pull itself tosether'
so 70 say, and. clothed and in its right MIND
give an account of itself. The Juror has died
down. The drums are no longer beaten. with
euch fierce arrogance, and on books like those
which are enumerated above the movement
NAV be said to rest its case, offering what IL
has TO say in terms that are at least tree IRON
hysterla In other words. from books like these
We may get an impression Of VIII Irish hteTa-
ture stripped OF all The irrelevant absurdltles
foisted upon it by its so called friends is reaIy
worth.
In a preface TO ''Cuchulain Of Muirthenane'
Mr. Yeats boldly says. Il think this book is the
hest that has come out Of Ireland in my time
and he goes on TO say that it IS perhaps the
best book that has ever come out OF Ireland,
and that when Lady CT CORY has made some
further TRANSACTIONS in the same field "she will
have given ireland its Mabinogion, its Morte
D'Arthur. its Nibelungenlied." When we turn
from this high praise to the epic itself we have
the sensation OF being let down from height.
''Cuchulain OF Muirthemne" has SAVIOR Of old
romance. The legendary figures in it, doing
great deeds and wandering up and down in a
strange world, touch US the figures In an
ancient tapestry touch US swaying on some his
toric wall in the dim twilight. But the moment
we compare II with the "Norte d'Arthur," for
example. we miss something; we miss the golden
light Of a great inspiration. Here is the hero in
his might:
And then Cuchulain put on his arlnor and took
his spears and his sword and his shield, that
had rim so sharp that # would cut a hair
against the stream. and his cloak, that
made Of the precious heeces Of the land Of the
Sidhe, that had been brought TO him by Manan-
nan. from the King Of Sorcha- lie went out
then against the men Of Ireland and attacked
them. and his anger came on him. so that ii
not his own appearance he had on him, but
the appearance OF a god. And after that he
turned back and left them, and there was no
wound himself. on the horses or on Laeg
that day. And he made round Of the whole
army. moving men down on every side. in re-
venge for the boy troop Of Emain.
But the next day he was standing on the hill
young and comely and shining and the cloud
OF his anger had gone from him. Then the
women and the young girls IN the camp
and the poets and the singers came out
TO look at him, but Maeve hid her face
behind a shelter OF shields, thinking he
might make a cast at her with his sling. And
there wonder these women TO him
quiet and so gentle to-day. and he such a
terror TO the whole army yesterday, and they
bade the men lift them Up on their shields TO
the height OF their shoulders, the way they
could have good sigh; OF him.
lie makes a stirring picture. and a hundred
other fragments might be cited showing his
personality and demeanor in as picturesque
light But is he interesting as the men OF all
great legendary literature are interesting? We
question It. and there part company with
those who take so high a view OF old Irish
romance The trouble with ''Cuchulain OF Muir
theme" is that Il lays no living spell upon US
that IL opens no splendid vistas. has no thrill
tng magic. For Lady Gregory and for MT
Yeats of course. it has these things but we
cannot but feel that they overestmate what
they find in the work This same accent CT a
too eager sympathy runs through Lady Greg
ory,s Poets and Dreamers." a miscellany OF
studies and TRANSACTIONS. We are Interested IN
what she tells Us Of Rsftery. the poet who
travelled the countryside enchanting his coun-
trvnoen with his verees-when he was not strik-
ing terror into their souls by his satire We
are struck By the grim force OF the curse he
launched az a fellow poet. which Lady Gregory
quotes But when we turn from his translator's
praise OF him TO the things that she praises.
we FAN upon disappointment and protest that
neither his ideas nor his manner Of expressing
them can justify acceptance OF him as notable
poet. II does not matter TO US that his poem
Mary Hynes the pearl that was at Ballylee"
the three parishes" for the lines Lady Gregory
translates not remarkable lines. She is en-
thusiastic over The writings Of Mr.. Douglas
Hyde. and we admit that he has writes some
clever verses. bat we astOnished when bis
eulogis. Says Of one OF his poems that IL will,
Tn r,o~