The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1910-07-09
James Ryder Randall Contributed to
the Poetry of the Civil
War Period.
Maryland My Maryland" is the Most
Widely known of his
Poems.
Catholics Ought to be Proud of His
Contribution to American
Letters.

Joseph l.. O'Brien, writing in Men
and Women, gives an excellent ac-
count of the life and work of gifted
Catholic poet of the South, part rf
which is given here.
In the histories of American liter
ature the poets of the South are passed
! by with very little consideration. The
schoolboys and girls of the country,
who, in the high schools and acad-
emies, have pursued course of lite"
ature readily recount the glories "f
Bryant, Longfelow, Whittier, Lowell
and Emerson. and can discuss their
relative merits as poets. But, with
the exception of Poe, to the vast ma
jority OF them. the poets of the South
Ryan. Tabb, Miles and Timrod are
names which are held in reverence
by Southerners, but not one of them
has ever received a tithc of the recog
milton which his work merits.
Poe, Lanier and Tahb are the mas
ters in American literature. Read
them for yourself; do not take the
word of another for it. Then sec ie
you do not find something in them
which is lacking in many an acknowi-
edged master, and which binds them
closely to the mystic choir of Keats,
Shelley and Coleridge.
If you do this. you will find yourself
wondering why it is that the poets oc
the South have not succeeded in gain
ing wider hearing
To the neglected band of singers
made up of Lanier, Tabb, Ryan, Miles
and Timrod, another Is now added
One who has gained a worldwide
reputation as the author of the worlds
greatest war song, but whose fame
ends there. Yet if James Ryder RAN
dali had never written Maryland My
Maryland" the quality of his other
poems would merit for him high
place in the hall of American poets.
James Ryder Randall, born in Bal
timore on Jan. I, 1899. the son of John
X and Mary Ruth Randall, was of old
English stock, his ancestors coming
with Calvert to the foundation of the
colony of Maryland-the colony which
is especially honored in the fact that
her charter of liberties made her the
first of all the colonies to recognizes
the rights of conscience and the right
to worship God according to it's di.-
tates He Is one Of the most hOnorcd
Of the alumni of Georgetown college,
in the District of Columbia, and in
later life the University of Notre Dame
conferred on him the degree Of LII. ,.
Whether he knew his own powers or
was unapprcciative of them may be n
question. Certain 1t is that while lie
wrote many poems-and wrote them
together in book form. Randall died
!, in Augusta, Ga, Jan. IS, 1908.
To appreciate the poetry of Rand3,l
Is not hard. He is simple singer,
singing with a simple sweetness. He
touches on the ordinary things of life.
and thus is united to the ordinary
reader in close kinship. He is true
, lyrist, sweeping his Tyre with gentle
touch, and master in minor mel
odies. Wistfulness, sadness and long
ing, themes which lend themselves
most readily to the minor chord are
almost wholly employed by the poet
j, when he is not singing the war-songs
of the vanquished South. For Randall
was the poet-laureate of the LOS!
Cause" Maryland, Ny Maryland" is
not the only defiant cry he hurled
against the Northern invaders. South
ern pride, Southern chivalry, defeated
j, but not crushed, is evident in all OF
his war-songs Of the Confcderacy-
songs bold and stirring with that pow
er which is born in a heart fervcnt
j. and burning with devotion to its chos-
en- cause.
!, In the editions Of this poem c"Mary.
g land My Maryland") which have como
ldown to us, there has always been one