The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1912-06-02
The Irishrnan in
Literature
BY SIDNEY DARK.

whole world talk about Ireland.
Until the last few years the ordinary
EnglIshman regarded the ordinary
IFishman as a queer. fantastic crea-
ture whom. in n supposed quotation,
be was wont 10 describe as "a broth
OF bhoy."'
Few Engllshmen had much first
hand knowledge OF the neghboring
Island. Charles Levers novels had
popularizcd the belief that the Irish
man was a humorous. rollicking.
devil-nay-care. and the music hall
stage had added the further 'knowl
edge" that the Irish peasant wore
green breaches. used a fearsome club
as a walking stick. carried his pipe
In the band OF his hat. and was con-
one TO step upon and to provide an
excuse for a fight.
The real Irishnen who have ap-
peared In English history were en-
membered that the direct, humbug-
hating Duke Of Wellington was an
Irishman and Macauley was quite
concerned that Swift who was GER
tainly not "a broth OF a bhoy,' must
have been English.
Thackeray painted a sentimental
1rishman In 'pendennis." and gener-
ally up to the appearance OF the Par
nelllte party In the house OF commons.
Engl'shmen who depended upon books
lrishman as rather clever, naughty
child.
Then, troubled b. the ruthless po-
llttcal agitation directed by perhaps
the coldest. the least sentimental and
certainly one of the ablest men who
ever became a political leader, Lever
was forgotten and the Irishrnan was
changed Into the incarnation OF
psughtiness = graceless. ungrateful,
futile,
Tha hz,,-. 80 iora, .,-- 49,. 49,.
home rule bin Of 1888, and the people
o! England rejoIccd. Since then many
things have happened. Englishmen
have begun TO holiday In Ireland and
see the people for themselves. The
Celtic movement IN litenture has be-
gun and nourished. George Moore has
travelled from Montmartre to Dublin
and back egain-at least as far as
London, And Bernard Shaw has
written "John Bulls Other Island"
Englfshmen may still be anti-home
rulers but they are "anti'' with a
completer knowledge.
The Irishman In Belfast Is much
the sarne person as the Scotch1nan In
Glasgow. The Irishnan IN Dublin Is
not very different from the English
towns tend to become more or less
alike. But the Irish peasant Is o very
different person from the English
peasant outside Cornwall He Is
self-centered. uninauisitive. dreamy.
with n true love for freedom and his
native land. All this the wayfaring
man, II ne have eyes to see and
heart TO understand, can discover for
himself. And this real Irishnlan is
explained and realized In recent 1T
erature.
In his preface to "John Bulls Other
Island" Mr.. Shaw writes:
II see the Irishman everywhere
~ 81 Laa lal Ia,
callous TO the boyish sentimentalities,
susceptibilities and credulitles that
make the Engiishman the dupe OF
every charlatan and the idolater OF
every numskull. I perceive that Ire
lnnd Is the only spot on earth which
still produces the Ideal EngIishman Of
history, BIackguard, bully. drunkard,
liar, foulmouth. f1atterer. beggar
backbiter. venal functionsry. corrupt
Judge snvious friend. vIndictive oppo-
nent. unparalleled political traitor
all these your 1rishman may easily
be, just as he may be a gentleman
but he Is never quite the hysterical.
nonsense fact-proof. truth
bogey parties and all the silly en-
tnusiasm that now calls itself Gods
Englishman,'
All Of which Is Mr.. shaw's char
Iacterlstic way oi suggesting that the
irishman Is truth seeing, normal and
unsentimental: He compares the Irish
Duke OF Wellington, most capable OF
captains neither hero nor a
patriot, perhaps not even a cowa rd''-
with the typicalIy English Nelson, to
strengthen the contention.
The Celtic movement as far as ~
rs genuine. is the expression Of the
p9esry that SIN survives on the
finding In England. Pretty superstIs egsds
tion lives in Ireland in the twentieth
century. The late J. M. Synge saws
IN the preface to "The Piayboy Of the
Western World"
"In Ireland, for few years more.
We nave popular imagination that is
fiery and magnificent and tender; SO
that those OF us who wish TO write
start with a chance that Is not given
time OF the local life has been for
gotten and the harvest Is a memory
only and the straw has been turned
into bricks"
In his essay on Synge's plays C. e.
Montague writes:
mo such gift has been made to
modern Ireland by any OF her chill
dren as Synge's disenga cement OF
the essence, the differentiatlng vir-
ture OF the native Imagination IN Irish
country folks. Such services help to
make nations. for they render nation
al qualities apprehensible and tan
gible. so that the Idea OF them can
be grasped and cherished by plain
minds
This is. think sane and true.
Mr.. Synge makes Ireland comprehen-
sible. but some OF the literature con-
nected with the Celtic movement Is
quite. clear In his "IaIl and Fare
we'll