The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1916-09-30

wood has taken its rightful place in
the history Of the evolution of art.
State papers and documentary sources
of all kinds have been sought out and
published, and journals such as EriI
and the Archivum Hibernican have
been founded for the sole purpose of
advancing Irish historical studies. Yet,
it must be admitted that an adequate
history of Ireland has never yet been
written, and, like Old Irish, the study
of Irish history affords a most at
tractive field for the ambitious scholar.
Irish Archaeology.
Ireland is confessedly the richest
storehouse in Western Europe of
every known class of Celtic monu-
ments. There. are ancient pillar
stones, cromleacs, dolmens, earns, og-
ham-stones, prehistoric graves, lake
dwellings, bog causeways and cram
nogs in abundance. In district within
five miles radius of Sligo may be
found an assemblage of primitive meg
alithic monuments uneQualed through
out the world. In the rude magni-
ficence of her sepulchral tumuli, Ire
land is also unrivalled OF early Chris
tian antiquities she possesses more
than her share. The Celtic Cross and
the Round Tower are peculiar to Ire.
land. The Irish Revival has given an
impetus to the study of Irish archaeol-
egy, and, within the last forty years,
flood of light has been thrown on
many subjects hitherto unintelligible.
Journals such as those of the Irish
Archaeological Society, the Royal So
ciety of Antiquities, and the Co. Louth
Archaeological Society; publications
emanating from the Royal Irish Acad-
envy, and from the Irish Catholic Rec
ord Society of Maynooth, as we'll as
works of such successful searchers
after historical truth as Westropp,
Wood-Martin, Wakeman, Manchester,
Power, MacNeill and Wilde are we'll
calculated to guide students in the
right path of investigation. It has
been proved that Ireland contains an
unbroken series of monuments stretch.
ing back centuries long anterior to the
Christian era, and the conclusions of
Irish archaeological writer's cannot
now be disregarded by writer's on an.
thropology and kindred subjects.
Anelo-Irish Poetry.
The use of English by Irish poets
began towards the end of the eigh-
teenth century, and, unfortunately, has
continued ever since. Anglo-Irish DO.
etry may be divided into four classes.
but these often overlap, and the divi-
sions must not be too sharply accentu-
ated. In the first class are placed the
poems of such men as Goldsmith, Con-
greve, Swift, Oscar Wilde and Edward
Dowden, which, entirely English in
manner and matter, belong to the Eng
fish tradition. The second division
takes in the poetry, that was Irish in
sentiment, of the close of the eigh-
teenth and the early years of the nine
teenth century. These include the pa
triotic songs of Moore, the short poems
by William brennan, as we'll as the
large collection of ballads such as
When Erin First Rose" "The Shan
Van Vocht," and "The Wearing of the
Green" which, written by hedge
schoolmasters and their pupils. EN-.
bodied that conception of the Irish
nation which had its origin in the
teaching of Tone and the United Irish
men. A vast amount of elegiac poetry
Is included in this division. In the
poems of Moore, Callahan and Gerald
Griffin grace and tenderness are COM
bined, while in the songs of Lever,
Lover and Father Front, all the fun
and wildness of the Irish nation are
displayed. The third division concerns
itself with the poets of the Nation"
The keynote of all their poetry was
the doctrine of Irish nationality, and.
as rule, Ireland was the immediate
theme. Poems of pure emotion we
have from their pens, but their num-
Der is small in comparison with those
whose direct purpose was to inspire
1rishmen with national pride or hatred
of foreign rule. OF those who con-
tributed poems to the pages of the
Nation, the following were the chief:
Davis, Gavan Duffy, John Kells In
gram, Richard Dalton Williams, Mich
ael Doheny, Thomas Darcy Magee,
Lady Wilde. John O'Hagan, Ellen
Downing and John Keegan. In this
same class, too, we may place those
who, in later times, during the Fenian
movement, the Land League agitation,
or the recent Sim Fein Rebellion,
wrote political poetry; poets such as
Charles Kickham, John Keegan Casey,
T. D. Sullivan, Hubert Rooney and
Brian O'Higgins. In the fourth class,
we place the poets of the modern move
ment, poets who, while they remained
distinctively Irish, concerned them
selves more with poetry for its own
sake than with poetry whose aim was
to inspire spirit of nationality. They
are the poets of what is called the
Celtic note,-poets who endeavor to
Keep In their poetry, not only the ma.