The sun., 1916-10-08
SOME NEW BOOKS.
Irish Expression.

Whatever judgment may be passed
on ne political activity OF THOMAS
Nvpu<NGH in the last months of his
life after all the facts in the case
are allowed to become public no reader
of Lu,yotYJc IN Ireland lFrederick a.
STOKES Company can help regrettiny
that "a mind SO lucid and fair. giving
such promise of future usefulness,
should have been wiped out of exist
onrc hv The deplorablc tragedy enacted
in Dublin. The lectures were pre-
u,red before the war. nut the preface
is dated last January. The literatur,
That the author tries to analyze and
IN distinguish from other writings Is
mo-, the Celtic or Gaelic hut that writ
ion in the English language by au-
,hors of Irish stock. lie goes into
Gaelic literature. to ne sure. to ex-
main It's spirit and it's characteristic, 4,
nu, he does this only as part of the
demonstration that the spirit and
characteristics have been handed doWa
10 the writer's Of irish training VIII,
nov express themselves In English.
The body ~ Celtic ana more partict.-
,arly Gaelic literature he leaves 20
one Sltlt, Ifl uf'S " tl~'llNS wv ull'N-
,turs uf it,, possible pcrpetuatiol or
extinction
The broad fact which hr assumrS.
md IL l. to lie noted that IN" deals NV
witt general ideas without wandering
into exceptions or surNi,als. IL that Tia
English language in the course az Cci,-
turtles has been forced on II Gaelic race
and is now the natural vehicle in
which 1t Expresses its ideas. The lam
guagc has suffered changes in con-
strurtion, In words II in their mean
ings. and especially Inv the thought
back of them. 80 that Mr.. MacDonagi
would have liked to call II a dialect,
hut, "A less definite term seems better.
So he speaks Of the Irish mode and
dis'inguish.@ il from Matthew A.
nolds celtic note \ literature III
that language had to wait until ii be-
came general. and tn" author finds h"
hrrinniusS in the nineteenth century
and its hlus>umiug in Ncry re'cut
times. The substance "f his argument
Is ucSt given in his own words:
r,si. that an Npglo.irish literature
worth, o. special designation could come
on, when English had become ,h" Ian
.u,gr & the irish people. mainly ~
cool, .t,,k. uud Whom the literature was
'rom. hy. 81, 10 and fr the irish people.
second. tIl' 'ho WAYS Of lie aud tho
Va - .i,ish. ~ the Irish people tho
-rpuuers. customs. tr,iitions aud %outloo'
r.i-.pJ-. sp,lti and mural have Important
dir.r-u... from the ways 90 life and Of
though which have found oppression in
,ti.. Nrgllsh literature.
Thrl that the English language IN
ir'luHi h'- 1917 iulNtiuaYt; ~ t. own.
mN o., tny thm OF IRISH speech a distinct
chs .,.rr.
~" authors patient development O,
hs id'., to these conclusions carries
conviction with 1t, If any is needed
1t il backed up with many examples
Of poetry, not of the modern school
bu; from older writers. in which the
author marks the Irish character
is,ics. Samuel Ferguson. Mangan and
Thomas Moore. He naturally excludes
ihe famous eighteenth century Irish
men. who wrote in English for tle
English. Swift, Goldsmith. Burke an
Mo rest. His criticism of the neweI
Irish from ]. G. Synge and w. Il. Yeats
down, il extremely interesting. III,
points uut the touches in them which
az not genuinely Irish. rhc incorrect
LIST Of Gaelic in Yeats. the sex elelmen;
in Synse. The l~stter's people "talli
NOR" of it han others. hut ven thcy
10 not give II the Importance that II
has IN most modern literature; they
10 not talk If II In the dccadcnt. SUI.
sestlNc way. however morbid IN,
analy sis 90 their creator. They tall
~ il rather like the Irish D~pnS1nir,