The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1916-09-30

oSSh oOuSAL Out anu puullohSuS ohu
journals such as Eriii and the Archi'
vium Hibernicum have been founded
for the sole purpose of advancing Irish
historical studies. Yet, it must be adj
mitted that an adequate history OF
Ireland has never yet been written,
and, like Old Irish, the study of Irish
History affords a most attractive 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 with
i'll five miles radius of Sligo, may be
found an assemblage of primitive meg
alithic monuments unequalled through
out the world. In the rude magnifi-
cence of her sepulchral tumuli, Ireland
| is also unrivalled OF early Christian
antiquities she possesses more than
her share The Celtic Cross and the
Round Tower are peculiar to Ireland.
The Irish Revival has given an i'm
petus to the study of Irish archaeol-
ogy, 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 publications
emanating from the Royal Irish Acad-
envy, and from the Irish Catholic Rec
ord Society of Maynooth, as well 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. 1t has
been proved that Ireland contains an
unbroken series of monuments
stretching back centuries long ante
rior to the Christian era, and the con-
illusions of Irish archaeological writer's
cannot now be disregarded by writer's
on anthropology and kindred subjects.
AngIo-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
poetry may be divided into four class
es, but these often overlap, and the
divisions must not be too sharply ac-
centuated. In the first class are
placed the poems of such men as
Goldsmith, Congreve, Swift, Oscar
Wilde and Edward Dowden, which, en-
belong TO the English tradition. The
second division takes in the poetry,
that was Irish in sentiment, of the
close Of the eighteenth and the early
years of the nineteenth century.
These include the patriotic songs of
Moore, the short poems by William
brennan, as well as the large collec-
tion of ballads such as when Erin
First Rose" The Shan Van Vocht,"
and THE Wearing of the Green"
which, written by Observation-Disclosures
and their pupils, embodied that con-
ception of the Irish nation which had
it's origin in the teaching of Tone and
the United Irishmen. A vast amount
of elegiac poetry is included in this
division. In the poems of Moore, Cal
lanan and Gerald Griffin grace and
tenderness are combined, while in the
songs of Lever, Lover and Father
Prout, 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 number is small in
comparison with those whose direct
purpose was to inspire Irishmen with
| national pride or hatred of foreign
rule. Of those who contributed poems
to the pages of the nation, the follow
ing were the chief: Davis, Gavan
Dalton Williams, Michael Doheny,
Thomas Darcy Magee, Lady Wilde,
John O'Hagan, Ellen Dowing 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 Kick
ham, John Keegan Casey, T. ID. Sulli-
van, Hubert Rooney and Brian OHig-
gins. In the fourth class, we place
the poets of the modern movement,
poets who, while they remained dis
tinctively Irish, concerned themselves
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 national and spir-
itual elements of the Irish character,
but also that appealing emotion which,
living like soul in the natural seen
cry of Ireland, makes it transcend, by
depth and range of sentiment, the
scenery of all other countries. Man
gan was the precursor of this revival,
but the real leader was Sir Samuel
Ferguson, whose Lays of the Western
Gael established the Celtic move
ment in poetry. George Sigerson,
Aubrey de We're, William Allingham,
| Patrick j. MacCall, Dora Sigerson,