The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1922-04-01


land were fighting between them
selves. they could be rallied togeth-
er to attack some common enemy
on the plea of common speech. In
later days this, too, was the belief
of Padraio Pearse and his compan-
! ions who Prior to their rebellion in
1916 had taught Irish in st. Endas
school and recruited their small
force partly from their pupils.
The Irish think also of how the
! turns and twists of English as it is
! spoken in Ireland were brought
/ over from the Gaelic He went off
With himself" or He put his speak
on me-" or us it to see you they
gamer" or 81 saw a woman and she
walking" show the influence of the
Gaelic. Originally such roundabout
structures were evolved by per
sons thinking in Gaelic and trans
lating literally into English, or,
sometimes, they simply represent
ed attempts to soften the abrupt
English speech to make it more
like the accustomed Irish. They
! are link between Gaelic and the
English speech of Ireland; exam
Piles Of this rhythm are found in
the works of Lynge and Lady Greg
DRY.
| There is strong affinity between
the Irish people and the old Ian
guage even when it is not the
speech that was learned at home.
The Gaelic league, which some
| years ago began to hold classes to
promote the study of Irish, found
that the pupils who volunteered
were eager to learn. Old women,
children, working men and stu
: dents gathered at night in classes
to learn to speak and read Gaelic.
To Revive Gaelic Literature
| Aside from their inherent affec-
ton for the radical language, the
Irish are interested in the revival
of Gaelic as a medium OF literature.
1t is only in the last so years that
scholars have been working on the
old Gaelic manuscripts with view
Of having them published. The
, manuscripts Of the Irish literature
were so widely scattered that for
centuries they had lain almost IN
| touched. Irish monks who were
banned from the country had taken
some manuscripts TO Belgium,
France and Italy and other parts
of Europe, so that to study the
Irish writings it was necessary to
travel abroad and seek them out in
cathedrals, libraries and clotsters.
Many of the wandering manu-
!, scripts were lost in wars and in
vasions. Even SO lately as the de-
/ struction of LouYain cathedral in
) the recent war a number Of old
) Irish manuscripts were lost
- What are left of the stories. his
| tories and sagas are being publish
/ ed for the inspiration of modern
4 Irish writers. Irish language en-
ithusiasts hold that the freshness
e Of English has been worn of
= through use by centuries Of story
r tellers and poets, while the Gaelic
, offers great opportunity for origin
atty.
They point also to the old Gaelic
mythology which has been scarcely
used at all in modern times, while
Greek gods and their stories are
the standby props Of the literary
artist.
In connection with the POSSIBLE
tiles of Gaelic literature it is inter
esting to note that the Irish are
credited with being the first to in
troduce rhyme into poetry. Old
poems show use Of what is known
as assonance. That is, the words
do not rhyme exactly, but the vow
els do. Words like moon and room
and wood could be used as rhymes
by this scheme. This so-called old
est form of rhyme has been reviv-
ed by some modern expertmenters
with poetry in this country.