Irish Literary Revival

poems, published, songs, wrote, verse, books, poet, thomas, book and prose

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William Lanninie (1849-1900) published two volumes of verse, (1899), (Pulse of the Bards' (1904), and (Irish Fireside Songs) (1912). His fairy legends, 'The Fenian Nights' Entertain ments,' are extremely interesting. Elinor Mary Sweetman published (Footsteps of the Gods and other (1893) ; and

1918), daughter of Dr. George Sigerson, mar ried in 1897 Clement K. Shorter, editor of The Sphere. Something of a painter and a sculptor, she was also a voluminous writer and published several books of poetry, as well as novels, short stories, and fairy tales. Her poems won the enthusiastic praise of George Meredith. Thomas Boyd (b. 1867) brought out, in 1906, a collection of 'Poems,' which were greatly ad mired. One of his finest single pieces, 'The Lianhaun Shee,> was made famous by being copied into William Sharp's 'Lyra Celtica,' Brooke and Rolleston's 'Treasury of Irish Poetry,' and other anthologies. William A. Byrne is the author of many graceful verses, collected in 'A Light on the Broom' (1901). James H. Cousins, an Ulster poet, wrote sev eral books of verse. His poetic drama, 'The Sleep of the King,' and his tragedy of the sea, 'The Racing Lug,' were among the early pro ductions (1902-03) of the Irish National Dra matic Company. A collection of the poems of Frances Wynne (1863-93) was published under the title of in 1890. William Rooney (1873-1901) was a constant contributor of both verse and prose to Dublin and Belfast papers. His 'Poems and Ballads) were col lected and published in 1902, and his 'Prose Writings' in 1909. Nora Hopper (Mrs. W. H. Chesson, 1871-1906) published in Prose) (1894), Quicken Boughs' (1896), of the Morning) (1900), and (Aquamarines (1902), as well as several novels. Her lyric, 'The King of Ireland's Son,' was adjudged by Fiona Macleod to be one of the "three loveliest and most typical lyrics of our time," the other two being Yeats's and Moira O'Neill's (Corrymeela.> "Moira O'Neill" (Mrs. Nesta Higginson Skrine), au thor of 'An Easter Vacation> '(1893) and 'The Elf Errant' (1895), sprang into sudden fame with 'Songs from the Glens of Antrim> (1900), a small book containing 25 short poems. Its popularity arose from the fact that it voices, in the natural language of the peasant, the peasant's discontent with strange surroundings and his homesick longing for the scenes of his former daily life. She showed that the Hiberno English spoken in the northern province was as applicable to literature as the better known varieties of the south and the west. ((Ethna Carbery's" posthumously published book, 'The Four Winds of Firinn) (1902), is also distin guished for its folk-poetry, written in the lan guage of the people and addressed to a strictly Irish public. She displays the most ardent

patriotism and a great love for the traditions of her country. "Ethna Carbery" was the pen name of Anna Isabel Johnston (1866-1902), whose greatly regretted death occurred a few months after her marriage to Seumas Mac Manus. Her short stories and sketches were collected and published in two small volumes, 'The Passionate Hearts) (1903) and 'In the Celtic Past' (1904). Charles Weekes has two books of verse to his credit, 'Reflections and Refractions) (1893) and 'About Women> (1907), the first mystic, the second satiric. Frederic Herbert Trench wrote (Deirdre Wed and other Poems' (1900), (New Poems' (1907), and 'Lyrics and Narratives' (1911). Darrell Figgis, critic, poet, and politician, and in the last-mentioned role destined by fate to strange and stormy vicissitudes, published many volumes both of verse and prose, including 'A Vision of Life' (1909), Crucibles of Time and other (1911), 'Jacob Elthorne> ((1915).1914), and 'The Mount of Transfiguration) A signal service was rendered to literature by lE when, in 1904, he edited a small vol ume entitled 'New Songs,' containing selec tions from eight young Irish poets, many of them members of the Hermetic Society and most of them at that time but little known to fame. These were Alice L. Milligan, Eva Gore Booth, Susan L. Mitchell, Ella Young, Padraic Colum, "Seumas O'Sullivan," Thomas Keohler, and George Roberts. Alice L. Milligan col laborated with her father, Seaton F. Milligan, a distinguished antiquary, in (1906) display great beauty of phrase and a deep religious sentiment. "Seumas O'Sullivan* (James Starkey, b. 1880), an ex ponent of mysticism, wrote poems of great spirituality and almost perfect technical skill. Among his works are (The Twilight People' (1905) and 'The Earth Lover and other (1903). His book of essays, 'Mud and Purple> (1918), attracted considerable attention. Thomas G. Keohler, in of a Devotee' (1906), and George Roberts, in 'White Fire' (1908), carried on the mystic side of the Re vival. Padraic Colum is treated later, among the dramatists. Joseph M. Campbell, artist and dramatist as well as poet, is a realist. Among his published books of poems are (Songs of Uladh' (1904), 'The Mountainy Singer) (1909), and (Earth of Cualaun' (1917). Stones' (1911) is a series of his impressions in prose. His tragedy, (1912), is an analysis of life in Donegal. Thomas Mac Donagh (1877-1916), who was court-martialed and shot after the rebellion in Dublin in 1916, was critic, dramatist, and poet. Among his verses are (Through the No Gate' (1903) and 'Songs of Myself' (1910). In a poetic tragedy, 'When the Dawn is Come) (1908), he seems to foretell his own untimely end. 'Thomas Campion and the Art of English Poetry? (1913) and 'Literature in Ireland' (1916) are two of his valuable studies. Norreys Jephson O'Connor wrote a book of Irish poems (Beside the Blackwater) (1914), and a play, dealing with fairy life, entitled 'The Lennan Sidhe) (1916). One of the latest of the Irish poets, Francis Ledwii4e (1891-1917), known as the peasant poet of Meath," had a great variety of experiences in his all too short career. In October 1914 he enlisted in the Inniskilling Fusiliers, and he was killed in action in Flanders on 31 July 1917. His two books of verse, 'Songs of the Fields' (1916) and 'Songs of Peace' (1917), were great in performance and still greater in promise. He gave every evidence of being one of those poets who are born, not made.

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