A BOOK OF IRISH VERSE
A BOOK OF
IRISH VERSE
SELECTED FROM MODERN WRITERS WITH AN INTRODUCTION AND NOTES BY W.B. YEATS
METHUEN AND CO. 36 ESSEX STREET, W.C. LONDON 1900
_Revised Edition_
W.H. WHITE AND CO. LTD. RIVERSIDE PRESS, EDINBURGH
TO THE MEMBERS
OF
THE NATIONAL LITERARY SOCIETY OF DUBLIN
AND THE
IRISH LITERARY SOCIETY OF LONDON CONTENTS
PAGE
Preface xiii
Modern Irish Poetry xvii
Old Age _Oliver Goldsmith_ (1725-1774) 1
The Village Preacher " " " " 2
The Deserter's Meditation _John Philpot Curran_ (1750--1817) 3
'Thou canst not boast' _Richard Brinsley Sheridan_ (1751-1816) 4
Kathleen O'More _James Nugent Reynolds_ ( -1802) 5
The Groves of Blarney _Richard Alfred Milliken_ (1767-1815) 6
The Light of other Days _Thomas Moore_ (1779-1852) 10
'At the Mid Hour of Night' " " " " 11
The Burial of Sir John Moore _Rev. Charles Wolfe_ (1791-1823) 12
The Convict of Clonmel _Jeremiah Joseph Callanan_ (1795-1839) 14
The Outlaw of Loch Lene " " " 16
Dirge of O'Sullivan Bear " " " 17
Love Song _George Darley_ (1795-1846) 20
The Whistlin' Thief _Samuel Lover_ (1797-1868) 22
Soggarth Aroon _John Banim_ (1798-1842) 24
Dark Rosaleen _James Clarence Mangan_ (1803-1849) 27
Lament for the Princes of Tyrone and Tyrconnell " " " 31 A Lamentation for the Death of Sir Maurice Fitzgerald " " " 41
Table of contents (by pages)
- 1: A Book of Irish Verse by W. B. Yeats
- 2: A Book of Irish Verse by W. B. Yeats
- 3: A Book of Irish Verse by W. B. Yeats
- 4: A Book of Irish Verse by W. B. Yeats
- 5: By writing about politics or about Gaelic
- 6: The lead of Callanan was followed by a number of translators
- 7: While Allingham had trained an ear
- 8: The variety of cadence of a great lyric poet
- 9: While Mrs Hinkson is happiest when she embodies emotions
- 10: Because the copyright holders have refused permission
- 11: For he seems to watch Kathleen
- 12: Ere slumber's chain hath bound me
- 13: Through the boys of the village My goal ball is flying
- 14: O would that a freezing sleet wing'd tempest did sweep
- 15: ' Pat whistles a bit of a popular air
- 16: Side by side with you still Soggarth aroon
- 17: Around a grave In green Tyrconnell
- 18: But would with shrieks bewail the slain
- 19: Some Saxon hand had left them lorn
- 20: One lament of more than mortal grief
- 21: Great Woman of Three Cows
- 22: Speary sleet pierceth one through and through
- 23: That sweeps along to the mighty sea
- 24: Lost Siberia doth reveal Only blight and death
- 25: Unseen Mo craoibhin cno
- 26: When thine arms twine around me
- 27: God's wrath above A cuisle geal mo chroidhe
- 28: Who loved thee truly have not failed
- 29: Emon Lynott again cross'd the river
- 30: Planning vengeance on the Barretts of Tirawley
- 31: Fostered free among the Welshmen of Tirawley
- 32: ' replied the Brehons of Tirawley
- 33: The gentlest of all the Welshmen of Tirawley
- 34: Her Ogham letter'd stone is seen
- 35: By yon prostrate altar stone May kneel
- 36: For the fair hills of holy Ireland
- 37: Ivy from your eaves is growing
- 38: Bawn Una bares her bosom's swell
- 39: Among the fresh stirred hearts of Erin
- 40: Sailing swiftly from the county of Mayo
- 41: Aubrey de Vere SONG She says 'Poor Friend
- 42: He slew ten princes who brake their pledges
- 43: Norna was never long time the same
- 44: The son of Milesius was bard 'Go back My People
- 45: Where besides subduing this land of Eire
- 46: From our hearth with mait go leor
- 47: With love and mo bhuachaill for me
- 48: All my life's bliss is in the grave with thee
- 49: When cowards mock the patriot's fate
- 50: Adieu to all the winding banks of Erne
- 51: My dear companions on the winding banks of Erne
- 52: Since our Abbot Cormac went through the gate
- 53: William Allingham TWILIGHT VOICES Now
- 54: Many waters glittering bright Whither I see
- 55: The very name of Finn and Gael sound strange
- 56: And many a pleasant day I spent In the Glen of Aherlow
- 57: Remember poor blind Sheehan Of the Glen of Aherlow
- 58: Their souls quake in the void and quaking time of night
- 59: John Todhunter AGHADOE There's a glade in Aghadoe
- 60: Far renowned for larnin' and piety
- 61: Redder and redder burns the rose
- 62: And in Clonmacnois they laid the men of Teffia
- 63: Who caused my heart to ache so oft
- 64: The amber ripples sang their song
- 65: The black swan with the emerald breast
- 66: Water fowl and sky fowl dreamless in the nest
- 67: I saw the sheep with their lambs
- 68: But my fiddle knows and I talk to her
- 69: A shadowy tumult stirs the dusky air
- 70: Another theme shall dare The Nameless
- 71: Still in their golden vesture the old saints prevail
- 72: Let Inisfail rejoice In her Hesperian peace
- 73: Lionel Johnson CAN DOOV DEELISH Can doov deelish
- 74: Shule go den durrus agus eligh lum
- 75: While going the road to sweet Athy
- 76: You're sent as a plague to the girls of Coleraine
- 77: Thou idol of the faithful heart of Morian Shehone
- 78: When Reynolds gave the gallows brave MacCann
- 79: Vous qui voulez courir La terrible carriere
- 80: Aideen is said to have been buried on Howth
- 81: Shoo il go den durrus ogus euli liom