John Adams High School - Clipper Yearbook (Ozone Park, NY)

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ful apostrophe to the township where the court of Brian was situ- ated: Oh, Where, Kincora, is Brian the great? And, where is the beauty that once was thine? Oh, where are the princes and nobles what sate At the feasts in thy halls, and drank red wine? After eight hundred years of comparative silence, the seven- teenth century found Ireland once again leading in literature. Geof- frey Keating is undoubtedly the greatest savant of this period with his volumes on Ireland's history. There were also the Four Masters and Duald MacFirbis, who, outside of Keating, were the finest scholars that modern Erin has had. It is to these men that the history students of today look for information, for they, collecting and copying the old vellums and manuscripts of their time, did much to preserve the history of Ireland. Irish history during the eighteenth century was clearly and un- mistakably written-in blood. Sad indeed is the tone of the literature of this period, as it tells of men with prices on their heads, of the bitter strife of rebellion. Throughout all the poetry and ballads of the time the reader finds a note of despair, of deepest melancholy. It was during this era that most of the poems, stories, and songs of Ireland heard today were written. It was a time of daring romance, and tribulation and no other period of literature reveals the spirit of the Irish better than this. At this time, too, many Irishmen were driven into exile and, some to their deaths. As a result, not much remained of the young manhood of the Emerald Isle, which was a cause of bereavement among the poets. John Todhunter, in The Bamlaee created a mournful poem where Spectre Erinu sits on the banks of the river Shannon bemoaning her loss. A mother of many children, Of children exiled and dead, In her home, with bent head, homeless, Clasping her knee she sits, Keening, keening! The struggle against foreign domination was the greatest factor in Irish literature at the time. It was usually not a bitter, vindictive one but rather of lament and the telling of deeds of bravery and suffering. Although the use of the name of Ireland was forbidden, nevertheless the poets used allegorical names, such as Cathleen ni Houlihan, Dark Rosaleen, and Shan Van Vocht, which resulted in poems and songs of singular beauty and charm. Many of the poems offer tribute to brave men who fought and bled for Ireland. O'Moore, Sarsfield, Pearce, and Parnell find favor with the poets in songs that praise their exploits and bewail their deaths. However, women too played their part in the struggle, and lit- Twenty-four

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Many valuable manuscripts were either destroyed or scattered over the continent of Europe by Irish emigrants Heeing from the terrors of the invaders. The tremendous setback that Irish literature received through the invasion can best be shown by the fact that there exists today in Erin not a single manuscript written fin Gaelicj prior to the eighth century, only copies of other works. Not only were hundreds of previously existing manuscripts de- stroyed but also some of the works of contemporary writers. Despite the ruins of conquest some great writings flowed from the productive pens of the Irish of the time, due, no doubt, to the fact that the original enthusiasm was still alive. Preeminent among writers of the time was Cormac MacCulinan, a bishop, king, and scholar. His greatest existing work is the celebrated Corma,s Glos- sary. It is primarily a list of words and phrases of former years, with an explanation of their meaning, compiled to aid students of the time. Its present use is to reveal ancient history, law, and customs. King Cormac is said to have had a remarkable knowledge of the intellectual things of his day, and to have been conversant with the language of the Danes, Greeks, Hebrews, and Romans. Another great poet of the time was Gormly, daughter of Flann Sionna, High King of Ireland. Gormly's chief contribution to the world of verse was her lamentation over the grave of her husband, Niall Glun-dubh, who was killed in a skirmish with the Danes. This doleful poem is sometimes heard in remote parts of Ireland even to this day. Its tone of mournful despair is evident in the first stanza which Douglas Hyde translates literally: Monk, remove thy foot, lift it off the grave of Niall, too long heapest thou the earth on him whom I fain would love. Three other great poets of the Danish Periodn were Flann MacLonian, called the Virgil of the Irish race, Cinaith O'Hartigan, and Eochaidh O'Flynn, works of the first-named are of the greatest value historically. O'F1ynn has set down in poetic form Ireland's real and mythical history. Historians go to his works for reference for he is one of the few reliable sources for the contents of the early legends and myths. The bloody destruction of the Northern men was ended in the eleventh century by the famed usurper, Brian Boru who succeeded in driving the invader out of Ireland. Brian restored the ruined monas- teries, schools, and churches. Learning flourished once again, but only for a while. Brian himself was killed by the Danes and again the plains of Ireland were reddened with the blood of warriors. Upon hearing of Brian's death, MacLiag, a great poet of the time, was deeply grieved. Even after the death of his beloved patron, his poems were characterized by the deepest solemnity. L Mangan, a comparatively modern poet, has Anglicized his soul- Twenty-tfaree

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erature does not fail to recognize their mental anguish when a lover or a husband met death for the cause of the nation's freedom. One of the most pathetic, yet beautiful stories concerning the death of a warrior who was slain at the feet of his lover, is con- tained in Francis Davis, Kallmleen ban Adair: A young Irish colleen runs through the dew-glistening grass of the early morning to the side of her lover who has been wounded in a battle with English soldiers. Behind, her native Antrim in a reeking ruin lies, Before her like a silvery path, Kell's sleeping water rises And many a pointed shrub has pierc'd Those feet so white and bare But, oh! Thy heart is deeper rent, Young Kathaleen ban Adair. During this era a sudden change in Irish literature is apparent. Coming up to the nineteenth century a division in the literature is more forcibly brought to our attention. There are two languages in use: Gaelic and English. Of the Gaelic writers of this country, Douglas Hyde, Padraic Pearse, and Canon Peter O'Leary are the most conspicuous. They adopted a style, fresh and racy, and succeeded in creating a new form of Gaelic literature. To the English writing authors, the language was new. Al- though they were bi-lingual, Gaelic was inherent with them, and it is in that tongue that they seem at their best. Consequently, some of the literature, especially the poetry, was not of equal merit with the Gaelic. However, there were a few writers in the nineteenth cen- tury whose creations rank on a high plane. They are: Thomas Davis, whose work was unsurpassed by any contemporary writer, Clarence Mangan, author of the immortal poem, A Vision of Connaught, and Sir Samuel Ferguson, a very brilliant man, whose best contribu- tion was The Burial of King Cormacf' Then, of course, no history of Irish literature would be complete without mention of the much- liked Thomas Moore. But Moore wrote voluminously and for com- mercial profit. Hence, and this may seem heretical to some, seems to lose thereby. His best pieces capture and enchant, and he truly deserves the place that he holds in the heart of the Irish-and in- deed of the world. It has often been remarked that Irish literature is genuine in the deepest sense. This I think, is because Irish writers have an inti- mate knowledge of what they write. They write of sadness, and what race has felt sadness more heavily? They tell of love and who loves more feelingly than an Irishman? Exile, war, and famine are all known to the Irish and when they write of them they do so with the finesse of touch, born of true understanding. Tzuelzty-jiffe