Page 187 - Guerin Media | The Wild Atlantic Way
P. 187
to learn anything set before me, but owing to the stupid I give my heart to thee, O mother-land,
educational system of the country. I, if noneelse, recall the sacred womb,
... in my 24th year ... something happened which has I, if none else, behold the loving eyes
since governed the general trend of my life, and through Bend ever on thy myriad progeny
me that of others. In a country house in the west of Who care not nor regard thee as they go,
Ireland, near the sea, I had to stay indoors one rainy O tender, sorrowing, weeping, hoping land I
day, and though my appetite for literature was slender I give my heart to thee, O mother-land.
enough then, in default of other amusements I spend
the time in looking over the books in the library. So I I give my heart to thee, heroic land,
chanced upon O’Hallorans History of Ireland, in three To thee or in thy morning when the
volumes – the first History of Ireland into which I had SundayFlashed on thy giant limbs –
ever looked. He wrote, I think in the second decade
( 1820’s) of this century..... His style was scholarly, thy lurid noon-
eloquent and impassioned ; reason appeared to govern Or in thy depth of night,
all his statements. To O’Halloran the “Book of Invasions”
( Leabhar Gabhála) was an authentic historical fierce-thoughted one,
document.” Wrestling with phantoms
We can see from Standish’s writing here in 1899 that in
the Ireland of the Famine, the Irish themselves were a of thy own wild soul,
people without a history and certainly the governing Or, stone-still, silent, waiting for the dawn,
classes were not of a favourable mind in regard to
this illuminating past. What the Irish Literary Revival I give my heart to thee, heroic land.
brought was a new found appreciation for the heritage
of Ireland a respect and an awe of the visions of Ireland’s I give my heart to thee, ideal land,
heroic past. The governing of the few over the many Far-soaring sister of the starry throng,
does not figure in a vision wherein man is beholden to O fleet of wing what journeyings are thine,
Eternity alone.
Standish O’Grady is credited as The Father of the Irish What goal, what God attracts thee?
Literary Revival. In his wake what followed developed
new frontiers for the creative Spirit. Through the What unseen Glory reflected
writings of W.B. Yeats, the artistry and mysticism of AE makes thy face a flame?
and others emerged a new spaciousness expanding the
horizons for the creative passions of mankind beyond Leave me not, where thou goest, let me go.
the narrow confines of inherited dogmas and limiting I give my heart to thee ideal land.
rationality.
What follows is a fluid expression – Joyce’s stream A love of Ireland and of the ideal
of consciousness and the self awareness of Beckett’s characterises the work of Standish O’Grady.
dramatic landscapes – a lunatic humor aware of the
expansive unknown universe. Beyond science and
human claims to knowledge, a playfulness emerges
through the wonder evoked in
Storytelling and in Poetry and we are
born again as children.
Standish O’Grady.
185
educational system of the country. I, if noneelse, recall the sacred womb,
... in my 24th year ... something happened which has I, if none else, behold the loving eyes
since governed the general trend of my life, and through Bend ever on thy myriad progeny
me that of others. In a country house in the west of Who care not nor regard thee as they go,
Ireland, near the sea, I had to stay indoors one rainy O tender, sorrowing, weeping, hoping land I
day, and though my appetite for literature was slender I give my heart to thee, O mother-land.
enough then, in default of other amusements I spend
the time in looking over the books in the library. So I I give my heart to thee, heroic land,
chanced upon O’Hallorans History of Ireland, in three To thee or in thy morning when the
volumes – the first History of Ireland into which I had SundayFlashed on thy giant limbs –
ever looked. He wrote, I think in the second decade
( 1820’s) of this century..... His style was scholarly, thy lurid noon-
eloquent and impassioned ; reason appeared to govern Or in thy depth of night,
all his statements. To O’Halloran the “Book of Invasions”
( Leabhar Gabhála) was an authentic historical fierce-thoughted one,
document.” Wrestling with phantoms
We can see from Standish’s writing here in 1899 that in
the Ireland of the Famine, the Irish themselves were a of thy own wild soul,
people without a history and certainly the governing Or, stone-still, silent, waiting for the dawn,
classes were not of a favourable mind in regard to
this illuminating past. What the Irish Literary Revival I give my heart to thee, heroic land.
brought was a new found appreciation for the heritage
of Ireland a respect and an awe of the visions of Ireland’s I give my heart to thee, ideal land,
heroic past. The governing of the few over the many Far-soaring sister of the starry throng,
does not figure in a vision wherein man is beholden to O fleet of wing what journeyings are thine,
Eternity alone.
Standish O’Grady is credited as The Father of the Irish What goal, what God attracts thee?
Literary Revival. In his wake what followed developed
new frontiers for the creative Spirit. Through the What unseen Glory reflected
writings of W.B. Yeats, the artistry and mysticism of AE makes thy face a flame?
and others emerged a new spaciousness expanding the
horizons for the creative passions of mankind beyond Leave me not, where thou goest, let me go.
the narrow confines of inherited dogmas and limiting I give my heart to thee ideal land.
rationality.
What follows is a fluid expression – Joyce’s stream A love of Ireland and of the ideal
of consciousness and the self awareness of Beckett’s characterises the work of Standish O’Grady.
dramatic landscapes – a lunatic humor aware of the
expansive unknown universe. Beyond science and
human claims to knowledge, a playfulness emerges
through the wonder evoked in
Storytelling and in Poetry and we are
born again as children.
Standish O’Grady.
185
