A Terrible Beauty

'A terrible beauty is born'

WB Yeats's poignant words have come to immortalise the complex legacy of the Easter Rising, 1916. The poetry that emerged at this time of upheaval in Ireland gave voice to the thoughts of a generation. Yeats's poem, 'Easter 1916', sits alongside selected works of other major poets of the era. These include Patrick Pearse, Thomas MacDonagh and Joseph Plunkett, who were executed for their part in the Rising.

In the aftermath of the Rising an outpouring of poetry also expressed the shock and grief of literary figures such as Padraic Colum, Francis Ledwidge, Eva Gore-Booth, James Stephens, Dora Sigerson Shorter and Seán O'Casey. Rebels, soldiers, honorary Irishmen, sympathisers and exiles all held up a mirror, in verse, to the events, beliefs and desires bound up in 1916.

A COUNTRY'S AWAKENING 11

THE CONFLUENCE OF DREAMS

Pádraic Pearse (1879–1916) 17

The Rebel 21

Fornocht Do Chonac Thú 24

Renunciation (Translation of Fornocht Do Chonac Thú) 26

The Fool 28

Mise Éire 30

I Am Ireland (Translation of Mise Éire) 31

The Mother 32

The Wayfarer 33

Thomas MacDonagh (1878–1916) 35

Wishes for My Son 39

Of a Poet Patriot 42

An Bonnán Buí 43

The Yellow Bittern (Translation of An Bonnán Buí by Cathal Buí Mac Giolla Gunna) 45

The Poet Captain 47

Joseph Mary Plunkett (1887–1916) 51

I See His Blood upon the Rose 55

The Little Black Rose Shall be Red at Last 56

The Stars Sang in God's Garden 57

This Heritage to the Race of Kings 58

The Dark Way 59

To Grace 61

WHEN THE DAWN IS COME

George William Russell (Æ) (1867–1935) 65

A Leader 68

On Behalf of Some Irishmen Not Followers of Tradition 69

Salutation 71

Continuity 73

Francis Ledwidge (1887–1917) 75

Thomas MacDonagh 79

Ireland 80

To Mrs Joseph Plunkett 81

The Dead Kings 82

O'Connell Street 84

A Soldier's Grave 85

William Butler Yeats (1865–1939) 87

Easter 1916 91

Sixteen Dead Men 95

The Rose Tree 96

In Memory of Eva Gore-Booth and Con Markiewicz 97

AFTERMATH & REQUIEM

Eva Gore-Booth (1870–1926) 101

Heroic Death, 1916 103

Easter Week 104

Comrades 104

Francis Sheehy-Skeffington 105

Roger Casement 106

Dermot O'Byrne (Sir Arnold Bax) (1883–1953) 109

A Dublin Ballad—1916 111

Martial Law in Dublin 114

Shells at Oranmore 115

James Stephens (1880–1950) 117

Spring—1916 119

Seán O'Casey (1880–1964) 125

Thomas Ashe 127

Thomas Ashe (1885–1917) 129

Let Me Carry Your Cross for Ireland, Lord! 132

Joyce Kilmer (1886–1918) 135

Easter Week 137

Joseph Campbell (1879–1944) 139

Fires 142

The Storm-Thrush on the Shaking Tree 143

Dora Sigerson Shorter (1866–1918) 145

The Star 147

The Dead Soldier 148

Padraic Colum (1881–1972) 151

The Rebel. Roger Casement, 1864–1916 153

Canon Charles O'Neill (1887–1963) 154

The Foggy Dew 155

Index of first lines 158

from the moment you pick up this book, you know it's a sacred object



beautifully presented



there is no shortage of books with information and background on the events and personalities involved in the Rising of 1916. As Ireland prepares to celebrate the centenary, there will be no doubt be more books, some praising those involved, some with a more critical view of the event. But for an emotional response, for something that may persuade us what happened was the outcome of good intentions and high nobility, we need to turn to the poets and how they perceived it … a beautifully produced little book that makes the point more powerfully than a dozen treatises



it falls within a range of titles released this month by the publisher inspired by 1916, which include Inside the GPO 1916 – A First-Hand Account and a collection entitled The 16 Lives Series, which offers a set of biographies of the 16 men executed in Easter Rising weniger anzeigen expand_less