Irish Love Songs

Miss Tynan's collection of 'Irish Love Songs' is comprehensive, ranging as it does from 'Blooming Deirdre,' a translation from an Irish MS. of the year 1400, down to the works of Miss Tynan herself, from which, with rather doubtful taste, two extracts are made. The mo6t interesting part of the book is that which contains the translations-translations that tease the English reader by their singular alternations of fineness and commonplace, of spontaneous felicity and awkward artificiality. In one part of her preface Miss Tynan tells us that her book will owe most to Edward Walsh and Samuel Ferguson, "the two men who, above all others, knew how to transfuse the wild simplicity of the Irish songs into English, keeping their strange and lovely flavour as of wild bees' honey-sweet and unsophisticated." Later on she assures us that "those exquisite strains owe much to the genius of Walsh and Ferguson." Now did Walsh and Ferguson improve, or did they mar, the songs they translated? That is the question it would be interesting to settle, and on that question Miss Tynan only adds to our lack of knowledge by such opposite statements as those we have quoted. The charm of these Irish love songs lies in their homely sincerity-the way in which they seem to be written by people who are really in love, and who catch at the first words that will express their feeling. The same metaphors occur over and over again, the same longings are sung to the same airs, the same fanciful simplicity is seen everywhere. But this very similarity, in so many poems selected from such widely different sources, serves to show the genuine national characteristics of Irish song. What a singing note, what a note of bird-song, there is in a chorus of this sort!- Then, Oro, come with me I come with me I come with me! Oro. come with me I brown girl, sweet! And oh 1 I would go through snow and sleet. If you would come with mo, brown girl, sweet! It is the same note that one finds in the youngest and finest of the Irish poets of to-day, Mr. W. B. Yeats, from whom we quote this delicate little lyric, 'An Old Song Resung':- Down hy the salley gardens my love and I did meet; She passed the salley gardens with little snow-white feet. She bid me take love easy as the leaves grow on the tree; But 1, being young and foolish, with her would not Rgree. In a field by the river my love and I did stand. And on my leaning shoulder she laid her snow-white hand! She bid me take life easy as the grass grows on the weirs; But I was young and foolish, and now am full of tears. 'Verses' by J. M. G. are well wrought. They are manifestly the production of a man of intellect, education, and refined taste. The poet's inspiration J. M. G. probably does not claim to possess. - The Athenaeum

Continuing the enchanting chronicles of the fabulous Nuala Anne McGrail and her spear-carrying husband Dermot, bestselling author Andrew M. Greeley takes them once again to Ireland for another thrill-packed adventure. Back on the Emerald Isle, Nuala and Dermot soon get the feeling that someone is out to get them. They find themselves dodging multiple explosions, and someone starts shooting at Nuala while she is water-skiing in the cold Atlantic. Meanwhile, the handsome parish priest, Father Jack, has given Dermot the diary of a young Chicago newspaperman. Written in the year 1882, the diary tells in horrendous detail an intriguing story of a mass murder and a trumped-up trial in which one of Ireland's greatest heroes was accused of the murders without a shred of evidence. These two stories, ancient and modern, soon get mixed up, and they make for an utterly fascinating tale of murder, betrayal, and redemption with Nuala and her magical powers at the center of it all. Andrew Greeley not only tells us a riveting tale of adventure and derring-do, he gives us a picture of modern-day prosperous Ireland and the engaging and, of course, sometimes villainous people who live there. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Reprints. Originally published 1808-1914 (various publishers).

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A gorgeously romantic novel you will fall in love with and tell all your friends about!

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. To ensure a quality reading experience, this work has been proofread and republished using a format that seamlessly blends the original graphical elements with text in an easy-to-read typeface. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

The image of the Irish in the United States changed drastically over time, from that of hard-drinking, rioting Paddies to genial, patriotic working-class citizens. In 'Twas Only an Irishman's Dream, William H. A. Williams traces the change in this image through more than 700 pieces of sheet music--popular songs from the stage and for the parlor--to show how Americans' opinions of Ireland and the Irish went practically from one extreme to the other. Because sheet music was a commercial item it had to be acceptable to the broadest possible song-buying public. "Negotiations" about their image involved Irish songwriters, performers, and pressured groups, on the one hand, and non-Irish writers, publishers, and audiences on the other. Williams ties the contents of song lyrics to the history of the Irish diaspora, suggesting how ethnic stereotypes are created and how they evolve within commercial popular culture.