There's a poem I'm trying to find online...
John Savage, "Shane's Head." It's about the betrayal and death of Shane O'Neill.
John Savage (Fenian) - Wikipedia
en.m.wikipedia.org
AA
Well, it's online now.
AA
There's a poem I'm trying to find online...
John Savage, "Shane's Head." It's about the betrayal and death of Shane O'Neill.
John Savage (Fenian) - Wikipedia
en.m.wikipedia.org
AA
Here you go. Page 68. You can download the whole book as a pdf.
Have you read any of John Boyle O'Reilly's poetry? He wasn't the greatest poet, but he's one of my fave characters in Irish American history. Here are his biography and his collected poems.Thanks so much, Owen! Was hoping you saw that one.
There are times when I dive deep into Irish history and literature. That particular poem speaks to me. Now I can read the whole thing.
I'm not even an O'Neill! Though they are certainly in my Y-DNA group.
AA
This is one of John Boyle O'Reilly's best poems. I can't believe these people stick advertisements in between lines of poetry, but they do.
The Exile Of The Gael Poem by John Boyle O'reilly
IT is sweet to rejoice for a day,- For a day that is reached at last! It is well for wanderers in new lands, Slow climbers toward a lofty mountain pass, Yearning with hearts and eyes strained everinternetpoem.com
The poem is about the Irish exiled from home and sent off to America. In response to assertions that the Irish would not be loyal Americans O'Reilly wrote
'No treason we bring from Erin - nor bring we shame nor guilt!
The sword we hold may be broken, but we have not dropped the hilt!
The wreath we bear to Columbia is twisted of thorns, not bays;
And the songs we sing are saddened by thoughts of desolate days.
But the hearts we bring for Freedom are washed in the surge of tears;
And we claim our right by a People's fight outliving a thousand years!'
What a wonderful book! I just read The Dreamer aloud to my wife. Thanks so much.
AA
Very beautiful. Thanks for that.Well fellow B&B poetry lovers, today January 19th is the birthday of a 19th century American poet you've most likely heard of, here's one of his short ones....
Annabel Lee
BY EDGAR ALLAN POE
It was many and many a year ago,
In a kingdom by the sea,
That a maiden there lived whom you may know
By the name of Annabel Lee;
And this maiden she lived with no other thought
Than to love and be loved by me.
I was a child and she was a child,
In this kingdom by the sea,
But we loved with a love that was more than love—
I and my Annabel Lee—
With a love that the wingèd seraphs of Heaven
Coveted her and me.
And this was the reason that, long ago,
In this kingdom by the sea,
A wind blew out of a cloud, chilling
My beautiful Annabel Lee;
So that her highborn kinsmen came
And bore her away from me,
To shut her up in a sepulchre
In this kingdom by the sea.
The angels, not half so happy in Heaven,
Went envying her and me—
Yes!—that was the reason (as all men know,
In this kingdom by the sea)
That the wind came out of the cloud by night,
Chilling and killing my Annabel Lee.
But our love it was stronger by far than the love
Of those who were older than we—
Of many far wiser than we—
And neither the angels in Heaven above
Nor the demons down under the sea
Can ever dissever my soul from the soul
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
For the moon never beams, without bringing me dreams
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And the stars never rise, but I feel the bright eyes
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side
Of my darling—my darling—my life and my bride,
In her sepulchre there by the sea—
In her tomb by the sounding sea.