Despite this nation’s small geographic area, Ireland has contributed a disproportionately large amount of great art to the world. The lively, passionate strains of Irish music have been heard the world over. Irish painters have gifted us glowing masterpieces, like “The Meeting on the Turret Stairs.” Many titans of literature hail from the Emerald Isle, including W.B. Yeats, Oscar Wilde, Bram Stoker, and Jonathan Swift. Irish culture seems especially fitted, somehow, for artistic production.
‘The Fairies’ by William Allingham
This playful poem describes the famous “little people” of Irish folklore who have bewitched the imagination of so many people, Irish and non-Irish alike. Called variously “fairies,” “Sidhe,” “little people,” or “leprechauns,” these mysterious sprites figured centrally in the Celtic Revival movement, which saw renewed interest in medieval Celtic culture and folklore among artists of various genres.Up the airy mountain, Down the rushy glen, We daren’t go a-hunting For fear of little men; Wee folk, good folk, Trooping all together; Green jacket, red cap, And white owl’s feather!
The staccato rhythm and dynamic use of motion give the poem a lively feel that reflects the spritely movements of the fairies. Allingham makes use of wild natural imagery and whimsical details to create the fairies’ world, from rocky shores and mountain lakes to pancakes made of sea foam and frogs used as watchdogs. The poem proceeds at a fast clip that evokes the fairies’ elusive nature—one moment they’re here, the next they’re gone.
However, these fairies aren’t comical buffoons; the poem includes some dark hints of the danger and foreboding that has always permeated the fairy folklore. Take for instance, little Bridget, who is stolen away by the fairies in the fourth stanza.
Still, the poem’s overall tone is light, and it offers a delightful excursion into another realm. Reading it is a great way to celebrate the Irish landscape and Irish folklore.
‘Requiescat’ by Oscar Wilde
Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) is better-known for his plays and his eccentric personality than for his poetry. Yet he was a highly skilled poet, even winning a prize for poetry as an undergraduate at Oxford. This simple, moving poem expresses grief over the loss of a loved one:Tread lightly, she is near Under the snow, Speak gently, she can hear The daisies grow.
All her bright golden hair Tarnished with rust, She that was young and fair Fallen to dust.
Lily-like, white as snow, She hardly knew She was a woman, so Sweetly she grew.
Coffin-board, heavy stone, Lie on her breast, I vex my heart alone She is at rest.
Peace, Peace, she cannot hear Lyre or sonnet, All my life’s buried here, Heap earth upon it.
The title is Latin for “may he (or she) rest in peace” and is drawn from the prayers of the traditional Catholic Mass offered for a deceased person. In this case, Wilde referred to his sister, Isola Wilde, who passed away at the age of 9 from a brain infection, probably meningitis. Wilde was about 12 at the time.
Wilde used simple, short lines to memorialize his sister. The simplicity of the language might be a nod to the tender age of his sister when she died, but it’s also a reminder that some experiences cut too deep for words. The silence that hangs in between the lines speaks as eloquently as the words themselves.
‘Believe Me, If All Those Endearing Young Charms’ by Thomas Moore
If “Requiescat” is about loss, the final poem in this list is about something stronger than loss. This poem by the Dublin-born Thomas Moore (1779–1852) is also short enough to reproduce in full:Believe me, if all those endearing young charms, Which I gaze on so fondly to-day, Were to change by to-morrow, and fleet in my arms, Live fairy-gifts fading away, Thou wouldst still be adored, as this moment thou art, Let thy loveliness fade as it will, And around the dear ruin each wish of my heart Would entwine itself verdantly still.
It is not while beauty and youth are thine own, And thy cheeks unprofaned by a tear, That the fervor and faith of a soul may be known, To which time will but make thee more dear! No, the heart that has truly loved never forgets, But as truly loves on to the close, As the sunflower turns on her god when he sets The same look which she turned when he rose!
Brief but poignant, this work is an unconventional take on love poetry. While most poets throughout the ages have written verse after ecstatic verse extolling their love’s youth and beauty, praising each part with every flattering metaphor they can come up with, Moore adopts almost the opposite approach.He insists that even if his beloved lost all her physical loveliness, he would love her no less—in fact, he might love her more because time and age, which steal away youth, also test and reveal the fidelity and virtue of a good heart.
“It is not while beauty and youth are thine own/ And thy cheeks unprofaned by a tear,/ That the fervor and faith of a soul may be known.” The speaker suggests that his love for his lady will deepen as they share together in the hardships of life, which will, little by little, steal their beauty away. The speaker uses the lovely image of a vine winding through a ruin to express how tightly his affections will cling to his beloved, whether she keeps her looks or no.
“Love is not love/ Which alters when it alteration finds,” Shakespeare wrote. “Love alters not with [time’s] brief hours and weeks/ But bears it out even to the edge of doom.” Both Shakespeare and Moore speak of a love that transcends both time and the material realm, which is subject to time.
Whether the story is true or not, it highlights the noble ideals and deep commitment expressed in the poem, a commitment stronger than either time, disease, or death.
