Song Lore of Ireland, The, Volume 1, Issue 1, Page 3

The Baker & Taylor Co., New York, 1911

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Song Lore of Ireland, The

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IFOREWORDEnixs bardic poems, ballads and folk-songs carryher story back to the Christian dawn and even earlier.They are history with the added charm of a personalnote, a thrill of actuality, not to be found in annalsand chronicles. They sing the hopes and fears of thepeople in epic moments of their national life. Whenwe read the story of Clontarf, we sympathize in a far-off way with the issues there decided. But whoamong us feel,s the loss of Brian as did his friendMac Liag, the poet? He wrote of the dead monarchas an aide de camp might have written of Washing-ton, as Rudyard Kipling has written of Lord Rob-erts. This poetic narrative of battles fought andwon is a golden commentary extending throughoutthe whole course of Irish history. In many casesthe poets were participants of the scenes they de-scribed; for it was the bards duty to accompanyhis prince on the field of battle arid incite him todeeds of valor. The songs about Hugh ODonnelland Patrick Sarsfleld were sung by men whose for-tunes were bound up with those of their leaders.Music was made to serve the selfsame end, and thetwofold tradition is as vivid as it is intimate. Thistradition enables us to appreciate the true inward-ness of Irish history in a way that the tomes of theannalist utterly fail to do.

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Mason, Redfern

1911-01-01T00:00:00

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