POETRY AND PATRIOTISM.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 431, 13 February 1909, Page 9

POETRY AND PATRIOTISM.

■Is patriotic poetry necessarily, poor poetry; or is it only .by accident that.it generally is W? would put the,"Marseillaise ,, ,- in any;coliection of; tfie one or two hundred; ■ ! or 'three . hundred best. ":.;l?renqh lyrics. Would-any educated. German , do .more for; the ,''Wacht. am:Eheiri" ?,, In Eng-' iaiid the most /popular" national : patriotic' poem is,"God.Save the; King." : i; .-.: '; ;,; ; V ' i Confound;their politics, -' ,' : . ■ •■-;. .'.■.•''■'■■.■: '.. '~ J ■':'; 'frustrate their knavish tricks! ';' ; ..■ .-- "J'evqr see such verses?" -as; Lord Castlewpod would say.. And yet.they, have put pfctha field : splehdidf competitors.';. It- is not. y that .they are :pre ; -eminently stirring; in av way ■ tbo' forcible for ■ a: sensitive 'critical taste;. Campbell's "Mariners, of England" is' immeasurably,>more.stirriHg. and' more for-ciblerra;"masterpieca'-of..;rantirig braggadocio ■transnguredibyvthe-writer's-'geniuß.'iV During the. : Boer .war—arid v of'':'course.iW,ars- r :are.:;'.the'' things'.;to' test' the' public taste. in. .patriotic songs—the only ;serious: rival, in /popularity to'JVGbd- Save.tho"Kirig" was. "Soldiers of. :the-■■ Queen/ , '--the washiest 1 of sentimental doggerel.::;; Probably., it is something .almost;! 'accidentaK'thatfd^ ■or.e^ch'''ple^of..'pb^f^f*OTida]ing' i - i v|rse;ips; the'.national 1 anthem of a;',great, European natioriy arid, ; oice; it' begins .to ■ gather; the associations inseparable from lines sung on soVmany rousing:.occasions, its;hold.on:pub-:,lic,-jsentiment -becomes,,impregnable,_ {always cp.ntinuek.-to strengthen,/and:, is .'quite irideperident.;. of/its, : .quality'; as .poetry. ,In"Eng-,-land;we- ••aUYrecof»nise.i'.this;: nobody.'.thinks, or pfetends- to .thjnk-, that' the National An-them-is Veil written .or".'.-'that; it' could.be iused as'a touch-stone to. judge other -.verse , by; .-iwe..'-all-acquiesce in its. official;po_sitiou on 'quite other, grounds.. In Ireland it; is ■evidently- different.... In'■' the; middle of >■ the .last .century--.there.; was ; a:■.remarkabioV'ouV burst of; patriotic poetry,. fir^t-rate ' as'■■ patri-' successful, patriotic, .verse; .it - : had some Vat^' tributes-: of. good, popular ;balla , ds-fstrong,•■ . swinging rhythms, ; large and-obvious of. speech/, a ; kind : bf-;declamatory' : .lucidity, and: a:, general; 'absence ■-. of .undertones,; anq secondary,-suggestions either in. the'senspof the ;melody.' < Most:,pf it' is collected An the' little;-.volume "The•Spirit;of :thei Nation. , - , It took : a tremendous hold ori the affection of '.irishmen, and 'now. the trouble is that a kind; if '■ loyalty to :it "■ and for. it ■ makes a,- groat.';; many Irishmen intolerant : of . at- - tempts by Irish, poets v to write in-any other way.'-','- ■;,:■.: ;-;;■";: ';r.\ : ~\ : :. '■-■];'■ '"■::'.■■":'■■ I'* ■/*'■ .' :- This isHhe burderi of;the complaint made by.-.-Mri AV. B.,Yeats in exquisite, prose :an'd by.i.the lato-Lionel Johnson: in prose' {handsome but les3 exquisite; in a little volume called ."Poetry, and Ireland," published 'by tlio. Cuala Press -at Dundrum, ,a; pariiphlet printed, and .boujid by a pupil; of. Morris, and .worthy .of him. Mr..;Y6a'ts himself "is .a.,poet.,of : :farTgreater beauty" and subtlety than;.-Thpmas 'Davis. br>even 'Mangan,:;but '•Tβ"fancy i: ho:.h«is always;been half .disliked by many of'hisiellpw-Natioiialists;for-writr : ing poetry'which, in I the' first place,; was not obviously;and directly. Nationalist in- theme ;br. and .'which;', in 'the ;secqnd;. at-' tempted'.to;:.achieve- beauty of : a kind..:not '.withihvthe ■ range of the earlier "Young; Ifoland'.'ipoetsgand;;therefore not hallowed, by. : ;assbciatibn .with them.'.-". It is .the , old. dis- ■ kind, of -'art ;is ; service .to a nation which is' thabest as;art,, or that '.which. , ; most, directly : promotes' ;sbriio "practical", purpose, which the nation-has at :heart. .Some: years ■'ago there was .iii' Australia. as ; tb, whether; they' shouldsbuy for; an: Australian j-Natiorial,-Gallery_ n '■ good painting '.of an .'ltalian.' landscape ...or. a less good painting of • sheep-shearing on ah Australian nin... One school of patriotsvthought vit-best-that ■Australia 'should 1 have a good:; ■picture j.'the ; other; thought it best;: that an Australian-industry'should- be, glorified: Perhaps: there .were/.people;in. Shakespeare's.: time.,who.felt;'that : hpbught;;npt to writing : about;-outlandish-.persons .'like jOthejlo'-i .and.Cleopatra; but; ;.should/.:dey.ofe'.V:iiis un-. doubted.' talents to, the'.' furtherance:- of-:di- ' rectly; British interests.::; The '{difficulty with ■su'ch-pwple'is'-tfiat^they a nation to' produce an "Othello" .or."yan , ■-V^tp'ri/ l arid' ;: 'Clebpatra , ':;--is;/a-- i natio , nalf';_m-; teres.t ; .too.-T-"Manchester .Guardian. , '.;';.'.';■ ':■;;