SONGS AND BALLADS OF THE LIVING IRISH BARDS.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume I, Issue 53, 2 May 1874, Page 10

SONGS AND BALLADS OF THE LIVING IRISH BARDS.

To the Editor of the New Zealand Tablet Sib,— lt has been frequently asserted that Ireland produces no poets or j ever did. The calumny on the poets of our land is about to bo removed. Ireland did produce poets, equal to those of any other land if not superior. Our Oseianic bards were by no means inferior to' Homer or Virgil ; but it must be confessed that during the lust few centuries we Lad none the peer of Shaksponre and Milloii and little wonder If men will only glance at the history of the two nations they will easily perceive why. But at present I emphatically state without any hesitation whatsoever, that our living Irish poeta are infinitely superior to those of the more favored si 3 ter country; and had Mr D. i. McCarthy and his brother patriots sang "God save the Queen, instead of " God save Ireland," the laureate's crown would have rented on tho brow of on Irish poet, but fortunately for Mr McCarthy, like the free-born By lO n, he is able to sing a»id publish independent ol court favors. l Can l.ngland produce a living poet of any standard merit? —certainly not. It is only in the absence of a better that the author of "I stood on a tower in the wet," received the Laureateship. Can the adinrers of England's bardic sons point even to a smo-Je lyric whu-h for fire, Bweetiuss, grace, or melody can comp ;re with those " bcautiiul but rebellious lyrics of Erin. To prove beyond the .shadow of a doubt that Ireland does produce bards of no uncommon merit, Mr John Fitzgerald, of Cork his taken up the gauntlet flung down by the hviug historian Froude, and requests of each living Irish bard at least one poem never before published leaving the choice of a subject, to the writers themselves, thus producing a book which prou.ises not only to be intensely " racy of the soil " ! but novel as anything which has ever emanntod from those surprising go a-liead residents of th« United States. The attempt is not only a laudable but a commendable one, and tho-c who wish to contribute I,uc-tr mite should send it at, oju-e to tho talented editor, »lnse address £>, .Adelaide street, Coik Ireland. Of Mr Fitzgerald lunibolf it is unnecessary to sny much. Hh fame, like the Jne.li race, is world wide. From a note in the " Popular ' Poetry oi lreurnl," by Du-ioalhail, I learn that he is an humble ! mechanic of "Cm-Vs own tunn," supporting a large family by tho ' labor of his hands. Yet withal he finds leisure not only to study bu 1 " I to add to the literature of las native land, and is author of B small ' volume of exquisite poeivy published a few year-> ago in Cork, under ' the name of "Soug-, Ballads, and Legends" of the Leo" in' which occur among ether graceful poems " The Apostle's Grave " (Father Alutthew) jiucl " i'he Blarney Stony/ 1 whien have enshrined their j author in the hearts of his countrymen. He has besides lately writt "i Eooie beautiful legends an,] sketches of several of tho castles of MunPter in tho "Shamrock," which provo that poetry alone is not Jus forte. ! Ac everyone is not born a poet, it would bo well if those generous ' eon* and daughters of toll, who glory in the rich, deep, tuelluvv muaic I ol tl c barda of our hind would form tliemsolves into associations m ' every town and Milage of our adopted home to aid iv t}^ publWm.r- ' ot this great national wo.lc, by subscribing a litsle, say the price of one ' copy each, winch I think will hardly exceed five shillings, if even half ' that. They will thus set an example of patronage far doarer than

court favors, and stimulate to greator exertions the men, and women too, whose latent talent woald do credit to any nation. April 14, 1874. I am & c .— J.S.P.