Abstract

A couple of years ago, an English reviewer of one of the anthologies of Irish poetry which seemed to proliferate just then commented on how few interesting Irish poems were written in English before the birth of Yeats: "The 19th century is an especially dire period.... Yeats's own heroes, 'Davis, Mangan, Ferguson'are just dreadful". it would be nothing to the point to respond by seeking out instances where their poetry struggles out of the pit assigned them.