Page:The poem-book of the Gael - Hull.djvu/30

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THE POEM-BOOK OF THE GAEL
"What God from Brugh of the Boyne,Thou son of noble Sabia,Thou beauteous apple-rodCreated thee with her in secret?
"O Man of the white steed,O Man of the black swan,Of the fierce band and the gentle sorrow,Of the sharp blade and the lasting fame.
"Thy fair side thou hast bathed,The grey branch of thy eyes like summer showers,Over thy locks, O descendant of Fergus,The wind of Paradise has breathed."[1]

We recognise that this is fine poetry, but we feel also that it needs a specialised education thoroughly to understand it. The world from which it hails is not our world, and to comprehend it we must do more than translate, we must add notes and glossary at every line; but no poetry, especially poetry under the initial disadvantage of a translation, could retain its qualities under such treatment.

In all the ancient verse we meet with these obstacles. Even much of the most imaginative Ossianic poetry becomes too difficult from this point of view for the untrained reader.

Take the fine poem detailing the history of the Shield of Fionn. Poetic addresses to noted weapons are common enough, and are not confined to Irish literature; but the adventures of this shield pass beyond the ordinary uses of human battles, and enter the realm of mythology. The very name given to it, the "Dripping Ancient Hazel," carries us into a world of poetic imagination.

  1. ↑ Printed in Skerie's Celtic Scotland, iii. Appen. 2, p. 410, from a seventeenth century copy belonging to William Hennessy, compared with the copy in the Book of Fermoy.
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