Ah - I thought you might mean Yeats - but I was afraid to be rude!
We already have a fair bit of Yeats - including Aengus - which is one of my absolutest favouritest poems ever!
Thankee for the new crop of poems, folks.
Cav - that Milton IS odd! care to talk about the fascination?
Just because it is odd, really. Did a full year course on Milton back in the days, had to read EVERYTHING he ever wrote. Complete works, poetry and prose.
Letty - what is the name of the Longfellow you gave? I take it it is not Evangeline? I cannot add it until I have the name. Should I add Hiawatha?
Paradise Lost is pretty damn fine, no?
I have an edition of Lost and Regained (phooey!) with the Dore engravings....
Stafford IS wonderful, Letty - thank you for introducing me. Such a pity we cannot use him.
Feel free to add more of him!
And ignore me re Longfellow, doesna matter what my taste might be, the portal is everyone's!!!!!
Lord, no, Deb. Evangeline is novelette length..
The name of the poem that I sent is "Arsenal at Springfield." (I think..heh heh)
It seems to me that Milton created the idea of Lucifer being thrown out of heaven. I'd have to check the Bible on that one, though.
Milton's "On His Blindness" is one of my favorites.
And, if you want to add Hiawatha, that's great, but it is long. Do you need to do the entire poem, or just the title and author?
This is quite a task for you, Deb. Thanks.
Hmmm - I will have a look at Hiawatha - the portal canna take stuff that is TOO long - like The Rime of the Ancient Mariner long ....but it can do fairly long.
Milton did not create the idea of Lucifer being cast out of heaven, but he was the first to create a really cool Satan.
He he..Well, Cav. I'll bet you don't know what a lucifer was in WWI. How many names do you reckon the Prince of Darkness has had?(and I don't mean Dracule)
Hmm....I give up. Crowley? King of Babylon? I reckon that the old fella has more names than anyone can remember or translate properly.
Now...as for the bunny's Irish obsession....they just don't write 'em like this anymore:
Follow me up to Carlow
lyrics by Patrick Joseph McCall (1861-1919)
Lift Mac Cahir ?"g your face,
From brooding o'er the old disgrace,
That black Fitzwilliam stormed your place
And drove you to the Fern.
Grey said victory was sure,
Soon the firebrand he'd secure,
Until he met at Glenmalure
With Feach Mac Hugh O'Byrne.
See the swords of Glen Imayle
Flashing o'er the English Pale,
See all the children of the Gael
Beneath O'Byrne's banners.
Rooster of the fighting stock,
Would you let a Saxon cock
Crow out upon an Irish rock?
Fly up and teach him manners!
Curse and swear, Lord Kildare,
Feach will do what Feach will dare,
Now Fitzwilliam, have a care,
For fallen is your star low.
Up with halberd, out with sword,
On we go for, by the Lord,
Feach Mac Hugh has given his word,
Follow me up to Carlow.
From Tassagart to Clonmore,
Flows a stream of Saxon gore,
Och! great is Rory ?"g O'More,
At sending loons to Hades.
White is sick and Lane is fled,
Now for black Fitzwilliam's head
We'll send it over, dripping red,
To Queen Liza and her ladies.
awwwwwwwwwwwww.........sigh......
"Hiawatha", though one of Longfellow's best known poems, is not one to judge him by. At least not if the idea is to read him at his best. "Evangeline" is a better one, though equally long. Has a wonderful opening line:
This is the forest primeval
It haunts me!
And you got the avatar to prove it, me dear!
Another song related to the same skirmish of 'Follow Me Up To Carlow':
Rory O'More
Unknown
Do you ask why the beacon and the banner of war,
On the mountains of Ulster are seen from afar,
Oh this is the signal our rights to secure,
'Cause we trust in God and in Rory O'More.
For the merciless Scots with their creed and their swords,
With war in their bosoms and peace in their words,
Have sworn the bright light of our faith to obscure,
But we trust in God and in Rory O'More
On the green hills of Ulster our banner waves high
And the beacon of war blows a flame to the sky.
On the green hills of Ulster that is for sure,
We'll fight for Rory O'More
Through days and days of war and strife, of hunger and of woe,
We fought the bitter fight of life against the Saxon foe.
Our fairest hopes to burst our chains have died in vain regret,
But still the glorious truth remains - we are not conquered yet !
And if at last our colour should be torn from Erin's heart,
Her sons with shame and sorrow from the dear old isle will part.
But now the taunt and now the threat let the coward endure,
'Cause we will fight and we will die for Rory O'More.
Oh lives here the traitor who'd shrink from the strife,
To add to the length of a forfeited life.
His country, his kindred, his faith would abjure,
We'll strike for old Ireland and for Rory O'More!
No clue on the date, but some local boys do a wicked version of it.
Speaking of Rory O'More, here's another, more along the romantic lines:
RORY O'MORE
(Samuel Lover) 1797 -1868
Young Rory O'More courted young Kathleen Bawn ,
He was bold as a hawk she as soft as the dawn;
He wished in his heart pretty Kathleen to please,
And he thought the best way to do that was to tease.
"Now Rory be aisy, " sweet Kathleen would cry,
Reproof on her lips, but a smile in her eye;
"With your tricks I don't know in truth what I'm about.
You've teased till I put on me cloak inside out,"
" Me Jewel " says Rory the same is the way
You've treated me heart now for many a day;
For ?'tis pleased that I am, and why not to be sure,
For ?'tis all for good luck now says Rory O'More.
"Indeed then" says Kathleen, don't think of the like,
For I gave a half promise to soothering Mike;
The ground that I walk on loves I'll be bound"-
"Faith " says Rory I'd rather love you than the ground,"
"Now, Rory' I'll cry if you don't let me go-
Sure I dream every night that I'm hating you so,"
Says Rory, the same I'm delighted to hear,
For Dhrames always go by contraries, my dear;
Oh! Me jewel, keep dreaming the same till you die,
Bright morning will give dirty night the black eye,
For ?'tis pleased that I am and why not to be sure,
?'Tis all for good luck then says Rory O'More.
" Kathleen me darlin' you've teased me enough,
I've trashed for your sake Denny Grimes and Jim Duff;
And I've made myself drinkin' your health quite a baste,
I think after that, I may talk to a Priest,"
Then Rory the rogue stole his arm round her neck,
So soft and so white without freckle or speck!
He looked in her eyes that were beamin'with light;
And he kissed her sweet lips- don't you think he was right?
"Now, Rory leave off sir -you'll hug me no more-
That's eight times to-day that you've kissed me before,"
"There goes another," says he to make sure -
For there's luck in odd numbers, says Rory O'More.
I would guess from the rythym of the verse that the ancient tune is identical in both songs.
Hmmmm - very fetching - thanks Cav!
This was my wedding song:
SHE MOVED THROUGH THE FAIR
Trad.
My young love said to me
My Mother won't mind
And me Father won't slight you
For your lack of kind
Then she stepped away from me
And this she did say
It will not be long love
'Til our wedding day.
She stepped away from me
And she moved through the Fair
And fondly I watched her
Move here and move there
And she went her way homeward
With one star awake
As the swans in the evening
Move over the lake
The people were saying
No two e'er were wed
But one has a sorrow
That never was said
And she smiled as she passed me
With her goods and her gear
And that was the last
That I saw of my dear.
Last night she came to me,
My dead love came in
So softly she entered
Her feet made no din
She came close beside me
And this she did say
It will not be long love
Till our wedding day.
There are many variations in the lyrics, but this version is my favourite.
This is also one of my all-time fave Irish ballads, and I can sing it and all...
MY LAGAN LOVE
Trad.
Where Lagan streams sing lullabies
There blows a lily fair.
The twilight gleam is in her eye,
The night is on her hair.
And like a lovesick lenashee
She hath my heart in thrall.
No life have I, no liberty,
For love is Lord of all.
And often when the beetles horn
Has lulled the eve to sleep,
I'll steal into her shieling lorn
And through the doorway creep.
There on the cricket's singing stone,
She makes the bogwood fire
And sings in sweet sad undertone,
The songs of heart's desire.
The Man From Snowy River
There was movement at the station, for the word had passed around
That the colt from Old Regret had got away,
And had joined the wild bush horses -- he was worth a thousand pound,
So all the cracks had gathered to the fray.
All the tried and noted riders from the stations near and far
Had mustered at the homestead overnight,
For the bushmen love hard riding where the wild bush horses are,
And the stock-horse snuffs the battle with delight.
There was Harrison, who made his pile when Pardon won the cup,
The old man with his hair as white as snow;
But few could ride beside him when his blood was fairly up --
He would go wherever horse and man could go.
And Clancy of the Overflow came down to lend a hand,
No better horseman ever held the reins;
For never horse could throw him while the saddle-girths would stand,
He learnt to ride while droving on the plains.
And one was there, a stripling on a small and weedy beast,
He was something like a racehorse undersized,
With a touch of Timor pony -- three parts thoroughbred at least --
And such as are by mountain horsemen prized.
He was hard and tough and wiry -- just the sort that won't say die --
There was courage in his quick impatient tread;
And he bore the badge of gameness in his bright and fiery eye,
And the proud and lofty carriage of his head.
But still so slight and weedy, one would doubt his power to stay,
And the old man said, "That horse will never do
For a long and tiring gallop -- lad, you'd better stay away,
Those hills are far too rough for such as you."
So he waited sad and wistful -- only Clancy stood his friend --
"I think we ought to let him come," he said;
"I warrant he'll be with us when he's wanted at the end,
For both his horse and he are mountain bred."
"He hails from Snowy River, up by Kosciusko's side,
Where the hills are twice as steep and twice as rough,
Where a horse's hoofs strike firelight from the flint stones every stride,
The man that holds his own is good enough.
And the Snowy River riders on the mountains make their home,
Where the river runs those giant hills between;
I have seen full many horsemen since I first commenced to roam,
But nowhere yet such horsemen have I seen."
So he went -- they found the horses by the big mimosa clump --
They raced away towards the mountain's brow,
And the old man gave his orders, "Boys, go at them from the jump,
No use to try for fancy riding now.
And, Clancy, you must wheel them, try and wheel them to the right.
Ride boldly, lad, and never fear the spills,
For never yet was rider that could keep the mob in sight,
If once they gain the shelter of those hills."
So Clancy rode to wheel them -- he was racing on the wing
Where the best and boldest riders take their place,
And he raced his stock-horse past them, and he made the ranges ring
With the stockwhip, as he met them face to face.
Then they halted for a moment, while he swung the dreaded lash,
But they saw their well-loved mountain full in view,
And they charged beneath the stockwhip with a sharp and sudden dash,
And off into the mountain scrub they flew.
Then fast the horsemen followed, where the gorges deep and black
Resounded to the thunder of their tread,
And the stockwhips woke the echoes, and they fiercely answered back
From cliffs and crags that beetled overhead.
And upward, ever upward, the wild horses held their way,
Where mountain ash and kurrajong grew wide;
And the old man muttered fiercely, "We may bid the mob good day,
No man can hold them down the other side."
When they reached the mountain's summit, even Clancy took a pull,
It well might make the boldest hold their breath,
The wild hop scrub grew thickly, and the hidden ground was full
Of wombat holes, and any slip was death.
But the man from Snowy River let the pony have his head,
And he swung his stockwhip round and gave a cheer,
And he raced him down the mountain like a torrent down its bed,
While the others stood and watched in very fear.
He sent the flint stones flying, but the pony kept his feet,
He cleared the fallen timber in his stride,
And the man from Snowy River never shifted in his seat --
It was grand to see that mountain horseman ride.
Through the stringy barks and saplings, on the rough and broken ground,
Down the hillside at a racing pace he went;
And he never drew the bridle till he landed safe and sound,
At the bottom of that terrible descent.
He was right among the horses as they climbed the further hill,
And the watchers on the mountain standing mute,
Saw him ply the stockwhip fiercely, he was right among them still,
As he raced across the clearing in pursuit.
Then they lost him for a moment, where two mountain gullies met
In the ranges, but a final glimpse reveals
On a dim and distant hillside the wild horses racing yet,
With the man from Snowy River at their heels.
And he ran them single-handed till their sides were white with foam.
He followed like a bloodhound on their track,
Till they halted cowed and beaten, then he turned their heads for home,
And alone and unassisted brought them back.
But his hardy mountain pony he could scarcely raise a trot,
He was blood from hip to shoulder from the spur;
But his pluck was still undaunted, and his courage fiery hot,
For never yet was mountain horse a cur.
And down by Kosciusko, where the pine-clad ridges raise
Their torn and rugged battlements on high,
Where the air is clear as crystal, and the white stars fairly blaze
At midnight in the cold and frosty sky,
And where around the Overflow the reedbeds sweep and sway
To the breezes, and the rolling plains are wide,
The man from Snowy River is a household word to-day,
And the stockmen tell the story of his ride.
The Bulletin, 26 April 1890
The Man from Snowy River and Other Verses
20 October 1895
