Yeats on the Irish Rising, Easter 1916. "A Terrible Beauty Is Born."

Easter Monday of 1916 is when Ireland rose up (or more accurately, some dedicated people in Ireland rose up) and began the process of breaking away from England. The great poet William Butler Yeats wrote this poem, proclaiming the birth of "a terrible beauty." Yeats had some ambivalence about the people involved and what had happened. Here is the final part of that great poem:

Easter 1916 (final section)

Too long a sacrifice
Can make a stone of the heart.
O when may it suffice?
That is heaven's part, our part
To murmur name upon name,
As a mother names her child
When sleep at last has come
On limbs that had run wild.
What is it but nightfall?
No, no, not night but death.
Was it needless death after all?
For England may keep faith
For all that is done and said.
We know their dream; enough
To know they dreamed and are dead.
And what if excess of love
Bewildered them till they died?
I write it out in a verse —
MacDonagh and MacBride
And Connolly and Pearse
Now and in time to be,
Wherever green is worn,
Are changed, changed utterly:
A terrible beauty is born.

General Post Office (GPO), Dublin, April 1916

Couple of Songs for St. Patrick's Day: "Óró, sé do bheatha abhaile" and "Danny Boy"

Many people thing Sinead O'Connor is crazy. Well, she might be, but she is one great singer and a person with passion and soul. Below she sings the great Irish-Gaelic song, "Óró, sé do bheatha abhaile." Patrick Pearse wrote some of the verses of this song. It is an invitation to the Irish diaspora to come home and participate in the building of an independent Ireland.




Many people look down on the song "Danny Boy," saying it is not genuine. But it is a song with beautiful (though strange) imagery. It was written by an Englishman, Frederic Weatherly, in 1910, and set to the traditional tune "Londonderry Air" by 1913. It is beloved by American Irish and often played at funerals.

Here is Celtic Woman's version:

Oró, sé do bheatha abhaile --in Irish and English

Oró, sé do bheatha abhaile

[Padraig Pearse Version]:

(Chorus)
Oró, sé do bheatha abhaile,
Oró, sé do bheatha abhaile,
Oró, sé do bheatha abhaile
Anois ar theacht an tsamhraidh.

'Sé do bheatha, a bhean ba léanmhar,
do b' é ár gcreach tú bheith i ngéibheann,
do dhúiche bhreá i seilbh méirleach,
is tú díolta leis na Gallaibh.

Chorus

Tá Gráinne Mhaol ag teacht thar sáile,
óglaigh armtha léi mar gharda,
Gaeil iad féin is ní Gaill ná Spáinnigh,
is cuirfidh siad ruaig ar Ghallaibh.

Chorus

A bhuí le Rí na bhFeart go bhfeiceam,
mura mbeam beo ina dhiaidh ach seachtain,
Gráinne Mhaol agus míle gaiscíoch,
ag fógairt fáin ar Ghallaibh.

Chorus

English translation

(Chorus)

Oh-ro You're welcome home,
Oh-ro You're welcome home,
Oh-ro You're welcome home...
Now that summer's coming!

Welcome oh woman who was so afflicted,
It was our ruin that you were in bondage,
Our fine land in the possession of thieves...
And you sold to the foreigners!

Chorus

Grainne Mhaol is coming over the sea,
Armed warriors along with her as her guard,
They are Irishmen, not foreigners nor Spanish...
And they will rout the foreigners!

Chorus

May it please the King of Miracles,
Although we may live for a week once after,
Grainne Mhaol and a thousand warriors...
Dispersing the foreigners!

Chorus

There are many excellent versions of this song available. Some performances can be located on http://www.youtube.com/. Try Mary Black's version or Sinnead O'Connor's! Here's Mary Black's:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6VqEtpOdhTE&feature=related

After listening to this song, you may want to take up arms to defend Ireland! You are fairly warned!

Patrick Pearse Poem, in Gaelic and in English

FORNOCHT DO CHONAC THÚ
le
Pádraig Mac Piarais

Fornocht do chonac thú,
a áille na háille,
is do dhallas mo shúil
ar eagla go stánfainn.

Do chualas do cheol,
a bhinne na binne,
is do dhúnas mo chluas
ar eagla go gclisfinn.

Do bhlaiseas do bhéal
a mhilse na milse,
is do chruas mo chroí
ar eagla mo mhillte.

Do dhallas mo shúil,
is mo chluas do dhúnas;
do chruas mo chroí,
is mo mhian do mhúchas.

Do thugas mo chúl
ar an aisling do chumas,
's ar an ród so romham
m'aighaidh do thugas.

Do thugas mo ghnúis
ar an ród so romham,
ar an ngníomh do-chim,
's ar an mbás do gheobhad. #

A translation:

Naked I saw thee,
O beauty of beauty,
And I blinded my eyes
For fear I should fail.

I heard thy music,
O melody of melody,
And I closed my ears
For fear I should falter.

I tasted thy mouth,
O sweetness of sweetness,
And I hardened my heart
For fear of my slaying.

I blinded my eyes,
And I closed my ears,
I hardened my heart
And I smothered my desire.

I turned my back
On the vision I had shaped,
And to this road before me
I turned my face.

I have turned my face
To this road before me,
To the deed that I see
And the death I shall die. #

This is the Patrick Pearse poem that Gabriel Byrne recited on the April 30th "Fresh Air" program, hosted by Terry Gross. Thanks to Una Kimbrew, my colleague and classmate with the East Side Irish-American Club's Wednesday night Irish language study group.

Irish-Gaelic Spoken on Public Radio Yesterday

Yesterday I heard Terry Gross, host of the National Public Radio show "Fresh Air," interview Irish actor Gabriel Byrne. The interview was fascinating, with Bryne speaking of his years as a seminarian and his experiences with the notorious Christian Brothers. Some of those experiences sounded very familiar to me, growing up in the Catholic Church of the 1950's and 1960's. The difference is that I had Cleveland Ursuline nuns, not Christian Brothers. And I would put my money on the Ursulines, especially Sr. Ann Francis, in a smackdown. Really, it wouldn't even be close! Toward the end of the 39-minute interview, Terry Gross asked Byrne about Gaelic, and asked him to recite a poem. Byrne hemmed and hawed a bit, but then proceeded to recite parts of a poem by the great Irish patriot, Patrick Pearse (executed after the Easter 1916 Rising by the Brits). The English title of the poem is "Ideal," and it was translated into English by Thomas MacDonagh. To hear the interview, go to this website: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=103651864

If you just want to hear the poem recited in Irish, begin listening around minute 31:45 of the interview. I do recommend the entire interview for some of the interesting and funny comments made by Bryne (especially how his mind was changed about committing to priestly celibacy). The MacDonagh translation of the Pearse poem "Ideal" can be located using a google search, but so far I haven't been able to find (or discern by listening) the exact Irish text.

If you've never read William Butler Yeats' immortal poem about the Easter Rising, google search "Easter 1916." It will give a shiver. Near the end of the poem Yeats writes:

What is it but nightfall?
No, no, not night but death;
Was it needless death after all?
For England may keep faith
For all that is done and said.
We know their dream; enough
To know they dreamed and are dead;
And what if excess of love
Bewildered them till they died?
I write it out in a verse -
MacDonagh and MacBride
And Connolly and Pearse
Now and in time to be,
Wherever green is worn,
Are changed, changed utterly:
A terrible beauty is born.