Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- Permissions
- Introduction: ‘Slow Tide on Tide of History’: Poetry by Women in Ireland, 1870–1970
- A Note on the Texts
- Elizabeth Varian (1821–1851–1896)
- Emily Hickey (1845–1881–1924)
- Katharine Tynan (1858–1885–1931)
- Autumnal
- August Weather
- Poppy
- Mater Dei
- To the Mother
- Joining the Colours
- The Long Vacation
- The Immortal
- Loneliness
- The Image
- Herbal
- The Vestal
- The First Thrush
- The Purblind Praises the Lord
- Any Woman
- For my Father
- To the Beloved
- For Lord Lucas
- Alice Meynell
- For Your Sake
- The Silent Time
- Dora Sigerson Shorter (1866–1893–1918)
- Eva Gore-Booth (1870–1898–1926)
- Emily Lawless (1845–1902–1913)
- Susan L. Mitchell (1866–1906–1926)
- Alice Milligan (1866–1908–1953)
- Winifred M. Letts (1881–1913–1972)
- Eileen Shanahan (1901–[1921]–1979)
- Mary Devenport O'Neill (1879–1929–1967)
- Blanaid Salkeld (1880–1933–1959)
- Sheila Wingfield (1906–1938–1992)
- Freda Laughton (1907–1945–?)
- Rhoda Coghill 1903–1948–2000
- Appendix 1: Irish Women Poets 1870–1970
- Appendix 2: Chronology
- Select Bibliography
- Index of Titles and First Lines
Alice Meynell
from Katharine Tynan (1858–1885–1931)
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- Permissions
- Introduction: ‘Slow Tide on Tide of History’: Poetry by Women in Ireland, 1870–1970
- A Note on the Texts
- Elizabeth Varian (1821–1851–1896)
- Emily Hickey (1845–1881–1924)
- Katharine Tynan (1858–1885–1931)
- Autumnal
- August Weather
- Poppy
- Mater Dei
- To the Mother
- Joining the Colours
- The Long Vacation
- The Immortal
- Loneliness
- The Image
- Herbal
- The Vestal
- The First Thrush
- The Purblind Praises the Lord
- Any Woman
- For my Father
- To the Beloved
- For Lord Lucas
- Alice Meynell
- For Your Sake
- The Silent Time
- Dora Sigerson Shorter (1866–1893–1918)
- Eva Gore-Booth (1870–1898–1926)
- Emily Lawless (1845–1902–1913)
- Susan L. Mitchell (1866–1906–1926)
- Alice Milligan (1866–1908–1953)
- Winifred M. Letts (1881–1913–1972)
- Eileen Shanahan (1901–[1921]–1979)
- Mary Devenport O'Neill (1879–1929–1967)
- Blanaid Salkeld (1880–1933–1959)
- Sheila Wingfield (1906–1938–1992)
- Freda Laughton (1907–1945–?)
- Rhoda Coghill 1903–1948–2000
- Appendix 1: Irish Women Poets 1870–1970
- Appendix 2: Chronology
- Select Bibliography
- Index of Titles and First Lines
Summary
Without surcease of breath
Her soul hath slipped its sheath,
And walks among us, beautiful, unafraid,
So mortal eyes may see
How immortality
Transcends all beauty that must fail and fade.
Colours of air and flame,
The glory whence she came,
Yet float about her in our dusty sphere.
Silence and rapture still
Brought from the heavenly hill,
Whence she hath travelled to our exile drear.
Slight as a lance she is,
And tall as Lent lilies,
Aspiring like a flame in windless air,
Incense and breath of spice,
Kept from her Paradise,
Haunt her from slender feet to ebon hair.
Lingering and lovely voice—
Lutes, dulcimers, hautboys—
Her voice remembers how the music went,
Still holds the rise and fall,
The sob ecstatical, Of some most heavenly–sweet wind instrument.
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- Information
- Poetry by Women in IrelandA Critical Anthology 1870–1970, pp. 99Publisher: Liverpool University PressPrint publication year: 2012