Irish Poets of the Nineteenth Century

First published in 1951, Irish Poets of the Nineteenth Century contains a substantial selection from each of the more important 19th century Irish poets, William Allingham, J.J. Callanan, Sir Samuel Ferguson, T.C. Irwin, J.C. Mangan, J.F. O’Donnell. It further provides an anthology of the better poems of other Irish writers of the same period.

Some question naturally arose as to the interpretation of an Irish poet. The test which has been applied in this volume is that they must have been Irish by birth and that they must have written poetry with some Irish reference, either historical or topographical. Thus, poets such as George Darley and Arthur O’Shaughnessy who were in some sense Irish by birth, but who did not even pay lip service to Ireland in their poetry have been excluded.

The book is confined to the 19th century so that by reason of date Tom Moore is excluded at one end and W.B. Yeats at the other. The work of each of the selected poets is prefaced by an introduction reviewing his life and work and a bibliography.