Page:The Poet's Chantry pg 055.jpg

Rh an interweaving of the Odin legends and prophecies.

His further interest in the old heroic and bardic literature was evident in his "Oiseen" poems; but it was not until 1880, when he became familiar with various MS. collections in the Royal Irish Academy of Dublin, that it took any notable form. Lady Gregory had not yet produced her epoch-making translations of the old Irish sagas; neither Yeats nor Fiona MacLeod nor any of the younger poets had brought the wild notes of Gaelic poetry to English hearing. Aubrey de Vere was the pioneer in re-creating that epoch of primitive and barbaric glory. His Legends of Ireland's Heroic Age told anew of the hapless Foray of Queen Maeve, of the mighty Cuchullain whose "starry head" was destined so soon to sleep in death, of the Children of Lir, and of Deirdre and the Sons of Usnach. When we recall that the poet drew his material from a few incomplete English translations of the great epics, it is amazing, not that he lacked the ingenuous and unforgettable charm of Lady Gregory's version, but that he reproduced so well the spirit of those "great-hearted and light-hearted" heroes.

Many of the greatest stories of Christendom are included in de Vere's two volumes of Records. The Middle Ages (however imperfectly understood) have been an unfailing source of literary inspiration; but the period preceding them—from about 50 A.D. to the reign of Charlemagne—has, to all but specialists, been a sort of "outer darkness." Aubrey de Vere, adding the poet's insight to the amateur's erudition, recognised it as covering several of the most significant eras of human history. His Legends of the Church and The Empire cover this whole wondrous period. They sing the death of outworn Paganism and