George William Russell, AE, poet, artist, and mystic, a leading figure in the Irish literary renaissance of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Four books by AE have appeared on the Internet for you to read along with another two containing his poetry. Russell took his pseudonym from a proofreader’s query about his earlier pseudonym, “AEon.” After attending the Metropolitan School of Art, Dublin, where he met the poet William Butler Yeats, Russell became an accounts clerk in a drapery store but left in 1897 to organize agricultural cooperatives.

Eventually he became editor of the periodicals The Irish Homestead (1904–23) and The Irish Statesman (1923–30). In 1894 he published the first of many books of verse, Homeward: Songs by the Way. His first volume of Collected Poems appeared in 1913 and a second in 1926. He maintained a lifelong interest in theosophy, the origins of religion, and mystical experience. The Candle of Vision (1918) is the best guide to his religious beliefs.

At the turn of the 20th century, Russell was considered by many to be the equal of Yeats, but he did not continue to grow and develop as Yeats did. He was prolific and versatile, but many critics found his poetry facile, vague, and monotonous, with “rather too much of the Celtic Twilight” in it. [Brittanica]

The Nuts of Knowledge: Lyrical Poems Old and New

Project Gutenberg has released this volume which contains 30+ poems:

And when the sun sets dimmed in eve and purple fills the air,
I think the sacred Hazel Tree is dropping berries there
From starry fruitage waved aloft where Connla’s Well o’erflows;
For sure the enchanted waters pour through every wind that blows.

and it can be downloaded from here.

The divine vision, and other poems

Originally published in 1904, this book contains 50+ poems including an eulogy to Dana as well as a song for the Children of Lir. From Dana:

I AM the tender voice calling ” Away,”
Whispering between the beatings of the heart,

I am the heartbreak over fallen things,
The sudden gentleness that stays the blow,
And I am in the kiss that foemen give
Pausing in battle, and in the tears that fall
Over the vanquished foe, and in the highest,
Among the Danaan gods, I am the last
Council of mercy in their hearts where they
Mete justice from a thousand starry thrones.

This amazing book can be downloaded here.

The hero in man

Published in 1909, this is an epic blank verse poem stretching well over 20 pages and is packed with his glorious imagery. He calls it the first part of his Orpheus series.

Among the many immortals with whom
ancient myth peopled the spiritual sphere of
humanity are some figures which draw to
themselves a more profound tenderness than
the rest.

You can download this book from here.

The renewal of youth

Published around about the turn of the century, 1900, is a three-part blank verse epic much like the previous title, and was number 7 in the Orpheus series.

So hour by hour the scourge of
the infinite drives us out of every nook and
corner of life we find pleasant. And this
always takes place when all is fashioned to
our liking : then into our dream strides the
wielder of the lightning : we get glimpses of
a world beyond us thronged with mighty,
exultant beings : our own deeds become
infinitesimal to us

You can download this book from here.

Other titles

The Internet Archive has also released another two titles whcih concern our Celtic Twlight hero. The first is Irishmen of Today by Darrell Figgis, originally published in 1916 and subtitled AE, George William Russell, A Study of a Man and a Nation. You can download this book from here or here.

The second is New Songs: A Lyric Selection which contains poems selected and published by AE by often unknown poets. The following poem by Seamus O’Sullivan is called Remembrance:

Deep in some ancient forest fragrant with primeval dew
Two stately forest trees with intermingling boughs we grew,
When I went fierce in gold and black, by cave and rock and pool
And wooded way, you went beside me lithe and beautiful.
When challenging the light exultant through the air I sped
You flew beside me ; all the heaven was our bridal bed.
And when beneath the soundless deep of watery ways I went
For you I fought the hosts of ocean, proud and jubilant.
Ah, gladly would I go again upon a way that brings
Me here, to read again the tale of all my wanderings
In your dark eyes that for a moment look with love grown bold,
And droop ‘neath gentle lids, half conscious of the things they hold.

You can download this book from here.

Trackback URI | Comments RSS