Book Reviews and More: The Flowering Branch: An Anthology of Irish Poetry Past and Present

The Flowering Branch:

An Anthology of Irish Poetry Past and Present

John Irvine - Editor (1903-1965)

Derrick MacCord

Belfast

1945

The Flowering Branch: An Anthology of Irish Poetry Past and Present - Edited by John Irvine

First I am thankful to the National Library of Ireland and their scanning service. Without which I would have read but one volume from this excellent Irish poet. I appreciate that they will scan out of print and out of copyright works. Especially when I cannot find them almost anywhere else, like most of the works or Irvine. This volume will mark the thirteenth I have read by Irvine.

I stumbled upon this author. I was reading one of the Vision Books for young readers, Irish Saints by Robert T. Reilly, and there was an excerpt of a poem from A Treasury of Irish Saints A Book of Poems. It was really intriguing and after reading that first volume I made it a mission to try and track down everything Irvine published. At first my dyslexia had me thinking it was John Irving, and I have read a few of his fiction books. But some quick searching put that idea to rest. This author John Irvine lived from 1903-1965. This volume was originally published in1941.

About the author on a site with information about Irish authors states:

“John Irvine was born in Belfast and published several collections of poems: A Voice in the Dark, 1932; Willow Leaves: Lyrics in the Manner of the Early Chinese Poets,1941; Lost Sanctuary and other poems among others. He edited The Flowering Branch: An Anthology of Irish Poetry Past and Present.”

Another online description of the author states:

“Irvine, born in Belfast, published about six collections of lyrics between 1932 and 1954, mostly from small presses in Belfast and Dublin. He also edited an anthology of Irish poetry, The Flowering Branch.”

The introduction to this collection states:

“This is a brief survey of Irish poetry past and present, including a few translations from the Irish. It will be realized how difficult is the attempt to cover such a wide field in so small a volume.

As in ·all anthologies there are notable omissions, for this I make humble apology, and plead that the restrictions were many and the space at my disposal very limited. It is hoped, however, that this small volume may prove of value as an introduction to Irish poetry, for those not already familiar with its. delights.”

This volume is dedicated to his mother with these words:

“These flowers of my gathering are

offered as a small token for life·

long devotion and kindness.”

The poems and contributors in this volume are:

A Blessing on the Cows – Seumas O’Sullivan

A Sigh for Knockmany – William Carleton

A White Rose – John Boyle O’Reilly

And Then No More - James Clarence Mangan

At Mass – Robin Flower

Cashel of Munster – Edward Walsh

Clonmacnoise – T.W. Rolleston

Dark Rosaleem - James Clarence Mangan

Dirge of the Munster Forest, 1591 – Hon Emily Lawless

Do You Remember that Night? – George Petrie

Dreamy, Gloomy, Friendly Trees – Herbert Trench

Fathers and Sons – F.R. Higgins

Gone in the Wind - James Clarence Mangan

Hy-Brasail – Gerard Griffin

I See His Blood Upon the Rose – Joseph Mary Plunkett

It Is Not Beauty I Demand – George Darley

Lady Margaret’s Song – Edward Dowden

Lyric – John Hewitt

Mairi – John Irvine

Marie, My Girl – John Keegan Casey

My Hope My Love – Edward Walsh

Night Wind – A.E. George Russell

Non Dolet – Oliver St. J. Gogarty

O Dreamy, Gloomy, Friendly Trees – Herbert Trench

Ode – Arthur O’Shaughnessy

Pearl of the White Beast – George Petrie

Pulse of My Heart – Charlotte Brooke

Remembrance – Emily Bronte

Since Celia’s My Foe – Thomas Duffett

The Banks of Banna - Hon. George Ogle

The Blackbird of Derrycairn … - Austin Clarke

The Church of a Dream – Lionel Johnson

The Fair Warning – George Darley

The Farewell to My Harp – Thomas Moore

The Goat Paths – James Stephens

The Harbour – W.M. Letts

The Lake – Richard Rowley

The Lapful of Nuts – Sir Samuel Ferguson

The Little Black Rose – Aubrey De Vere

The Little Waves of Breffny – Eva Gore-Booth

The Maid of Elfin-Mere – William Allingham

The Old Woman of the Roads – Padrick Colum

The Outlaw of Lough Lene – J.J. “Jeremiah Joseph” Callanan

The Priests and the Friars – Douglas Hyde

The River – Patrick MacDonogh

The Rock of Cashel – Sir Aubrey De Vere

The Silence of Unlaboured Fields – Joseph Campbell

The Stars Stand Up – Eleanor Hull

There is More Beauty – Sydney Bell

Thomas MacDonagh – Joseph Mary Plunkett

Virgin Gold – Sylvia Lynd

When You Are Old – W.B. Yeats

The table of contents is arranged based on the name of the authors. But the edition I had scanned was missing at least 2 pages from the contents. I manually created the list above.

This is the first volume I have read that was edited by John Irvine. I have read 13 volumes that were written by Irvine, and believe that there are another 5 volumes edited by Irvine, including the earliest written or edited by him published under the name J. Pennington Irvine.

A few sample poems from this volume are:

THE CHURCH OF A DREAM

Sadly the dead leaves rustle in the
whistling wind,
Around the weather-worn, grey
church, low down the vale:
The Saints in golden vesture shake
before the gale;
The glorious windows shake, where
still they dwell enshrined;
Old Saints by long dead, shrivelled
hands, long since designed:
There still, although the world
autumnal be, and pale,
Still in their golden vesture the old
Saints prevail;
Alone with Christ, desolate else,
left by mankind.
Only one ancient priest offers · the
Sacrifice,
Murmuring holy Latin immemorial:
Swaying with tremulous hands the
old · censer full of spice,
In grey, sweet incense _clouds; blue,
sweet clouds mystical:
To him, in place of men, for he is
old, suffice
Melancholy remembrances and
vesperal.

-Lionel Johnson

O DREAMY, GLOOMY,

FRIENDLY TREES.

O dreamy gloomy, friendly Trees,

I came along your narrow track ·

To bring my gifts unto your knees

And gifts did you give back;

For when I brought this heart that

burns-

These thoughts that bitterly

repine-

And laid them here among the

ferns

And the hum of boughs divine,

Ye, vastest breathers of the air,

Shook down with slow and

mighty poise

Your coolness on the human care,

Your wonder on its toys

Your greenness on the heart's

despair,

Your darkness on its noise.

- Herbert Trench

MAIRI

Unquiet my heart
When she is near,
As the woods
In the young year.
Wilder my thoughts
Than birds that soar
In blue air
By the lake shore .
Would she but hear
The songs I made
By the brook
In the hazel glade.
Oh! heart be still
And let her pass
As grey mist
On the sweet grass.
And dream of her
With the dark eyes,
When stars come
And a wind cries.

- JOHN IRVINE.

I hope those three poems give you a feel for the collection of 52. This is an interesting collection. A few hit at the Faith of the Irish, and a few pay tribute to nature. A few go full on Song of Solomon, in their praise of the female, and her form.

I did really enjoy this volume. The National Library of Ireland provided a scanned copy as the book is out of print and out of copyright. It is interesting to see what poems Irvine collected, and having read much of his lately, many could have been by his pen. I only recognize a few of the contributors. And as such was pleasantly surprised by many of the poems. We are not given bios of the contributors, nor even hen the pieces were first published. I would have appreciated those details. It is a volume I know I will return to again!

Note: This book is part of a series of reviews: 2026 Catholic Reading Plan!

Books by John Irvine:

A Treasury of Irish Saints A Book of Poems

A Voice in the Dusk

A Voice in the Dusk Lyrics

By Winding Roads

Fountain Of Hellas: Poems From The Greek Anthology

Green Altars: Poems

Lost Sanctuary and Other Poems

Nocturne: Poems

Selected Poems

Sic Transit Gloria Mundi