Professor Writes in Gaelic To Retain Native Tradition

Seamus O'Neill, professor of History and English at Ireland's Carysford Teachers College, is currently engaged in translating his latest novel from Gaelic into English. He wrote the book (Mary McCartan in Gaelic as part of a strong movement in Ireland to preserve the Gaelic language, a movement which is supported by almost all Irish writers of today, including Brendan Behan, Liam O'Flaherty, Michael MacLiammhoir and others. All of these writers have produced works in Gaelic, and some write only in Gaelic. In addition to native Irish literature, quite a large amount of literature from other countries has been translated into Gaelic.

NATIONAL REVIVAL

The movement to preserve Gaelic is connected with a general nationalistic revival which seeks to retain Ireland's cultural distinctiveness. Professor O'Neill explains that there is a tendency for every small country to have its individualism obliterated by the influence of more powerful countries around it and that Ireland is in danger of becoming completely Anglicized. If this happens, the Gaelic language will be virtually extinct. This will mean, among other things, the loss in the original Gaelic to the general reading public of all of Ireland's ancient literature, the oldest north of the Alps. The Irish do not want to bring an end to that literature: they want to preserve it and the tradition it carries with it.

Whether the Gaelic language can be preserved in modern times is questionable. Many Irishmen who support the movement fear that it will fail. "It seems a forlorn hope," says Professor O'Neill, "but then everything about Ireland was a forlorn hope."

POETIC MODE

Professor O'Neill explains that the distinctiveness of Irish poetry lies in what is called the "Irish mode." He points out that recent Irish poets, notably Yeats, have had a great influence on all of modern English poetry. Irish poetry in English does not scan like ordinary English classical poetry, since it cannot be divided into feet. This is because Gaelic has a different rhythm, much of which has been retained in the ordinary English speech of the Irish, and that rhythm has affected Irish versification.

Members of the Summer School had a chance to listen to poetry written in this "Irish mode" a few weeks ago when Professor O'Neill gave a reading of some of his own poetry. They will have another opportunity to do this tomorrow evening when Professor O'Neill will speak some of Yeats's poems which he knows by heart at 7:30 p.m. in the parlor of Phillips Brooks House.

CAN T BE TAUGHT

This is the first time Professor O'Neill has been a member of the faculty of Harvard Summer School. He is teaching a course in expository and narrative writing. Why is he teaching writing of prose and not of poetry? "Poetry writing can't be taught," he answers.