Poems MacCarthy, Florence Denis

5
Many of the earlier poems here collected have been admirably rendered
into French by the late M. Ernest de Chatelain.[10] The Moore Centenary
Ode has been translated into Latin by the Rev. M. J. Blacker, M. A.
My thanks are due to the Rev. Matthew Russell, S. J., for his kind
assistance in preparing this book for the press, and to the Publishers
for the accuracy and speed with which it has been produced.
I cannot let pass this opportunity of expressing my gratitude for the
self-sacrificing labours of the committee formed at the suggestion of
Mr. William Lane Joynt, D. L., to honour my father's memory, and for the
generous response his friends have made to their appeal.[11]
Blackrock, Dublin, August, 1882.
1. "Ballads, Poems, and Lyrics, Original and Translated:" Dublin, 1850.
"The Bell-Founder, and other Poems," "Underglimpses, and other Poems:"
London, 1857. A few pieces which seemed not to be of abiding interest
have been omitted.
2. At 24 Lower Sackville-street. The house, with others adjoining, was
pulled down several years ago. Their site is now occupied by the
Imperial Hotel.
3. The subjective view of nature developed in these Poems has been
censured as remote from human interest. Yet a critic of deep insight,
George Gilfillan, declares his special admiration for "the joyous,
sunny, lark-like carols on May, almost worthy of Shelley, and such
delicate, tender, Moore-like 'trifles' (shall I call them?) as 'All
Fool's Day.' The whole" he adds, "is full of a beautiful poetic spirit,
and rich resources both of fancy and language." I may be permitted to
transcribe here an extract from some unpublished comments by Sir William
Rowan Hamilton on another poem of the same class. His remarks are
interesting in themselves, as coming from one illustrious as a man of
science, and, at the same time, a true poet--a combination which may
hereafter become more frequent, since already in the vast regions of
space and time brought within human ken, imagination strives hard to
keep pace with established fact. In a manuscript volume now in the
Library of Trinity College, Dublin, he writes, under date, May, 1848:--