Date of Award

Spring 1947

Document Type

Thesis - Restricted

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

English

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to examine the Celtic poems and essays of Lionel Johnson in order to discover in what ways they conform to the objectives of the Irish Literary Revival of the 1890's. Further, an effort is made to estimate Johnson's contribution to the Revival. Since a general knowledge of the literary movement in Ireland is necessary to an understanding of Johnson's contribution, I have thought it well to survey briefly the history of the movement. I have next stated the objectives of the Revival as defined by William Butler Yeats, who has been recognized as the leader of the Irish Literary Renaissance, though, of course, he was not the founder of the movement. I have also examined the objectives set forth by Stopford Brooke in a lecture delivered at the first meeting of the Irish Literary Society in London entitled "The Need and Use of Getting Irish Literature into the English Tongue." I have likewise examined the objectives stated by Lionel Johnson in his lecture, Poetry and Patriotism in Ireland, delivered to the Irish Literary Society of London in 1894. I have turned to these three men, in preference to others, first, because they consciously and succinctly stated their objectives, and secondly, they were all leaders in the movement: Yeats, the acknowledged head of the Revival; Lionel Johnson, Yeat's co-laborer and co-founder of the literary societies; and Stopford Brooke, successor to Charles Gavan Duffy as President of the Irish Literary Society of London. In an analytical study of the Celtic poems and essays of Lionel Johnson I have tried to discover in what ways they conform to the objectives of the Renaissance and in what Johnson's distinctive contribution consists.

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