<em>Metempsychosis: or A Mad World. A Play in One Act</em>
Drama
Thomas MacDonagh
Irish Literature
<p><strong>Thomas MacDonagh's second play <em>Metempsychosis</em> (1912)</strong><br />First printed in <em>The Irish Review</em>, the play is a satire of theosophy and occultism. It was first performed on 18,19, 20 April 1912 by the Theatre of Ireland, a company formed in 1906 from a number of intellectuals and practitioners dissatisfied with the Abbey Theatre aesthetic and including Padraic Colum, P.H. Pearse, and Edward Martyn among others. Critics often focus on the main character Earl Winton-Winton de Winton who provides a unmerciful caricature of W.B. Yeats. However, Norstedt notes how the other character ‘Stranger’ is also satirized and argues that the ‘Stranger could be seen as a parody of MacDonagh’s initial reverence for Yeats (later regretted) and of MacDonagh’s own ideas of immortality expressed in some of his poems. White also notes how the play was misinterpreted as a serious comment on the topic of transmigration of souls.</p>
<p>Sources</p>
<p>MacDonagh, Thomas. “Metempsychosis: or A Mad World. A Play in One Act” <em>The Irish Review</em>. February 1912. 585-599. Print.</p>
<p>Nolan, Jerry. ‘Edward Martyn’s Struggle for an Irish National Theater, 1899-1920’. <em>New Hibernia Review</em>. Vol. 7, N. 2, Samhradh/Summer 2003. Print.</p>
<p>Norstedt, Johann A.. <em>Thomas MacDonagh. A Critical Biography</em>. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1980. Print.</p>
<p>White, Lawrence William. "MacDonagh, Thomas". <em>Dictionary of Irish Biography</em>. (Ed.) James McGuire, James Quinn. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2009. Web.</p>
Thomas MacDonagh (1878-1916)
UCD Library Special Collection (Curran Collection).
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<em>The Irish Review</em>
February 1912
Image reproduced from the original held in UCD Library Special Collections
Magazine
English
Drama, Periodical
1912
<em>Songs of Myself</em>
Poetry
Thomas MacDonagh
<p><strong>Thomas MacDonagh's fourth collection of poems. </strong><br />This collection is MacDonagh’s fourth collection of poetry after <em>Through the Ivory Gate </em>(1902), <em>April, May and Other Verse</em> (1903), <em>The Golden Joy </em>(1906). According to Lawrence William White, even if borrowing its title from Walt Whitman, <em>Songs of Myself</em> showcases the ‘intensely subjective poetic voice characteristic of MacDonagh’s oeuvre, in preference to a Whitmanesque identification of the self with the representative man’. Johann A. Norstedt notes that this poetic work is one of MacDonagh’s more accomplished collections, displaying a commitment to devising a more original style. The poems in <em>Songs of Myself</em> reflect significant moments in his life such as the death of his mother and his journey to Paris during the summer of 1910. The collection includes frequently cited poems such as ‘John-John’ and ‘Envoi’.</p>
<p>Sources:</p>
<p>MacDonagh, Thomas. <em>Literature in Ireland. Studies in Irish and Anglo-Irish Literature</em>. Dublin: Talbot Press, 1916. Print.</p>
<p>Norstedt, Johann A.. <em>Thomas MacDonagh. A Critical Biography</em>. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1980. Print.</p>
<p>White, Lawrence William. "MacDonagh, Thomas". <em>Dictionary of Irish Biography</em>. (Ed.) James McGuire, James Quinn. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2009. Web.</p>
Thomas MacDonagh (1878-1916)
UCD Library Special Collections (The Curran Collection)
https://library.ucd.ie/iii/encore/record/C__Rb1402113
Hodges and Figgis
1910
Image reproduced from the original held in UCD Library Special Collections,
English
Poetry
1910
<em>Literature in Ireland. Studies Irish and Anglo-Irish</em>
Criticism
Essays
Irish Literature
<p><strong>Thomas MacDonagh's work of literary criticism. <br /></strong>MacDonagh’s book collects 8 essays (or ‘Studies’ as they are deemed) along with a selection of ‘Poems of the Irish Mode’. Some portions of <em>Literature in Ireland </em>previously appeared in <em>The Irish Review</em> and in <em>An Macaomh</em> (the journal produced by P.H. Pearse at St. Enda’s College) and in <em>The Leader</em>. The ideas in this book were likely rehearsed by MacDonagh during his lectures at University College Dublin. Rumor has it that MacDonagh was correcting the proofs of <em>Literature in Ireland</em> while besieging Jacob’s Biscuit Factory during the days of the Easter Rising. Whereas this anecdote may well be a conflation in biographies and accounts which appeared in the aftermath of the Rising, on the other hand it may testify to the hurried process through which the ‘Studies’ were turned into a book swiftly published a month after MacDonagh’s execution. According to Johann A. Norstedt, the study has several shortcomings, such as MacDonagh’s lack of a critical attitude and method, his moralizing outlook, and his Romantic notion of the poet who is conceptualized as a seer spiritually or divinely inspired. However, Norstedt demonstrates how MacDonaghs’ argumentative approach makes the book iconic and a powerful assertion of Anglo-Irish literature and language as a ‘happy compromise between the Gaelic past and the predominance of English in Ireland’s future’. MacDonagh, in the Preface to <em>Literature in Ireland</em> dated January 1916, sets out to demonstrate three theses in his study:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>‘That, an Anglo-Irish Literature, worthy of a special designation, could come only when English had become the language of the Irish people, mainly of Gaelic stock, and when the literature was from, by, of, to and for the Irish people.</p>
<p>That the ways of life and the ways of thought of the Irish people—the manners, customs, traditions, and outlook, religious, social and moral—have important differences from the ways of life and of thought which have found expression in other English literature.</p>
<p>That the English language in Ireland has an individuality of its own, and the rhythm of Irish speech a distinct character.’</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Sources:</p>
<p>MacDonagh, Thomas. <em>Literature in Ireland. Studies in Irish and Anglo-Irish Literature</em>. Dublin: Talbot Press, 1916. Print.</p>
<p>Norstedt, Johann A.. Thomas MacDonagh. A Critical Biography. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1980. Print.</p>
Thomas MacDonagh (1878-1916)
<strong>UCD Library Special Collections<br /></strong><a title="Persistent link to this record for bookmarking" href="https://library.ucd.ie/iii/encore/record/C__Rb1101706">https://library.ucd.ie/iii/encore/record/C__Rb1101706</a>
Talbot Press
1916
Cover Image reproduced from the original held in UCD Library Special Collections.
Book, xxii, 248 p. incl. front. (port.) ; 21 cm.
English
criticism
Ireland