James+Stephens

James Stephens was born in Dunlin, Ireland of the year 1882 Feburary second. When he was two, his father died. During his year of being six, his mother deserted his. Then he was forced to go to Meath Protestant Industrial School for Boys. He ranaway from it and met Arthur Griffith. Arthur Griffith published his first story, The Greatest Miracle, in 1905. From 1905 to 1910, he attended Gaelic League classes and became involved in political meetings. In 1919 he married Cythia Kavanagh, who since 1907 had been his sweetheart.He had strong national pride and seemingly had no ill feelings toward his mother in his writing.
 * __** Bio: **__

__Works:__ 1909-Insurrections *first book of poetry 1912-The Green Branches *poetry -The Crock of the Gold *noted major work -The Charwomen's Daughter 1914-The DemiGods 1918-Reincarnations *poetry 1920-Irish Fairy Tales 1923-Deirde 1924-In the Land of Youth 1928-Etched in Moonlight 1930-Strict Joy 1938-Kings and the Moon __** Much Ado to: **__ [] [] __ http://search.eb.com/eb/article-9069608 __ Songs from the clay by James Stephens The book of Fairy Poetry selected and illustrated by Michael Hague Green Branches by James Stephens |||||| **__The Ancient Elf​__** A1 I am the maker, The builder, the breaker, The eagle-winged helper, The speedy forsaker!

The lance and the lyre, The water, the fire, The tooth of oppression, The lip of desire!

The snare and the wing, The honey, the sting! When you seek for me—look For a different thing!

I, careless and gay, Never mean what I say, For my thoughts and my eyes Look the opposite way! || __**Hate**__ A2

My enemy came nigh, And I Stared fiercely in his face. My lips went writhing back in a grimace, And stern I watched him with a narrow eye. Then, as I turned away, my enemy, That bitter heart and savage, said to me: "Some day, when this is past, When all the arrows that we have are cast, We may ask one another why we hate, And fail to find a story to relate. It may seem then to us a mystery That we should hate each other ||
 * **__Washed in Silver:__** A3

Gleaming in silver are the hills, Blazing in silver is the sea, And a silvery radiance spills Where the moon drives royally. Clad in silver tissue I March magnificently by. || __**// A1 Reaction: //**__ This perhaps is one of my favorite poems by Stephens. It represents how things can be complete opposite and keep in balance within a person. For the line "The eagle-winged helper, The speedy forsaker" there is a hint of truth in it. On one hand you want to help people, and the other hand you want to run away and hide to be safe. So, you have two warring emotions that want to happen and you have to choose which one. Then that is a metahor saying that you choose what face, what part of you to show to the world. I love this poem because of how true it rings to me. Rhyme Scheme:AABA CCDC EEFE GGHG |||||| **//__ A2 Reaction __//**: An interesting poem, don't you say. It appealed to me because I thought of how true it sometimes is. Sometimes there is this person or persons that we despise and we want them dead, but we have no idea of why we hate them. Other than the reason we have been fighting/hating them for eons or our anestors fought them for generations. It makes you want to stop and think why? why do we do this? why do we fight? It compells you to stop and question traditions or things we do on a regular basis that we even don't realize we are doing it. Despite the serious note within this peom there is a bit of a simile at the end of the poem, where he compares his enemy to a maid. Rhyme Scheme:AABBCDDFFGH || "It may be in a quiet mountain-top, Or in a valley folded among the hills You take your path, and often you will stop To hear the pleasant chatter of the rills, The piping of a wind in the branches green, The murmuring of widely-lifted spray As long boughs swing And hear the twittering"-except from The Autumn in Ireland by James Stephens |||||| **__ //A3 Reaction//: __**
 * [[image:http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/s/stephens/james/portrait.jpg caption="http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/s/stephens/james/portrait.jpg"]][[image:http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/61GMP400NEL._SL500_AA240_.jpg width="220" height="207"]] ||

When I first read this, I was confused as to what this poem was about. I finally decided it is nothing more than an expression for the beauty of the sea, moon, and the hills. I appreciate it for being exactly what it is and there is no hidden or double meannings. There is a bit of personifcation about the moon and how it rides royally. Rhyme Scheme:ABABDD ||