POEMS FROM IRELAND

Except for a single entry by Swift, the Anglo-Irish tradition is omitted and the beginning of Irish poetry in the English language is dated from the work of Thomas Moore. Within this framework Cole presents the usual broad sampling -- mixing the poets of the Irish literary renaissance, moderns such as Louis MacNeice and Thomas Kinsella and translations from Gaelic by Ferguson, Lady Gregory, Frank O'Connor and others. The works selected are largely lyrical and likely to be easily accessible to young readers; Yeats, for example, is represented by ""The Cat and the Moon,"" ""The Lover Tells of the Rose in His Heart"" and ""I am of Ireland."" The arrangement is alphabetical by author (an order which sacrifices both chronological and topical continuity). And the pronunciations of Gaelic names (essential for reading aloud) are not always given (Pangur Ban is phonetically spelled in a footnote, but not Eoghan Ruadh O'Neill). Fortunately, since the format builds few bridges, these are poems which meet the reader more than halfway.