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The Flower of Finae

Author: Thomas Osborne Davis

File Description

Electronic edition compiled and proof corrections by Beatrix Färber, Juliette Maffet

1. First draft, revised and corrected.

Extent of text: 948 words

Publication

Distributed by CELT online at University College, Cork, Ireland.
Text ID Number: E850004-006

Availability [RESTRICTED]

Available with prior consent of the CELT programme for purposes of academic research and teaching only.

Sources

Source
1. First published in the Nation on 25 May 1844.

Other writings by Thomas Davis
1. Thomas Davis, Essays Literary and Historical, ed. by D. J. O'Donoghue, Dundalk 1914.
2. Sir Charles Gavan Duffy (ed.), Thomas Davis, the memoirs of an Irish patriot, 1840-1846. 1890. [Reprinted entitled 'Thomas Davis' with an introduction of Brendan Clifford. Millstreet, Aubane Historical Society, 2000.]
3. Thomas Davis: selections from his prose and poetry. [Edited] with an introduction by T. W. Rolleston. London and Leipzig: T. Fisher Unwin (Every Irishman's Library). 1910. [Published in Dublin by the Talbot press, 1914.]
4. Thomas Osborne Davis, Literary and historical essays 1846. Reprinted 1998, Washington, DC: Woodstock Books.
5. Essays of Thomas Davis. New York, Lemma Pub. Corp. 1974, 1914 [Reprint of the 1914 ed. published by W. Tempest, Dundalk, Ireland, under the title 'Essays literary and historical'.]
6. Thomas Davis: essays and poems, with a centenary memoir, 1845-1945. Dublin, M.H. Gill and Son, 1945. [Foreword by an Taoiseach, Éamon de Valera.]
7. Angela Clifford, Godless colleges and mixed education in Ireland: extracts from speeches and writings of Thomas Wyse, Daniel O'Connell, Thomas Davis, Charles Gavan Duffy, Frank Hugh O'Donnell and others. Belfast: Athol, 1992.

Encoding

Project Description

CELT: Corpus of Electronic Texts

Editorial Declaration

Correction

Text has been proof-read twice and parsed.

Normalization

The electronic text represents the edited text.

Quotation

There is no direct speech.

Hyphenation

Soft hyphens are silently removed. When a hyphenated word (and subsequent punctuation mark) crosses a page-break, this break is marked after the completion of the word (and punctuation mark).

Segmentation

div0=the poem. Page-breaks are marked pb n="".

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Interpretation

Names of persons, places or organisations are not tagged.

Profile Description

Created: by Thomas Davis (1840s)

Use of language

Language: [EN] The text is in English.

Language: [GA] Three words are in Irish.

Revision History

• (2012-01-31)

  Beatrix Färber (ed.)

• File proofed (2), header created; file parsed; SGML and HTML files created.
• (2012-01-16)

  Juliette Maffet (ed.)

• File proofed (1); structural and content markup applied.
• (1996)

  Audrey Murphy (ed.)

• Text captured by scanning.

Corpus of Electronic Texts Edition: E850004-006

The Flower of Finae: Author: Thomas Osborne Davis

p.322

1. BRIGHT red is the sun on the waves of Lough Sheelin,
   A cool, gentle breeze from the mountain is stealing,
   While fair round its islets the small ripples play,
   But fairer than all is the Flower of Finae.
2. Her hair is like night, and her eyes like grey morning,
   She trips on the heather as if its touch scorning,
   Yet her heart and her lips are as mild as May day,
   Sweet Eily MacMahon, the Flower of Finae.
3. But who down the hill-side than red deer runs fleeter?
   And who on the lake-side is hastening to greet her?
   Who but Fergus O'Farrell, the fiery and gay,
   The darling and pride of the Flower of Finae?

---

p.323

4. One kiss and one clasp, and one wild look of gladness:
   Ah! why do they change on a sudden to sadness?—
   He has told his hard fortune, no more he can stay,
   He must leave his poor Eily to pine at Finae.
5. For Fergus O'Farrell was true to his sire-land,
   And the dark hand of tyranny drove him from Ireland;
   He joins the Brigade, in the wars far away,
   But he vows he'll come back to the Flower of Finae.
6. He fought at Cremona— she hears of his story;
   He fought at Cassano— she's proud of his glory.
   Yet sadly she sings Siúbhail a rúin¹ all the day,
   ‘Oh! come, come, my darling, come home to Finae.’
7. Eight long years have passed, till she's nigh broken-hearted,
   Her reel, and her rock, and her flax she has parted;
   She sails with the ‘Wild Geese’ to Flanders away,
   And leaves her sad parents alone in Finae.
8. Lord Clare on the field of Ramillies is charging—
   Before him, the Sacsanach squadrons enlarging—
   Behind him the Cravats their sections display—
   Beside him rides Fergus and shouts for Finae.

---

p.324

9. On the slopes of La Judoigne the Frenchmen are flying
   Lord Clare and his squadrons the foe still defying,
   Outnumbered, and wounded, retreat in array;
   And bleeding rides Fergus and thinks of Finae.
10. In the cloisters of Ypres a banner is swaying,
    And by it a pale, weeping maiden is praying;
    That flag's the sole trophy of Ramillies' fray;
    This nun is poor Eily, the Flower of Finae.