Padraic Colum is one of the most gifted, if not the most gifted, of the younger Irish poets…. Some of the other younger Irish poets have seemed to echo Mr. W. B. Yeats, as was indeed quite natural; but Mr. Colum by no means wears the mantle of the older poet. Whereas Mr. Yeats' own dreams are usually reflected in his poems representing peasant life, or whereas Mr. Yeats almost always sees the peasant through the glamour of "old mythologies," Mr. Colum gives us the peasant as nearly as possible in the peasant's own terms, and with a direct, concrete touch. Of course the distinction is not watertight, nor meant to be. Mr. Yeats' old woman making the fire Padraic Colum 1881–1972 Reproduced by Permission of Padraic and Mary Colum Estateat dawn, when "the seed of the fire gets feeble and low," is as direct as possible; and...