Excerpt from Irish Literature, Vol. 9 of 10: Irish Authors and Their Writings; Street Songs, Etc.; William Butler Yeats WE shall arrive at a better appreciation of Irish liter ature, if we know something of Irish history, for history is one expression of life, as literature is another. The first step, and the easiest and quickest way Of getting a general idea of the history of a country is to acquaint one's self with the lives Of the great men and women who have figured in it - develop centers of interest along the line of biography, and the setting of the rest is easy. This the reader will have ample opportunity to do in the pages of irish literature.' About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.