Cludach: Cover

The Black Hills, The Gorey Road money away in Deadwood. For many, the BlackHills mean Mt. Rushmore's triumphant faces. I have resisted out a fear of oversimplification, that I would make the all-too-easy connections between Irish history and Sioux history, between the battle at Wounded Knee and the battle ofVinegar Hill. It is true that they overlap; however, they are not the same. Also, I have resisted because I do not know the history of the Black Hills well enough, and because I am unable to speak the language. Nevertheless, I did travel to the Black Hills from Nebraska and I was a witness to their power and sacred qualities. The spirits of the hills overpowered my senses and I emerged from their corners transformed. Ofthis family roadtrip, ofsense ofplace, ofexile, ofthe brilliance ofEavan Boland'svision , of the longest day, I have borne witness. "-' CREIGHTON UNIVERSITY COVER The last issue of the 1998 volume of New Hibernia Review closes our presentation ofpopular, political lithography commemorating the centenary ofthe Rising of '98. Published by Dublin's United Ireland for its St. Patrick's Day issue, 1894, this mournful lithograph by J. D. Reigh employs theatrical gesture, traditional Fenian iconography, and spectral allusion so as to establish at a glance the necessity for remembering the first republican rising of the United Irishmen . In the farthest, greyest background loom the columns of the parliament of Grattan and Flood. Framing the foreground figure of Erin or Hibernia, are the pitying specters of Henry Grattan (on the left) and the recently deceased Charles Stewart Parnell (on the right)-the two united in pity for their motherland . In the foreground is Erin or Hibernia in Celtic Revival dress. Her voluminous , deep-green and orange-red lined cloak is clasped above her heart by a pennanular brooch. Her left hand holds upright, as ifit were the arm ofa chair, an antique harp-its strings clearly broken, its voice silent. The full page, though, is not silent. The legend at the bottom of the lithograph almost poses a statement as if it were a question: "U's truagh gan oidhir n-a bh-farradh,: 'It is a pity there is no heir to such men."' In Erin's hair are twined specters ofshamrocks ; growing over the face of the broken High Cross are spectral leaves of ivy. If, glancing at this, our readers recall Joyce's "Ivy Day in the Committee Room;' then perhaps they will also recall a line or two from Yeats at the sight ofthe embroidered hem ofHibernia's gown ofwhite samite sashed with an orange cord. We thank Prof. Lawrence McBride and Nancy Romero, ofthe Library ofthe University ofIllinois, Urbana-Champaign, for providing this and the past three covers for New Hibernia Review. 23 ...