Life
1888-1959 [William Forbes Marshall; ‘Bard of Tyrone’]; b. Derebard,
nr. Omagh, Co. Tyrone; son of schoolmaster and ed. at his father’s
school in Sixmilecross Co. Tyrone; later at Royal School, Dungannon, Royal
Univ., Galway, and Assembly’s College, Belfast; ordained, and minister
in Castlerock, Co. Derry. lecturer in elocution at Magee Univ. College,
Derry; MRIA 1942; recognised dialect authority; BBC talk on on Ulster
dialect issued as Ulster Speaks (1936); with a BBC version of Midsummer
Night’s Dream; a dialect dictionary in preparation was destroyed
by a puppy; issued Ballads and Verses from Tyrone (1929), containing
‘Me an’ Me Da’; His White Charger, called ‘sermons
[i.e., talks] for children’; Verse from Tyrone; Planted by a River
(1948), a hist. rom., reign of Queen Anne characterising Ulster plantation
as cultivation not dispossession; Ulster Sails West (1950) , on
18th c. emigration from Ulster to America; poetry reprinted as Livin’
in Drumlister (1983); also a play, The Corduroy Bag, IF2
OCIL
[ top ]
Works
Ballads and Verses from Tyrone (Dublin: Talbot Press 1929), 96pp.;
Verses from Tyrone (London: Arthur H Stockwell [1923]), 44pp.;
Ballads from Tyrone (Belfast: Quota Press 1934), 123pp.; Tyrone
Ballads (Belfast: Quota Press 1944), 61pp.; J. A. Todd, intro., Livin’
in Drumlister: The Collected Ballads and Verses of W. F. Marshall (Belfast:
Blackstaff 1983), 144pp.; His Charger White (Belfast: Quota 1939),
95pp.; Planted by a River (Belfast: Mullen 1948), 248pp. Miscellaneous,
Ulster Speaks (London: BBC 1936), 37pp., rep. as ‘The Speech
of Ulster’, in Robert Marshall, ed., The Book of Belfast (Belfast:
Mayne, Boyd & Son Ltd. 1937) [q.pp.]; Miscellaneous, Ulster Sails
West (Belfast: Quota 1950).
[ top ]
Criticism
Terence Brown, ‘Of Heroes, Gods and Peasants’ [Chap. 4], Northern
Voices: Poets from Ulster (Dublin: Gill & Macmillan 1975), pp.70-73.
J. W. Foster, Themes and Forces in Ulster Fiction (1974) [rems. on Planted by a River].
Sam Hanna Bell, ‘A Banderol’ [Introduction], The Arts
in Ulster (London: Harrap 1931), p.17.
Benedict Kiely, ‘Dialect and Literature’, in A Raid into Dark Corners and Other Essays (Cork UP 1999).
[ top ]
Notes
Desmond Clarke, Ireland in Fiction [Pt II] (Cork: Royal
Carbery 1985), lists Planted by a River (Belfast: Mullen 1948),
248pp. [Scottish settlers in reign of Anne; Protestant farmer tells story
of his youth; highlight is hunting down of local outlaw; Presbyterian
viewpoint].
Sophia Hillan King & Sean MacMahon, eds., Hope and History: Eyewitness Accounts of life in Twentieth-Century Ulster (Belfast: Friar’s Bush Press 1996), incls. ‘The Speech of Ulster’, pp.76-8. Also, Patricia Craig, ed., Rattle of the North (Belfast: Blackstaff 1992), gives extract from ‘Ulster Speaks’ (here 228ff.).
Books in Print (1994): Ballads and Verses from Tyrone (Dublin: Talbot 1929), 96pp.; Verses from Tyrone (London: Arthur H Stockwell [1923]); Ballads from Tyrone (Belfast: Quota Press 1934), 123pp.; Tyrone Ballads (Belfast: Quota Press 1944), 61pp.; Livin’ in Drumlister, intro. J. A. Todd (Belfast: Blackstaff 1983) [0 85640 293 1 pb]; Ulster Speaks (London: BBC 1936), 37pp.; His Charger White (Belfast: Quota 1939), 95pp.; Ulster Sails West (Belfast: Quota 1950)NOTE, Editorial of Spectator (2 Dec. 1995; p.5) cites W. F. Marshall (Ulster Sails West), quoting George Washington, ‘I will make my last stand for liberty among the Scotch-Irish of my native Virginia.’
Tyrone Ballads (Belfast: Quota Press 1944), 61pp., lists on title-page facing Verses from Tyrone; Ballads and Verses from Tyrone [rep.1930]; Ulster Speaks; His Charger White; Ulster Sails West; note, this vol. reprints ‘Me and Me Da from Verses … &c.’
[ top ]
Princess Grace Irish Library (Monaco)