ABSTRACT
The Irish mind, ever since earliest times, was forced, apparently, out of a basic conflict between “a sane principle” of Christianity and Classicism and “a hardly sane one” of the old, extravagant paganism. In other words, it developed out of the conflict between, in broader terms, “reason” and “imagination.” At times, of course, one held sway over the other; most often, however, both mingled in the same person.
