Arthur Symons on the Aran Islands - An Irishman's Diary

The Aran Islands have long exerted a magnetic pull over visitors and tourists. Perhaps it is their place in the vast rugged Atlantic Ocean at the edge of Ireland and at the edge of the continent of Europe that makes them so attractive.

Dun Onaght. Image source.

The poet, translator and critic, Arthur Symons (1865-1945), visited the Aran Islands in the summer of 1896 with his friend, WB Yeats. I have just written an Irishman's Diary in the Irish Times newspaper about Symons' visit and his description of the islands and their inhabitants. Read it here.

Portrait of Arthur Symons by Agustus John in Cities and Sea-Coasts and Islands.

Symons wrote about his visit to the west of Ireland in the London literary magazine, The Savoy. His account of the trip also later appeared in a book he wrote about other excursions he made around the world, Cities and Sea-Coasts and Islands.

Cover page of Cities and Sea-Coasts and Islands by Arthur Symons.

Symons' description of his visit to the Aran Islands is well worth a read. It contains references to the  mythology, history, and topography of the Islands. He was very taken with the people who lived there as well as the islands themselves.

I feel that I was not able to do his account of his journey justice in the small newspaper article that I wrote about it, so would urge you to read it for yourself. The entire book can be downloaded from The Internet Archive here. Alternatively, if you want to read just the piece he wrote about the Aran Islands, you can download it here.

Here's an extract of Symons' description of the interaction between the sea, sky and the coast: 

"The sea on those coasts is not like the sea as I know it on any other coast; it has more of the twilight. And the sky seems to come down more softly, with more stealthy steps, more illusive wings, and the land to come forward with a more hesitating and gradual approach, and land and sea and sky to mingle more absolutely than on any other coast".