With me poetry has been not a purpose, but a passion; and the passions should be held in reverence: they must not — they cannot at will be excited, with an eye to the paltry compensations, or the more paltry commendations, of mankind.
Bio: Gertrude Elizabeth Shane was an Irish poet born in Belfast and who lived much of her life in County Donegal. Among her best-known works is "Wee Hughie", a poem about a boy's first day at school.
