Life
1847-1930 [Arnold Felix Graves; “father of technical education in Ireland”]; b. Fitzwilliam Square, Dublin, Nov. 1847, br. of Alfred Perceval Graves; ed. Windermere College, Wales; Trinity College, Dublin, from 1864; successful in scholarship and sport; Irish Bar, 1872-79; appt. Secretary to the Commissioners of Education for Endowed Schools;
promoted technical education and home industries;
organising secretary of the Dublin Artisans Exhibition, 1885; instrumental in opening of Kevin St. Technical College; issued verse, plays and novels incl. Prince
Patrick (1898); also Clytæmnestra: A Tragedy (1903), which was
reviewed by James Joyce in the (Dublin) Daily Express (1 Oct. 1903); 24 May; commem. plaque unveiled at Kevin St. by Noel Dempsey, Min. of Education, 2004. DIW
IF
[ top ]
Works
Fiction , Prince Patrick (London: Downey & Co. 1898). Drama,[trans.,] Clytæmnestra: A Tragedy, pref. by R. Tyrrell (1903); Helen of Troy (Dublin: Hodges, Figgis 1909), 63pp.
Helen of Troy (Dublin: Hodges, Figgis & co. Ltd. 1909) [ded. “To My Alma Mater”; with title-verso note: ‘published in connection with its production by the Trintity College Dublin Dramatic Club. The text received such revision as possible in the short time available, but the Author hopes to be able, at some future time, to make the work less unworthy of the great subject with which it deals.’; see Quotations, infra.]
[ top ]
Quotations
Helen of Troy (1909), end of Act I: Re.enter PARIS, HELEN, and the Trojan Soldiers. Deiphobos a Memnon drag Patroclus’ body in. TROJANS: Hail! Hector, Hector, Hail! (They lay Patroclus down beside his armour). ANDROMACHE: See, there he lies, what there is left of him, / At sight of whom whole armies took to flight, / At sound of whose loud voice great City walls / Toppled and fell, before whose mighty sword / Our soldiers sank as corn before the scythe. HECUBA: (as she kicks the body). Lie there false Greek until our Trojan dogs / Have supped their full upon your festering flesh. HECTOR: (Examining Patroclus’ armour). There’s not a scratch upon its glittering face. / Most marvellous! No weapon ever made / By mortal hand can pierce. I would not take / A Kingdom in exchange - Invincible! (He puts on the armour). I’ll drive these saucy Greeks into the sea / I’ll conquer Argos. I’ll subdue the world. / There’s none to stop me with Achilles dead. PARIS: He is not dead, see there! he breathes, he moves. / His eyes are open. HECTOR (To Patroclus): Shall I take your life / Or would you rather live as Hector’s slave? PATROCLUS: You’ve taken it. HECTOR: ’Tis well, for I’d be loth / To strike Achilles, when he’s in the dust. [29] PATROCLUS: You have not klled Achilles yet, no, no, / And never will. HECTOR: Who then are you? PATROCLUS: A scarecrow who donned Achilles’ arms to frighten you. / I’ve played my part, and now I die content. HECTOR: Whom have I slain? HELEN: Patroclus, captain of the Myrmidons. HECTOR: Why then Achilles lives. CASSANDRA: Lives to avenge Patroclus death. (Curtain.) (pp.29-30.) Also, CASSANDRA: With features hid / And footsteps slow, / Death shadows us unbid, / And deals the blow./ Iauoi! (End Act 2; p.42; and see further under Notes, infra.)
[ top ]
References
Stephen Brown, Ireland in Fiction (Dublin: Maunsel 1919), lists Prince Patrick (London: Downey & Co. 1898). Clytæmnestra,
a trag., with pref. by R. Tyrrell (1903); also wrote a story called “Prince
Patrick”. See also Irish Book Lover, Vols. 6 & 7 [Obit?]
[ top ]
Notes
James Joyce reviewed Clytemnæstra, ending with a few lines that he marks down for their
absurdity: ‘Beware! Beware! / The stone you started rolling down the
hill / Will crush you if you do not change your course.’ (“Mr. Arnold Graves' New Work”, in Daily Express [Dublin], 1 Oct. 1903; see Ellworth Mason & Richard Ellmann, eds., Critical Writings, London: Faber 1959, p.126-27.)
[ top ]
Helen of Troy: The drama covers the fight between Hector and Achilles, and the ultimate destruction of Troy. Helen pleads her cause with Menelaus’s permission, and argues: ‘but for me you had not conquered Troy’ (p.61). Hecuba attempts to stab her when the Greeks decide that she has adequately ‘atoned for her crime’ (idem.), and Ulysses makes known that Troy will be destroyed so no ’man-child/remain alive’ (p.63), whereupon Cassandra issues a prophecy in verse: ‘The day is yours ... If we but wait, / Though we may suffer long, / Relentless fate / Will right our bitter wrong, / For man is weak, the Gods alone are strong’ and speaks finally of ‘the reckoning day, / When blood with blood, and life with life will shall pay.’ (p.63.)
[ top ]