The following is the entry in 'The Oxford Companion to Irish Literature' (1996).

HOPPER, Nora [Jane] (1871-1906), poet.
Born in Exeter, daughter of an Irish officer in the British army, she published some volumes of poetry in the Celtic Twilight mode including 'Ballads in prose' (1894), 'Under Quicken Boughs' (1896), 'Songs of the Morning' (1900), 'Aquamarines' (1902), and, 'Dirge for Aine and other Poems'(1906).

W.B. Yeats' critical enthusiasm later diminished as the resemblance to his own early poetry became increasingly apparent. Thomas MacDonagh nevertheless considered her one of the poets outside Ireland who contributed usefully to the development of an Irish literature in English. A translation of her three-act Irish opera 'Muirgeas' made by 'Tórma' [Tadgh O Donchadha] was published in the 'New Ireland Review' (1910).


There is an article on the song, titled 'By the Short Cut to the Rosses', in a book called 'Irish Ballads' by Benedict Kiely and others, published by Gill and Macmillan (1996).

btw, my Donegal born and raised Granny, Rose, believed in fairies. That's the way it was in those days in that place.