Whim - Caitlin Etherton

Whim

for Paul Muldoon

After debating just which mammal

I should make the Son of God,

making lists of qualities like lyric, detailed, broad,

I give up. I’ve no capacity for writing like Muldoon.

If this is whim, then this is whim.

This is caprice. This is my doom.

It’s time for me to haul my own murky mine-water,

to be the very windlass of the truth

that’s in my veins, to weave my own

textile, crease the skin, so tight the reins

of my own movement – an improvement on

the two that you left waiting, waiting, waiting

for a future, the two you stopped in lovely, dark and deep

when you, like Theseus, just climbed off the back and walked away.

Introspection and art in “In Memory of Gerard Dillon”

Jocelyn Pettway
Professor Simon Kress
English 342
February 23, 2008

Introspection and art in “In Memory of Gerard Dillon”


In the poem “In Memory of Gerard Dillon,” Longley explores the artist’s act of introspection, what affects it, and how it affects the world. Through opposition, fraternal symbols, and the personification of places and body parts, Longley suggests our visions of ourselves are impacted by our history and the current divides in our society. Longley goes on to convey that our introspection, and the things that shape it, will be reflected back to the world.
In the second stanza Dillon is described as being “a room full of self-portraits,/ A face that follows us everywhere” (11-12). In these two lines Longley creates an opposition between the artist and the rest of the world. The personification of “room” helps relate how Dillon internalizes his self-knowledge and carves out a personal sphere separate from the rest of the world. The self-portraits are symbols of Dillon’s search within himself and its rewards. In the next line we see Dillon’s personal sphere breaks out of the room and “follow” the rest of the world. The use of the words “follow” and “everywhere,” conjure up a feeling of haunting and seems to indicate that introspection engages the rest of the world and serves as a reminder of what the artist sees within himself and in their present world.
Longley continues by personifying different body parts and moves to a description of Dillon as “an ear to the ground listening for/ Dead brothers in layers” (13-14). Longley uses the fraternal symbol of “Dead brothers” to indicate a sense of history which Dillon is a part of. The personified ear is shown searching outside himself for a sense of history and past, which will contribute to his self-portraits. By focusing on an anatomical part whose sole function is not only communication, but the receptive side of communication, Longley emphasizes the importance of observing in order to reflect the world. The sense of community created by the fraternal symbol of “Dead brothers” impacts the artist’s introspection and reveals that the personal sphere and the rest of the world are connected.
The next personified body part is “an eye/ Taking in the beautiful predators-/ Cats on the windowsill, birds of prey” (14-16). In this personification Dillon assumes the role of observer and watches the animals. This anatomical part is solely for perception and can only communicate through sharing visual images. The word “beautiful” reveals a respect for the bestial symbols which represent his divided society. The image of the opposing predators separated from each other is another thing that will be communicated through Dillon’s self-portraits and will reflect to the world outside.
Longley uses opposition, fraternal symbols, and the personification of places and body parts to emphasize how the world outside of ourselves, it’s history and conflicts, is included in our introspection and is reflected back to the world.
Works Cited
Longley, Michael. Selected Poems. Winston-Salem, NC.: Wake Forest University Press, 1999.

Warm Eggs

Seamus Heaney reflects upon his collection Wintering Out in an interview, mentioning that it is "comfortless enough but with a notion of survival in it." In the poem "Servant Boy," Heaney demonstrates one individual's suffering through manipulation of language. He utilizes repetition to recreate the servant's trail of hardship, while infusing it with the recurring prospect of survival. Through repetition of language and imagery Heaney draws the reader into the highly personal reality of one oppressed individual. The boy's voice is filled with resentment, yet Heaney consistently restores his misery with hopeful imagery.

The poem begins with the pronoun he, yet as it continues, Heaney magnetically draws deeper into the servant's trail with the repetition of you, connecting to the boy's experience. Repetition of your and you in the third stanza carefully weaves the structure of the stanza together, creating a physical trail of rhythmic fluidity throughout the stanza:

"and kept your patience
and your counsel, how
you draw me into
your trail. Your trail (9-12)."

The passage has a steady pace that reflects the boy's trudging and perseverance through a hard winter. Furthermore, it ends in confidence, indicating that this is the boy's trail (Your trail), and he has authority over it. This is his tribulation, but additionally his chance to triumph. The patience and steady pacing also reinforces Heaney's own equanimity in regard to the conflict in Ireland, as he only meant to "gesture towards the distresses."

Repetition of hopeful imagery brightens all of the darker images that seem initially to overwhelm the poem. Beginning a poem with the "back-end of a bad-year" seems to be the most dismal and depressing means to start. Yet, the next image of a hurricane-lamp shines a metaphorical light through the servant's darkness and provides a message of inspiration that the end of his troubles is nearing. After the trail of the third stanza physically breaks, "broken from haggard to stable (13)," the boy's difficult trail has stabilized. This positive shift to stability is supported by the "snow," conjuring a fresh and new start, as well as the "first-footing," indicating a new step in a changed direction. The poem ends with the servant carrying warm eggs, a final and solidifying symbol of rebirth and entrance into a freer and more comfortable existence.

Heaney, Seamus "Mother Ireland." The Listener: December 7, 1972. (page 790)

Heaney, Seamus: Opened Ground. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1998.

Working within the Political and Literary Tradition: Seamus Heaney’s “Bog Oak”

Heather Kroes

Despite the advent of the Troubles, the themes in Heaney’s collection “Wintering Out” remain overwhelming pastoral. However, his poems have an underlying question: As a citizen and a poet, how can Heaney stay true to his literary tradition but also reflect on the political turmoil that surrounds him? In his poem “Bog Oak” Heaney speaks to this dichotomy and reveals, through comparison with a historical figure, that the lines are at once ambiguous and polarizing.

The title of the poem, “Bog Oak,” as well as the first stanza stay true to the pastoral expressions characteristic of Heaney’s work. Bog Oak is a type of wood that has been preserved in the bog. Heaney describes it as a “carter’s trophy” (1). By characterizing the wood in terms of Ireland’s colonial past, the bog oak becomes literally and figuratively a kind of artifact of that time. It in turn evokes the “moustached/ dead” (7-8) and “creel-fillers” (8). The physical remnants of Ireland’s colonial past recall the people that occupied that time. Unlike the bog oak, these past people are very detached from the narrator. Instead of being able to share a common historical path, the narrator is an outsider who “might tarry” (6) or “eavesdrop on” (9) these manifestations of the past.

The reason is revealed in the fourth and fifth stanzas: “rain/ blurs the far end/ of the cart track” (13-15) and “The softening ruts/ lead back to no/ ‘oak groves’” (16-18) Time has all but wiped out the artifacts of that age; what remains are the literary and political histories of the place. In the sixth stanza the narrator can “just make out/ Edmund Spenser” (21-22) who is best known for not only his epic poem “Faerie Queene” which glorifies the Tudor monarchy in England but also an inflammatory pamphlet entitled A View on the Present State of Ireland which called for, among other things, the destruction of the Irish culture and language.

The poem depicts Spenser the poet, “dreaming sunlight” (23), but “encroached upon by/ geniuses” (24-25) who come “‘out of every corner/ of the woodes and glennes’” (27-28). While Spenser is first introduced as a purely literary figure, he is being “encroached upon” (24) by not only the traditional Irish inhabitants but also by the quotations from his political pamphlet. By sketching a Spenser whose political views are articulated from his poetic voice, Heaney displays how closely the political and the literary are intertwined.

What is so interesting about this poem is Heaney’s handling of the English tradition and particularly the ambiguity he feels about writing about the Irish Troubles. From his quatrain format, to the references to Ireland’s unremembered colonial past, to the submersion of Spenser the politician and poet, Heaney provides a comparative depiction of the overlapping of the English tradition in literature and politics that he belongs to by nature of his vocation and place of origin.

Use of Language in Heaney’s “Fodder” - Caitlin Etherton

Seamus Heaney uses language to enrich, in many ways, the poems of his 1972 collection “Wintering Out.” In his poem “Fodder,” Heaney shows the deep meaning behind a simple farming chore. It is his use of language, his chosen discourse and his word choice, that allows him to do this.
Heaney mixes agricultural and religious discourse as he describes the task of unloading fodder for livestock. He describes in detail the process of unloading fodder, of drawing the loads with tight clamps etc. (Heaney 5-16). However, instead of continuing the farmer’s discourse to describe the bundles of hay, Heaney writes that they are, “multiple as loaves and fishes” (Heaney 13-14). This is in reference to the Gospel story of Jesus and his disciples feeding the five thousand with only five loaves of bread and two fish. They miraculously stretched a seemingly limited supply to sustain a large group of people. And so the idea of survival is extended beyond merely nourishing the livestock, and becomes in reference to people. “Wintering Out” is an Irish phrase for making it through the winter, for surviving. This is not just the title of the collection, but the topic of this poem. Heaney’s reference to the Gospel can be looked into even further to understand his approach with language and poetry and this theme of survival.
The reason for this hungry mass of five thousand people congregating, was Jesus’ teaching. Interestingly, in many of these teachings Jesus used pastoral images and even agriculture to get his point across. This type of agricultural discourse made his messages understandable to people on that common level of society. Similarly, Heaney’s use of agricultural discourse is understood by the people of Ireland, a place where 64% of the total land area is devoted to agriculture (Irish Agriculture). The audience familiar with the subject already, Heaney can then extend their thinking to realize that he is talking about much more than a chore. Heaney’s word choice is what reveals this deeper meaning.
It is the last stanza of “Fodder” where Heaney really expands his subject. He writes, “These long nights / I would pull hay / for comfort, anything / to bed the stall” (17-20). On the surface level, the speaker in the poem is just pulling hay down to make the stalls more comfortable for the livestock. Upon re-examining the word “stall” though, one realizes that Heaney may not be talking just about the stall in the barn, but a different kind of stall. And in turn, he is not talking about the comfort of the animal, but the comfort of the speaker as a result of his chore. Another meaning of the word “stall” is a standstill, even further, “a ruse to deceive or delay” (Merriam-Webster). Looking from line 18 to line 19, Heaney writes, “I would pull hay for comfort.” In Northern Ireland in 1972, in a place of violence and unrest, habitual activities such as unloading hay became a comfort. They made life seem more ordinary and predictable in a time when, “the explosions literally rattle your window day and night” (Heaney Preoccupations 34). Heaney is expounding on how people cope with the Troubles, or possibly any life stress. Stalling is just as much a part of survival, of “wintering out.” Rather than sitting in fear between different incidences of bombing, the stall of time between explosions is bedded, eased by the performance of habitual tasks that make life seem more normal. In America we are obsessed with the extreme, the most risqué, the most violent, the most shocking. In Ireland in the 1970’s, daily life was a state of shock, so instead they anticipated the mundane, the comforting, the predictable. It is not just the bundle of hay that the speaker opens his arms for in the beginning of the poem (Heaney 1-4). It is the safe practice of unloading it. And so, it is appropriate that Heaney ends the first poem of his collection on survival, with the word and image of a “stall,” a place of comfort and rest and also an avenue to comfort and rest in a time of great trouble.


Heaney, Seamus. Opened Ground: Selected Poems 1966-1996. New York: Farrar, Straus
and Giroux, 1998.

Heaney, Seamus. Preoccupations: Selected Prose 1968-1978. New York: Farrar, Straus
and Giroux, 1980.

Irish Agriculture and Food Development Authority. Agriculture in Ireland. 17 Feb. 2008

<>.

“Stall.” Def.5. Merriam-Webster Dictionary. 11th ed. 2007-2008.

Mahon on the Pulpit

The troubles in Ireland all stem from the tension between the pro-British Protestants and the pro-Irish Catholics. While both sides resorted to violence on many occasions, the Protestant group, the ones in power, was the more militant of the two sides. In “Ecclesiastes,” Mahon uses the language of a protestant preacher to mock, criticize and reject his Protestant, northern Irish identity and all those who fervently resort to sectarian violence.

Mahon wrote “Ecclesiastes” with varying line rhythm and in blank verse; however, the internal rhyme and alliteration increase the speed of the poem, charging it with the voice of a manic preacher orating to a crowd. The first three lines illustrate this effect well: “God, you could grow to love it, God-fearing, God- / chosen purist little puritan that, / for all your wiles and smiles…” (1-3). The four alliterating g sounds, along with the internal rhyme created by the repetition of ‘God’ in the first line, ‘purist’ and ‘puritan’, in the second, and “wiles and smiles” found in the third, work together to create the effect of an orating preacher. Of course, Mahon beginning the poem by taking the lord’s name in vain sets the reader up to understand that the poem will be anything but praise for the church.

Throughout the rest of the poem, Mahon continues to channel the oratory powers of a preacher to scathe the protestant church and culture. This ranges from the culture’s repressiveness of “the / dank churches, the empty streets,” to the faults of self-righteous beliefs: “and not / feel called upon to understand and forgive / but only to speak with a bleak afflatus,” and to finally the dogmatic protestant leaders that “stand on a corner stiff / with rhetoric, promising nothing under the sun” (3-5; 10-12; 21-22). Finally, in the last sentence, Mahon mirrors the first three lines closely by again repeating the word ‘God,’ and using a small internal rhyme in the last line. The effect of this is to give the poem one last emphatic charge before reaching the climax.

In conclusion, Mahon creates a dichotomy in “Ecclesiastes” between the oratory style of a preacher and the language he would use — namely by criticizing the church instead of teaching it’s beliefs. Mahon employs a multitude of literary devices from alliteration, internal rhyme, and allusion to create a scathing review of how he perceives the state of the protestant church. Ultimately concluding that it’s teaching offers “nothing under the sun” in worth.

Mahon, Derek. Collected Poems. Ed. Peter Fallon. Ireland: The Gallery Press, 1999.

Prompt #2

In “The Sense of Place,” Seamus Heaney writes that there are two ways in which place operates: “One is lived, illiterate and unconscious, the other learned, literate and conscious.” Consider the way place, as such, operates in the poetry of either Seamus Heaney or Derek Mahon. You may wish to investigate topics such as home, naming, boundaries or divisions, one’s place in society, childhood, work, or community.

The Progression of Naming in Yeats' "Easter, 1916"

Julian Stern

In W.B. Yeats’ "Easter, 1916", the author expresses his mixed feelings about Easter Rising, the unsuccessful revolt of the Irish against the British. Yeats manipulates the feelings of the reader by explicitly naming figures prominent in the uprising at one point in the poem and mentioning them generically at other points.

Yeats begins by referring to unnamed persons, saying, “I met them at close of day/ Coming with vivid faces.” He makes sure to not introduce anyone by name at the beginning so as to not bring out biases in the reader for or against certain characters in his poem, who we later find out are key players in the Easter Rising. Despite the namelessness, he makes sure that the reader knows that the people he meets are not random members of the masses by describing their faces as vivid.

Yeats goes on in the second stanza to reveal a little bit more about the characters, describing their mannerisms and actions, but continuing to leave them nameless. This stanza holds many clues to the identity of the characters, the most explicit being, “This man had kept a school,” which is a reference to Patrick Pearce, a leader of the revolt. At this point in the poem, a reader familiar with the subject matter may be aware of the people Yeats is referencing, but the biases are not as much of a threat because the first stanza breaks them down with its obscurity.

It is not until the end of the last stanza that Yeats names the figures he has been speaking of: “MacDonagh and MacBride/ And Connolly and Pearse.” It is also not until the last stanza that he shows any thought about their death with the words “And what if excess of love/ Bewildered them til they died?” Although he references the futility of the revolt from the start when he mentions making fun of the leaders to his friends, it is not until he has to face the actual existence of the figures as people that he recognizes the loss.

WORKS CITED
Yeats, W.B., The Poems: A New Edition, edited by Richard J. Finneran. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company, 1983.

What's in a Name?

Caitlin Etherton
English 342

W. B. Yeats preserves the strong significance of names in Irish culture and history while using them artistically in his poetry. Names are important in Irish culture, as they indicate a person’s religion. They also carry on historical importance. The name, Connolly, used in Yeats’ poem “Easter Rising, 1916,” is more than just an Irish name. Connolly refers to James Connolly, an Irish nationalist whose name alone is a reference to the Easter Rising of 1916 and the social conflict surrounding it. Connolly was not just a leader of the Easter Rising, his execution made him a victim of London’s supposed over-reaction to the event, his life going down in a “huge swell of sympathy for the republicans.” (McKittrick and McVea 4) (Encyclopedia Britannica 1) In his poem “Easter 1916,” (lines 70-80) Yeats writes,
We know their dream; enough
To know they dreamed and are dead;
And what if excess of love
Bewildered them till they died?
I write it out in a verse -
MacDonagh and MacBride
And Connolly and Pearse
Now and in time to be,
Wherever green is worn,
Are changed, changed utterly:
A terrible beauty is born. (Yeats 182.)
Yeats verifies that Ireland has not forgotten past heroes. Connolly is tied into history in an emotional way. He is changed from just a name into a “terrible beauty” of a heroic symbol.
Artistically, Yeats goes beyond the typical, romantic portrayal of Connolly by showing a little more of his personality in his poem, “The Rose Tree.” He writes (lines 13-18),
"But where can we draw water,'
Said Pearse to Connolly,
"When all the wells are parched away?
O plain as plain can be
There's nothing but our own red blood
Can make a right Rose Tree.' (Yeats 183).
Yeats questions the purity of Connolly and Pearce’s motives in their nationalist efforts. Edna Longley explains, “Rather like stage-directors, Pearce and Connolly are represented as planning to pool, and thereby maximize, the historical symbolism available to them… Pearce can be seen as a narcissist performing before the mirror of history (Longley 72-73).” Through their dialogue, Yeats gets the reader to question whether or not these men knew their potential ahead of time. Maybe their community efforts were really out of selfish ambition. And still, his reference to them at all continues to immortalize their names, albeit now with a more conscious perspective.


Works Cited
Connolly, James." Encyclopædia Britannica. 2008. Encyclopædia
Britannica Online. 28 Jan. 2008
.

Longley, Edna. The Living Stream: Literature and Revisionism in
Ireland. Newcastle upon Tyne, England: BloodaxeBooks, 1994.

McKittrick, David and McVea, David. Making Sense of the Troubles:
The Story of the Conflict in Northern Ireland. Chicago: New
Amsterdam Books. 2002.

Yeats, W. B. The Poems: A New Edition, Ed. R. J. Finneran. New York: Macmillan
Publishing Company, 1983.

Memory in Yeats’s 1916 Poetry Vs History in Making Sense of the Troubles

Emily Weyant
Simon Kress
Eng 342WR
28 January 2008

Memory in Yeats’s 1916 Poetry Vs History in Making Sense of the Troubles

William Butler Yeats, David McVea and David McKittrick all comment on the Easter Rising through text. However, although both Yeats’s 1916 poetry and McVea and McKittrick’s Making Sense of the Troubles recall the past, Yeats focuses on the theme of memory while McVea and McKittrick view the Rising from a historical standpoint.
Because memory is connected to he who remembers, it is more complex than history, which remains unbiased in the facts that it contains. For example, when Yeats writes “And is there logic to outweigh / MacDonagh’s bony thumb?” (lines 11-12) in his poem, “Sixteen Dead Men,” he requires the reader’s opinion, and therefore his or her memory, in order to receive a response. In this way, Yeats does not simply treat the Rising as a historical event that can be explained succinctly, but rather as one that is remembered by different people in different ways. As Edna Longley states, “Yeats’s 1916 poems… frustrate the notion that remembering the Rising will be a simple matter” (83). Indeed, Yeats’s poetry calls for his readers to remember the Rising as it affected them, not simply as it happened.
In contrast, Making Sense of the Troubles covers the history of the Easter Rising in two sentences. Although its account is brief, it is also unbiased and factual, stating that Irish “republicans stag[ed] a rebellion against British rule” (McKittrick and McVea 4). Within this account there is no room for personal opinion or memory. Therefore, McVea and McKittrick look to the past, but do so differently from Yeats by calling on statistics rather than reader participation.

"Easter, 1916" history as a theme

The Irish culture has such an aggressive history; it is no wonder that history, as a theme, constantly occurs in literature. Yeats’ “Easter, 1916,” for example, unavoidably stumbles across history as its subject matter. The poem submerges itself in the event of Easter Rising, while Yeats deals with the aftermath. Yeats also artfully incorporates the theme of history through the use of the refrain and symbolism.

History manifests itself in this poem as the subject matter; here, Yeats takes a retrospective account of Easter Rising and questions the actions taken during the event. As Edna Longley believes, “Yeats’ 1916 poems are…reflections on commemoration” (Longley 83). Yeats does not just look at history; he dissects it. He questions the time consumed and also the lives, when he says, “What is it but nightfall?/No, no, not night but death;/Was it needless death after all” (Yeats ln65-67)? He poses the question if the impulsive acts were worthwhile. Yeats even inserts himself into history by using first person. In the first stanza, he is forced to see tragedy in what he never took serious (Longley 84). This transformation from comedy to tragedy is suggested by Yeats’ word choice of “motley” and the refrain referring to change (Yeats ln14, 15). More importantly, Yeats addresses how history has affect the present with the line, “Now and in time to be,/Wherever green is worn,/Are changed, changed utterly” (Yeats ln 77-79). Clearly, he acknowledges that the history is not just in the past.

Yeats also manages to integrate history artistically in his poetry. His use of the refrain not only reminds readers that history does have the tendency to repeat itself but more importantly that the Easter Rising brought about severe consequences that continually impact the present. Just as the refrain consistently reoccurs in a poem, so does the idea that the Irish have been deeply affect and perspectives have been altered by this one violent instance. Yeats incorporates history through symbolic references, too. He uses the stone as a motif. Stones usually represent solidarity or something stagnant. In the third stanza, Yeats uses the stone to symbolize tradition and foils this with the stream. Streams are portrayed as fluid. When Yeats says, “Enchanted to a stone/To trouble the living stream” it seems to signify the traditional belief going against the natural flow of order. As evident, Yeats skillfully utilizes the Ireland’s central theme of history into every aspect of “Easter, 1916.”

Work Cited

Longley, Edna. Living Stream: Literature and Revisionism in Ireland. Newcastle upon
Tyne, England: Bloodaxe Books, 1994.

Yeats, W.B., The Poems: A New Edition, edited by Richard J. Finneran. New York:
Macmillan Publishing Company 1983.

Revising Memory in "Easter, 1916"

In the poem "Easter, 1916" W.B. Yeats engages in a critical relationship with Irish memory. His poem enters the glorified memory of the Easter Rising and imbues it with the severities of its tragic consequences. In her essay "The Rising, the Somme and Irish Memory" Edna Longley considers this poem to be "the first work of revisionist poetry (Longley 84)." The poem questions the rebellion of one thousand men who fought in vain under leaders subsequently executed; it evaluates the damage of this violence. However, Yeats significantly keeps the memory of the dead alive "I have met them at close of day /coming with vivid faced (lines 1-2)." The selection of "vivid" highlights the individual identity, which is a part of the collective Irish memory of a group who died for the convictions that held them together.

The second stanza actively enters the Irish memory of the heroes of the Easter Rising, establishing their inspirational martyrdom, but more importantly the way in which everyone around them were inherently "changed, changed utterly/ A terrible beauty is born (lines 15-16)." Repetition of this line at the end of the second and last stanzas enforces this critique. The essence and memory of the Nationalist leader Constance Markievicz is referenced as sweet, young, and beautiful. Patrick Pearse is described as gallantly riding Pegasus, a symbol of classical and poetic inspiration. Even Yeats' enemy, John Macbride, is numbered in song for he too was a part of this revolt and the terrible beauty it entailed. Yeats reflects on the Irish memory of these heroes and asks a vital question of revision: "Was it needless death after all (line 67)?"

Yeats transcends into the beautiful memory of a valiant attempt to free Ireland from British rule and critiques it with the idea that all the hearts of the Nationalists were turned to enchanted stones. In the third stanza there is a wake-up call: the stone-hearted might be fooled to think that the darkness merely implies an ephemeral night, when in actuality "no, no, not night but death (line 66)." Yeats employs this warning that memory should be viewed from the outside in, rather than painted over with a glaze of Nationalist enchantment. Instead of passively allowing the memory to survive, Yeats reflects and intrudes into the memory of the Easter Rising with a critical lens.

Yeats, W.B., The Poems: A New Edition, edited by Richard J. Finneran. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company 1983.

Longley, Edna. Living Stream: Literature and Revisionism in Ireland. Newcastle upon Tyne, England: Bloodaxe Books, 1994.

The Use of History in the Formation of a Republic

The theme of history in Irish literature is prominent in the Proclamation of the Republic of Ireland, a declaration of the end of British rule by representatives of the fledgling government of Ireland. In the Easter Proclamation, as the Proclamation is also known as, the history of Ireland is used to glorify and empower the people of Ireland. Specifically, the history of Ireland is used to emphasize a tradition of fighting for freedom in order to strengthen the demand for independence. The Easter Proclamation depicts the tradition of resistance as an ancient and long-standing institution by dedicating this Proclamation to “the dead generations” and by stating that the Irish people have asserted their right to freedom via armed conflict six times during the past three hundred years at the time (Proclamation of the Republic, lines 2, 13-14). The Easter Proclamation" also adds legitimacy to its struggle by concisely describing the deliberate planning of the independence movement, the support of foreign powers, and the utilization of opportune timing in its body (lines 5-8). The Easter Proclamation also uses the history of Ireland to discredit the British occupation of Ireland, calling it the “usurpation of [Irish freedom] by a foreign power” and accusing London of creating division between different groups in Ireland (lines 10, 20-21).
The theme of history is utilized artistically in the Easter Proclamation as a glorified struggle between an oppressive foreign empire and a resistive and strong people striving to remove their yoke of oppression. The Easter Proclamation describes the need for Ireland’s children to “sacrifice themselves for the common good” in order to attain freedom, portrayed as an “august destiny” (lines 29-30). The Irish are described as proud and possessing a “full confidence of victory” (line 8). In the Easter Proclamation, the British government is an alien and insidious power trying to create divisiveness among the Irish (lines 10, 20-21). The Easter Proclamation does describe events with historical basis, such as the differences between groups of Irish. While the Easter Proclamation may have exaggerated the extent to which the British may have tried to instill divisiveness among the Irish, the claims are not completely unfounded. Many Protestants emigrated to Ireland as part of a British plan to install a loyal British front on Ireland in order to maintain a foothold on the island (Making the Sense of the Troubles 2). The artistic depiction of the struggle for Irish independence further magnifies the necessity and the high morality of the resistance.

Work Cited
McKittrick, David and McVea, David. Making Sense of the Troubles: The Story of the Conflict in Northern Ireland. Chicago: New Amsterdam Books. 2002.

Clarke, Thomas, MacDiamada Sean, et al. Proclamation of the Republic. 24 April 1916.

Irish Catholic Memory in “Easter, 1916”

Jocelyn Pettway
ENG 342
Spring 08

Irish Catholic Memory in “Easter, 1916”

In her essay, “The Rising, the Somme and Irish Memory” Edna Longley examines the central forces of apathy, myth, revisionism, and martyrdom and their impact on Irish memory. Yeats’ exposes each of these forces in his commemorative poem “Easter, 1916” in order to trouble the inconsistencies of Irish memory. While considering the memory of the Irish Catholics as a whole, Yeats conveys suspicions over the selective memory of the public and the way our memories change.
According to Longley, the Catholics portray apathy in their refusal to participate in the “insistent rhetorical display” (Longley 76) of the Protestants. The apathy that the Catholics are accused of is demonstrative silence, which was born out of frustration, and only serves to reinforce their exclusivity. Yeats examines apathy within the Catholic community. The repetition of “polite meaningless words” highlights the hollowness of socially acceptable apathy and indifference in this time of action. The “Polite meaningless words” also highlight a disdain for the rhetoric employed by the Protestants.
In her essay Longley reveals that Irish culture is largely based in myth. In Yeats’ poem, following the description of several mythical characters, “A drunken, vainglorious lout” (Yeats 32), is added those remembered. The mythical figures of the Uprising are based on optimistic exaggerations of the individual’s characteristics. Yeats sharply contrasts the last man with the overwhelming goodness of the characters before him to expose the myths as selective. Yeats’ careful choice of the word “dreamed,” in his introduction of the man, reveals uncertainty in this character’s negative characteristics because they are not included in the myths about the characters.
Longley uses this poem as an example for revisionism and grasps on to the symbol in the third stanza to illustrate her point: “Stone, for Yeats, signifies monistic fixity, opinion” (Longley 83). Yeats subverts the Davisite ballad that Longley describes in order to revise the way we commemorate and further illustrate the impact of emotion in remembrance.
Longley explains that the idea of martyrdom is key in a culture of “Sado-masochism…[which] ends with the victim becoming authoritarian in his turn” (Longley 82). Through the repetition of the word “name,” Yeats shows how remembrance empowers and awards the dead with a second birth. He forces his reader to accept that, even as a martyr, to be remembered means to be changed.

Works Cited
Longley, Edna. Living Stream: Literature and Revisionism in Ireland. Newcastle upon Tyne, England: Bloodaxe Books, 1994.

Yeats, W.B., The Poems: A New Edition, edited by Richard J. Finneran. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company, 1983.

Not So Romantic Remembrance

Yeats’s poem Easter 1916 addresses the theme of memory by reflecting on the leaders of the Irish rebellion against British rule. He delves into each one of the characters and focuses on certain attributes for which they are remembered. The somber language captures shock and sadness that spread through the country as a result of this troubled revolution. The poem’s title, Easter 1916, immediately draws attention to this particular event. Readers that do not have knowledge of this event would be compelled to research more in order to understand what Yeats means in the poem which in effect draws attention to the memory of the Easter rising.

The poem begins, “at close of day” already conjuring up images of darkness. The memories of this day are not of happy shining events but of dark tragic deeds that would fit with dusk. The light leaving the land parallels the peace that would leave the land at the start of this uprising. The “vivid faces” Yeats describes contrast with the deathly atmosphere he creates. These faces, full of life, illustrate the conviction these men and women had for their beliefs of an independent Ireland. Yeats sees them clearly, which provokes the idea that he remembers them well. When Yeats speaks with these “faces” he only nods or speak “polite meaningless words” giving a dull feel to the encounter. Yeats does not choose to remember these rebellious leaders as having great rhetoric that inspired souls to follow them but merely speaking words of little or no meaning.

In the second stanza, Yeats expounds deeper into the memories he has of each one of the leader. Yeats does not fully praise the woman who spends her life “In ignorant good-will,” though reflects that she was “young and beautiful.” He further only incorporates some figures for their roles in the rebellion though personally he has troubled thoughts of them. At the end he writes some important names out in the verse contributing to their memory. Yeats recalls this event as birthing a “terrible beauty” and stresses the importance of remembering these people in actuality, not as romantic heroes. Yeats discourages the practice of clouding the accuracy of a memory by displaying these individual as mortal and flawed.

Yeats, W.B., The Poems: A New Edition, edited by Richard J. Finneran. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company 1983.

Prompt #1

Explore in either the “Easter Proclamation” or in Yeats’s poems one of the following themes from our discussion on Friday: naming, memory, difference, the relation between politics and religion, fear, or history. How do these themes, so central to Irish culture and history, manifest themselves in literature? How do they operate artistically? Incorporate into your response what you have read in Edna Longley’s article and in Making Sense of the Troubles. (If you wish to consider another theme, please consult me first.) Remember your posts must comply with academic protocol and are due by 2:00pm Monday.