Poetry Essays

Victoria.

These were some of my poetry essays from last year. I don't know what poets are on the course this year but I thought I should post them here just in case anybody could use them for revision. A few of them are extremely long but I wrote them not to learn off but as a revision exercise. I found it very beneficial to type up my essays last year so I could print them off, arrange them and read them in clear text. I would recommend this approach to someone who feels that they are struggling to read their essays they have written on separate poems, torn sheets or covered in corrections.

Victoria.

Patrick Kavanagh
Eloquent Revelations of the Ordinary

It has been said that “Kavanagh’s poems are eloquent revelations of the ordinary”. Through his use of interesting language and thought provoking imagery, he conveys a new and unusual view of an otherwise mundane world. He reveals himself as a person who finds the ordinary, extraordinary. He celebrates everyday life through beautiful language and illustrates the beauty of the ordinary. Through his work we are shown a world of wonder, radiance and beauty.

One of my favourite poems by Patrick Kavanagh is ‘A Christmas Childhood’. Here we see how he employs beautiful imagery to convey the wonder that a young child feels at christmas time, something familiar to all of us. We first see the ordinary combined with the extraordinary in the first two lines ‘one side of the potato pits was white with frost - how wonderful that was, how wonderful!’. Line one is a factual and accurate description while line two is powered with emotion in tone, repetition and exclamation mark. This poem allows the reader to imagine Christmas in a picturesque, rural setting. We see evidence of a Catholic upbringing and this shapes the way in which the child interprets what it sees ‘the light between the ricks of hay and straw was a hole in heaven’s gable’. Hay and straw are ordinary sights on a farm but for Kavanagh, Earth gives way to heaven, everything is possible and the ordinary is never forgotten. Heaven is spoken of in terms of a building whose ‘gable end’ has a lit window. The frosted apple tree is another image of spiritual significance which carries a different feeling into the world of the poem. The tree ‘with its December glinting fruit’ is representative of the tree of knowledge in Eden which led to the fall of man into a sinful state.

The childlike descriptions in this poem are thought provoking, the reader imagining them-self as a young child rediscovering the magic of christmas. They see the wonder and beauty in ordinary things and it is Kavanagh who enables them to do this. The reader feels free to dream as they did before everything needed a rational explanation. While reading this poem one may feel as if the surprise and magic and we are left only with our boring little lives void of creativity, wonder and drive.

A second poem which I thoroughly enjoyed and in which I felt connected to the poet was ‘Inniskeen Road : July Evening’. In the opening Kavanagh describes the scene prior to a local dance. Again, we see him depicting ordinary events of life. He paints the scene of the youth of the village traveling to a dance ‘the bicycles go past in twos and threes theres a dance in Billy Brennan’s barn tonight’. These lines are casual and colloquial. It is language at its simplest and naming a real person roots it in the ordinary and more realistic. These opening lines flow easily with the aid of alliteration, end rhyme and repetition. Kavanagh belongs to the place yet he feels like an outsider. He is aware of the sense of companionship and togetherness between those going to the dance in ‘twos and threes’, he feels cut off and not involved in the ‘half talk code of mysteries’. I think this poem is an extremely accurate illustration of what one feels when not part of the group, an onlooker, an artistic portrait of an ordinary occurrence and ongoing internal battles with self confidence.

The poet is dismayed that he is unable to participate. He cannot understand the other people and feels like he speak a different language.. The repetition of ‘And’ emphasises his sense of separation, isolation and dismay. In the first four lines of the sonnet there is a sense of anticipation, then the poem becomes increasingly quiet and contemplative. The sounds begin to move less freely as he comes to terms with his isolation.

Though Kavanagh is alone, he is connected with the landscape in a way that the part goers are not. His understanding of the locality is different. He wishes to find hidden meaning in the most ordinary objects and is deeply philosophical. The second section of the poem begins with ‘I’ and signals a more direct tone. The poet describes his love-hate relationship with poetry, ‘I have what every poet hates in spite’. He compares his situation to that of Alexander Selkirk, ‘Oh Alexander Selkirk knew the plight’. This comparison is an interesting technique as the poet feels as he imagines Selkirk felt, extremely isolated as he was marooned on a island, an interesting exaggeration. The last phrase of the poem ‘of banks and stones and every bloomin’ thing’, is controversial as it may be interpreted in a number of ways, both positive and negative. It could be employment of slang or refer to his imagination and ability to see beauty and wonder in the ordinary.

Another poem in which we witness Kavanagh painting beautiful images surrounding the mundane is ‘Advent’. This piece encourages the reader to wonder about the true meaning of life. This impressive and beautifully written poem looks at Advent, the four weeks in the church calendar when Christians prepare for Christmas. It is a time of contemplation and discovery. At the time when this poem was written this time of year was of greater spiritual importance to the majority, more so than today and was associated with penance and deprivation. The poem is creatively divided into four distinct sections representative of each week of Advent.

The poem begins with a feeling of excess and distaste ‘ we have tested and tasted too much lover’. The poet is in a dull state and lacking in wonder. The next line is of great relevance to all of us ‘through a chink too wide comes in no wonder’. I believe that all should reflect on this line as it speaks a truth that our materialistic society must realise. We have focused too much on objects and not enough on the things that truly matter like spirituality and the family. This line is of contrast to the sense of magic and unknown in ‘A Christmas Childhood’. Kavanagh pleads with us to re-create the mystery of God. The poet’s life is lacking in awe, something many of us can identify with. He longs for a return to simplicity and spiritual awareness ‘of penance will charm back the luxury of a child’s soul’. A biblical reference is employed ‘we’ll return to Doom, the knowledge we stole but could not use’. This may refer to the eating of the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge in the Garden of Eden as with this fateful action, came man’s downfall into a state of sin. The poet speaks of the ‘newness that was in every stale thing when we looked at it as children’, he highlights the element of wonder and quest for knowledge in a child’s enquiring mind, something we have lost. He wishes to return to the beginning and employs images associated with Christ’s birth to portray this ‘cart tracks, old stables where time begins’. He wants us to abandon the excess knowledge and sophistication we have acquired for what is basic and real.

In the second section of the poem, Kavanagh looks to the future. There is a sense of hope and positivity as he anticipates the renewal and rejuvenation, ‘O after Christmas’. The ‘O’ registers the tone of joyful anticipation. Life’s ‘ordinary plenty’ will surround the poet. Kavanagh is not looking for the exotic or extravagant, instead he finds the extraordinary in the ordinary. He will experience God’s love and enjoy its presence without analysing it ‘ God we shall not ask for reason’s payment’. In the final lines Kavanagh speaks of throwing off ‘the clay minted wages’. ‘Clay minted’, reminds one that we are no more that dust and that adult, conscious, mortal knowledge should be abandoned and thrown away if we are to experience joy and God’s love. The poem ends with a expectation of a new beginning ‘And Christ comes with a January flower’.

In conclusion, there are many examples of Kavanagh’s poetry in which he speaks of the extraordinary within the ordinary. He wishes us to see the world as a child again, full of wonder, magic and expectation. He asks us move away from materialism to enable us to appreciate life for what it is. He sees God’s creation in the smallest and most insignificant things and encourages the reader to look for it too ‘charm back the luxury of a child’s soul’.

Victoria.

‘Boland’s poetry celebrates the domestic and the role of women in a world that is quite often violent and threatening’

It has been said that ‘Boland’s poetry celebrates the domestic and the role of women in a world that is quite often violent and threatening’. Writing against the background of Ireland and its history she writes about a rich variety of themes in her work. It is unquestionably true that she celebrates women and their role in both the domestic situation and society in general. In addition, she communicates her vision of women against the backdrop of a world that is characterised by war and violence.


Many of her poems deal with the position of the woman. In each we are exposed to various facets of the woman, from her domestic role as a caring mother in ‘The Pomegranate’, ‘This Moment’ and ‘Child of Our Time’ to the oppresses plight of a sterile woman in ‘The Famine Road’ doomed to live out her life without realising her dream of having children. Other poems such as ‘Outside History’ discuss the role of the many women who were not recorded in the annals of Irish history in times of oppression in this country. ‘Child of Our Time’ vividly represents the situation of a mother confronting the death of a child as a result of needless acts of violence.


A simple poem entitled ‘The War Horse’ draws a dramatic parallel between a traveller’s horse that is turned loose from a camp on the Enniskerry Road and the influx of terrorist violence in the south of Ireland. Setting the scene in suburbia, the poet dramatically succeeds in fusing together the powerful image of a wild horse as it trots along the road in suburban Dublin one evening. This image becomes a sustained metaphor in the poem, through which the poet articulates her own insights and views on the reality of war and its impact on the South.


In fifteen stanzas, all only two lines in length, Boland conveys the movement of this creature, the destruction left in its wake together with her own personal reactions to the whole situation, which are clear and sincere. She comments on how the horse has destroyed just a rose ‘only a rose which will now never climb the stone of our house’, a laurel tree and a crocus. She uses these images to draw in the political theme and to articulate a strong and serious commitment on the part of the South to terrorist violence ‘why should we care if a rose, a hedge, a crocus are uproots, like corpses, remote, crushed and mutilated?’.








She reiterates the fact that we are safe, however, that our fear of commitment has not been clearly or fully formulated and how, with the disappearance of the horse, this fear has vanished ‘but we, we are safe, our unformed fear of fierce commitment gone’. She moves on to show us how our neighbours use the shelter of their curtains to hide themselves ‘neighbours use the subterfuge of curtains’. Her reaction is one of gratitude when the horse passes her ‘thankfully passing us’. As she pauses she tells us that for a second only her blood is still with atavism. Motivated by pride in her remote ancestors yet she returns to the reality of the smashed rose, which reminds he of the country’s violent history in the past.


In ‘The Famine Road’ we are confronted with an image of a young woman who is unable to bear children. She is dehumanised and humiliated by an insensitive doctor ‘anything may have caused it, spores, a childhood accident, one sees day after day these mysteries’.Her situation and immense psychological pain is compared to the victims of the Famine in the mid-nineteenth century and the injustice they experienced. The world of British imperialism and colonialisation are set against the backdrop of this woman’s plight. The poem is recounted from two separate standpoints, a clinical cold doctor and an inhumane brutal English officer. The world of the poem is stark and threatening. The woman’s problem which is very personal and deeply upsetting for her is simply dismissed in cold insensitive tones ‘take it well woman, grow your garden, keep house, goodbye’.


The poem ‘Child of Our Time’ is written from the standpoint of a woman and mother in a world of terrorism and violence. The voice of the poem is of a mother who witnesses the needless death of a young child in terrorist violence in a city in the south of Ireland. The entire poem paints a vivid, grim and hopeless portrait of the utter futility of this type of warfare. The speaker addresses the world and pleads with them to learn from this needless death ‘and living, learn, must learn from you dead’.

In conclusion, it is certainly clear that Boland is a poet who represents Ireland and in particular, the situation of the woman. Through a rich range of various themes and poetic techniques, Boland succeeds in drawing vibrant images of female sterility against a backdrop of oppression and famine. She uses her work as a vehicle to articulate her public condemnation of violence and its horrific consequences for society. She is a valuable and realistic poet who speaks on behalf of a community suffering as a result of war and violence.


(focusing on escaping the modern world)

WB YEATS
A PERSONAL RESPONSE

I thoroughly enjoyed studying the work of WB Yeats. He presents key themes and messages in the form of artistic and beautiful imagery. He deals with many important issues facing Ireland at the beginning of the 20th century, the search for oneself and death. A key theme in his work is the need to escape, to create a sanctuary where one can think clearly minus the materialism and grayness of the modern world, looking back and reflecting on the past.

‘The Lake Isle of Innisfree’ is one of my favourite of Yeats’ poems. It deals with the search for inner peace and the importance of escaping the modern world to reflect on what is truly important. Innisfree is a place of unparalleled beauty for Yeats. Each of us has our own Innisfree and the desire to escape meaning that everybody can identify with the poet.

Yeats adopts a deliberately quaint and old fashion style lending the occasion a ceremony and seriousness ‘I will arise and go now to the Isle of Innisfree’. There is a timeless quality to the poem even though it was written in 1888. The ‘pavements gray’ could describe any dark, boring and dull place today. It may not even be a place, it could be a mindset that needs to end and a reflection on the need for refreshing the mind.

The long lines give the poem a stately leisured tone. We see that the poet will be at one with nature as he describes his beautiful hideaway ‘a small cabin I will build there of clay and wattle made, and a hive for the honeybee’. Colour, sounds and textures combine to make the world of the poem. The poet allows the reader to conjure up images of escaping the quick pace of modern day life and old romantic Ireland. He is confident that one day he will achieve this state of bliss in his world ‘I shall have some peace there’.

‘September 1913’ is another interesting and thought-provoking poem. Prompted by his anger at the country for refusing to house beautiful pieces of art, the Hugh Lane pictures, it expresses his private opinion in public. He is disillusioned with the Irish, especially the wealthy Catholic middle classes who were in general mercenary, small-minded and without vision.

The simple title is factual and roots the poem in Irish history. We quickly become aware that Yeats is unhappy with the way society is operating and he portrays people in an ugly light. He paints images of materialistic selfish people who equate money to prayer and will not stop until everything is gone ‘but fumble in a greasy till and add the half pence to the pence and pray to shivering prayer until you have dried the marrow from the bone’.






Yeats does not believe that men should give their lives to praying and saving, saving their souls or their money, or both. Line six is extremely ironic ‘for men were meant to pray and save’. An ideal Irishman for Yeats is John O’Leary and all others are measured against him. The poet longs for the return of romantic Ireland, to the time of myth and legend, long before materialism and selfishness, where one could be free, fired with ideas and idealism. At the time that this poem was written, he felt that there was no fire or energy in the people society was in a state of inertia with no individuals capable of leading and inspiring the people.

Yeats’ tone becomes even more bitter and dismissive as he announces ‘Romantic Ireland’s dead and gone, it’s with O’Leary in the grave. He laments the loss of this period in time. Deeply disillusioned
and disappointed with the present, he compares the Ireland of now with the Ireland of the past. He admires the Irish heroes of the past who gave their life for the people who still evoke passion ‘the names that stilled your childish play’. He announces that these men were selfless and reckless ‘they have gone about the world like wind, but little time had they to pray for whom the hangman’s rope was spun’. This images suggest the inevitability of their deaths, their destiny and the price they paid in an attempt to orchestrate change. Yeats emphasises the difference between these men and the men of today and vents his frustration ‘And what, God help us could they save?’, they were so dedicated that they had no time to save a penny before their premature violent deaths. In contrast, the men of 1913 are selfish, money obsessed and uncultured.

The use of the line ‘romantic Ireland’s dead and gone, it’s with O’Leary in the grave’ gives the poem momentum and emphasises the poet’s point. He then goes on to list men who made a great impact in Irish history and shaped the republican movement ‘for this that the blood was shed, for this Edward Fitzgerald died, And Robert Emmet and Wolfe Tone’. He names these men with respect and admiration. The poet measures sense against madness, caution against delirium, ‘all that delirium of the brave?‘and the shivering individual at the till versus the Romantic hero. By comparing and contrasting a dull Ireland of 1913 and the colourful and wonderful Romantic Ireland, Yeats further emphasises the country’s loss.

Having considered the past and the present, the poet then asks what would it be like if these men were here today ‘and call those exiles as they were in all their loneliness and pain, you’d cry, ‘some woman’s yellow hair has maddened every mother’s son’. He is deeply saddened at the fact that they would be mocked and treated like fools. Their noble motives would be misinterpreted, belittled, debased. The poet again emphasises the absolute contrast between the spirit of these generations of men, summing up that ‘they weighed so lightly what they gave’, he concludes that the heroes of the past saw saving Ireland and making an impact as their sole duty, today it is ferreting away money and praying to keep up appearances. By the and of the poem Yeats has bitterly accepts that ‘romantic Ireland is dead and gone’ and realises that it will not return.

I believe that this poem has a lot to offer the modern reader as we are in the same situation today. We are lovers of money, we love it more than each other. Self-centered individuals who believe that life conspires against us and in the statement ‘every man for himself’ more than ever. We can see clearly the impact of our actions as we continued until we sent the economy into a tailspin. We should take notice of sincere warnings such as those delivered in this poem and perhaps pain, suffering and poverty could be prevented or at least lessened.



‘An Irish Airman Foresees his Death’ is a short but very interesting poem by Yeats. It deals with the complex themes of death, youth and bravery. Here the poet writes in the voice of a persona, that if thirty-seven year old Major Robert Gregory. This young man was a soldier during world war I and perished in Italy. There is a deep tone of certainty and determination throughout, a feeling of the inevitable from the outset. This poem demonstrates the technique of second sight. As the young man did die in battle this allows Yeats to enable his persona to speak with foresight. The four-foot line, the tetrameter is used throughout and this awards it a sense of urgency.

From the opening line ‘I know that I shall meet my fate’, there is the sense of an individual confronting his destiny and that it is doomed is clear from the title. The young man is caught uo in a war and there is a lot of confusion in his thought process. He fights alongside the young British boys against the Germans but claims his real affiliation is with his native Galway. He does not hate the common enemy, Germany, nor does he love Britain. This fact allows the reader to imagine the young man with a deep love of his home as an unassuming and sympathetic individual.

There is emphasis on the man himself and ‘I’ is used six times in the opening for lines. The emphasis on himself gives way to a consideration of his allegiances. The repetition of ‘my’ reveals his deep commitment. It also enable him to examine the reasons for his involvement in this war fought far from home. In a poignant line he reflects and realises th at his loved ones will be affected the most by its outcome ‘no likely end could bring them loss or leave them happier than before’. This leads him to admit his reason for becoming an airman. He rejects the more obvious reasons given by young recruits ‘nor law nor duty bade me fight’. He then discloses the haunting and romantic explanation ‘a lonely impulse of delight drove me to this tumult on the clouds’.

The poem ends with a calculated, clear and understanding mind at work ‘I balanced all, brought all to mind’. There is great balance in the way these lines have been written representative of the young soldier’s psychological state. The choice was a considered one though it originally began as ‘an impulse of delight’. The past and the future are seen as ‘a waste of breath’. The final word ‘death’ verifies his passing and a sense of peace in the fact that he achieved his wishes.



The last of Yeats’ poems that I will discuss is ‘Sailing to Byzantium’. This beautifully written poem is a masterpiece and impacted me greatly as I studied it and looked into it in more depth. This poem is personal to the poet in contrast to ‘September 1913’ which was designed to express his feelings to the public. ‘Sailing to Byzantium’ is a meditation on growing old and aging.

The title suggests a stately, graceful journey to an ancient and beautiful setting, a timeless concept. Byzantium for Yeats represents an ideal place and the journey is an imagined metaphorical one. He rejects Ireland in the first line and declares ‘that is no country for old men’. He wishes to distance himself further from a country where he is no longer at ease, he is aging and cannot keep up with the quick pace of life and youth ‘the young in one another’s arms, birds in the trees’. Ireland symbolises the natural, temporal world, not necessarily Ireland itself, just the land of youth.





The poet rejects Ireland in the opening line as ‘no country for old men’. Its strong, direct and dismissive tone is registered immediately in this line. It is a clear statement indicative of how the poem will continue. The country is seen to be teeming with youth in the opening stanza and Yeats draws images from everyday life and nature to illustrate this creatively ‘the young in one another’s arm, birds in the trees’. It is a very attractive and idyllic picture that he paints but now for him in his old age and the world neglects his creative spirit that prompts him to ‘sail’ to Byzantium. . Their lives are transient

There is stark contrast between the energy filled lines of salmon jumping up river full of life ‘the salmon-falls, the mackerel crowded sea’ and the harsh sombre note that follows it ‘those are dying generations’. He discusses the inevitability of death and declares that one day the lovers in each others arms will too be in his situation, it is a natural and inescapable path, the young are not aware of there own mortality ‘whatever is begotten, born and dies’.

He declares that true beauty and intellect are invisible to the younger generations but works of art are not. The aging poet realises that he is growing old, that old age is inevitable, but that is will enable him to escape this imperfect world and to enter an immortal one. Writing at the age of sixty-one he focuses on himself and the reality of old age ‘an aged man is but a paltry thing, a tattered coat upon a stick’. This image is clear and provokes strong emotion in the reader as we realise how little confidence the poet has in his own ability as he ages and how he views himself in a world incapable of seeing his potential.

As the poem progresses he begins to imagine himself in the holy city of Byzantium itself. This is a legendary city famous for its love of art, magnificent monuments, accepting of the creative imagination and spirit. He then goes on to ask deep questions such as what is truly essential and concludes that it is the soul. If a human being studies the world of art and creativity it allows them to look deeper into oneself, our own soul through the immortal world of art.

Stanza three contrasts the heart and soul, the body and spirit, the sensual and intellectual. Yeats speaks of his heart being sick with desire and his body as being a only a broken and confused animal ‘consume my heart away sick with desire and fastened to a dying animal it knows not what it is and gather me into the artifice of eternity. These lines are very personal to the poet and I find them deeply poignant. These lines are in fact applicable to elderly members of our society who feel isolated and alone and at times even a reader who is young but sees them self in a cruel world than cannot accept them.

By stanza four the poet imagines that he has been gathered into this ‘artifice of eternity’. The natural world is left behind at this point and the world evoked is ornate, privileged and ceremonious. He speaks again of immortal art ‘once out of nature I shall never take my bodily form away from any natural thing but such a form as Grecian goldsmiths make’.







In contrast to the ‘’Lake Isle of Innisfree’ which I discussed earlier, the poet wishes to escape the natural world whilst in ‘The Lake Isle of Innisfree’ he wishes to be at one with nature and enjoy its splendor. In ‘Sailing to Byzantium’ the natural world is rejected and he summons up an elegant civilisation. I believe that this poem is one of Yeats; finest works and is very interesting, thought-provoking and of course beautiful. It creatively and uniquely illustrates the emotions of an aging man in a fast pace world who do not value his intellect, creativity and do not afford him a place in the world. He is invisible and seeks solace in Byznatium, a feeling I believe the reader can identify with.

In conclusion, I have found the poetry of Yeats to be very interesting, beautifully written and representative of society. I believe that it is still very relevant to the modern reader and that some of the key messages woven creatively and artistically throughout need to be understood by the world. Yeats has a unique way of connecting with the reader and by offering up his own personal thoughts and worries, the reader warms to him and feels welcome in his world. I have really enjoyed studying his work as at times it provoked me to evaluate my own life and feelings.

J_E

Nice one, very kind of you to post these up! You only need the Kavanagh, Yeats, and Boland one up I think.

Victoria.

Cydoniac wrote: »

Nice one, very kind of you to post these up! You only need the Kavanagh, Yeats, and Boland one up I think.

No problem. I thought they may be of some use to even one person as I know how stressed I was last year in the week leading up to exams. I'll remove the others then to reduce unnecessary clutter.

I have 'General Vision and Viewpoint', 'Main Themes' and 'Cultural Context' for Billy Elliot if anyone would like those too. All of my King Lear ones are useless this year unfortunately.

UL

Thanks so much Victoria I'm really not prepared for poetry and this will be a huge help. Thanks!

Jdivision91

thanks for this! considering doing yeats as a back up and i badly needed notes on it so thank you