Please help!!!!!! I have no idea what to do! We haven't done many poems and it only has to be 2 refill pages long. The poems we've done so far are Wounds, Last Requests, Badger and An Amish Rug! Any help would be greatly appreciated before tomorrow! Thanks a mil i'll help you out with anything else!
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AllHonours Q&A » Leaving Cert English
Write a personal response to Michael Longley's poetry?
(9 posts)-
Posted 2 years ago #
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Do you like the poetry of Michael Longley, and why?
I do like the poetry of Michael Longley. I like it because of its focus on the theme of Northern Ireland, its graphic descriptions, the detail in Longley’s poetry and the network of relationships revealed in the poetry of Michael Longley. The poems I have studied are WREATHS, WOUNDS, LAERTES, CEASEFIRE, BADGER and LAST REQUESTS, AN AMISH RUG and SELF-HEAL.As said, one reason I like the poetry of Michael Longley because of its themes, such as the theme of the situation with Northern Ireland during the time in which he wrote his poetry, the 1980’s/90’s. Longely’s poetry gives us a deep insight into the Northern Irish situation, as he directly shows the effects of the fighting, from within Northern Ireland. This gives us much more of an understanding than mere television or radio coverage, which simply provides coverage of the fighting; Longley's poetry shows us the effect of the Troubles on human life.
In WREATHS Longley shows us how even the ordinary people are affected by the fighting in Northern Ireland, not just those directly involved in the fighting, such as a man ‘preparing an Ulster fry for breakfast’. Other such ordinary people are the greengroceer who ‘ran a good shop’ and was ‘behind the counter, organised’. Likewise, in WOUNDS Longley again shows us how the most ordinary are affected by the Northern Irish situation – we hear that a bus conductor was in his house when murdered, ‘Without a murmur’, ‘shot through the head/ By a shivering boy who wandered in’. Elsewhere, in LAERTES Longley shows how people involved in the Northern Irish situation have their lives irreovcably changed because of the fighting and if they ever return to normality then it takes a substantial amount of time, emotion and effort, through the example of Odysseus. Longley compares Odysseus to a Northern Irish person in the fighting – we see that Odysseus has been gone so long from his life, that much has changed, such as his father whom as he cradles is called ‘like driftwood the bones of his dwindling father’. This is the same for many Northern Irish. In another poem, CEASEFIRE, Longley provides us with the situation for many Northern Irish families during the times of the fighting, when bodies of their loved ones were lost in the fighting and never returned to them to be buried and mourned. Many Northern Irish families did not have the luxury of Priam to go and kiss ‘the killer of my son’ – Longley here suggests that such compassion as is seen by both Prian and Achilles is needed in Northern Ireland.Another reason I like the poetry of Michael Longley is because of its graphic descriptions. In his poetry Longley uses graphic descriptions which suddenly and forecfully conjure images in our minds of the events of his poetry, a subtle and clever way to engage us in and help us understand his poetry.
We see in this WREATHS, as Longley describes the death of the civil servant Martin McBirney. He does not simply say he was shot. To capture the abruptness, cruelty and impact of his murder, Longley goes into severe detail to show the reader how McBirney was killed, as ‘A bullet entered his mouth and pierced his skull’. We see the same in BADGER. Longley shows the same cruelty of a murder here, with the murder of the badger. He forces us to uncomfortably imagine the death of the badger with the mention of when ‘the tongs take hold’ of the badger and drag him out of his underground home. By later describing his dead body as ‘His limbs dragging after them’ Longley uses another graphic description to show how a living creature has been cruelly treated and demeaned so. In WOUNDS a graphic description for a different purpose is seen here, as Longley describes the dead bodies of those at war. By mentioning an almost insulting part of the dead’s bodies, ‘a landscape of dead buttocks’ Longley seems to be almost crossing the line of decency. But at the same time, he reminds us of the finality of death, and that when we die all that is left is merely our corporeal state, such as our ‘buttocks’. This is all that war has left – it is has taken life from these bodies – this is war’s true devastating effect.Continued at http://ryjolc.weebly.com/prescribed-poetry-answers.html
John
http://www.allhonours.ie/2009/09/lc-jc-english-grinds-online-weekly-newsletter-free-online-help-answers-to-every-question-ever/
http://www.ryjolc.weebly.comPosted 2 years ago # -
got it sorted but thanks a million i'll use it again!
Posted 2 years ago # -
thirteen,
no probs, hope it comes in handy! If you're interested, I've got a full set of notes for Leaving Cert English paper 2 if you want them? Email me at ryanj27@msn.com if so!
John
Posted 2 years ago # -
"no probs, hope it comes in handy! If you're interested, I've got a full set of notes for Leaving Cert English paper 2 if you want them? Email me at ryanj27@msn.com if so!"
Hi John, could you please state if these notes are free or not before people email you? If you wish to highlight your grinds/notes please direct people to your grind ad.
Posted 2 years ago # -
Patrick,
already highlighted grind ad in answer above with the poetry section. I haven't stated a price for the notes in the last comment because there is none.
John
Posted 2 years ago # -
Perfect, free notes, excellent! Thanks for clearing that up. Just trying to keep everything as transparent as possible.
Posted 2 years ago # -
A change Patrick,
free notes are no longer available now, patrick, due to email discussed minutes ago and notes being placed on the site.
John
Posted 2 years ago # -
An Introduction to the Poetry of Michael Longley
Introductions are strange things. I often find after reading one that I am very confused – as if the author has expected me to know the contents of the work(s) being introduced. Bearing these thoughts in mind I decided to ensure that this introduction was presented in a logical and coherent manner: firstly, I will discuss the themes that Michael Longley deals with; secondly, I will discuss how these themes are informed by his/her personal life; and, thirdly, I will discuss the predominant images that can be found in some of Longley’s poems. The poems that I have chosen to look at that I feel best represent Longley’s ouevre are 'Wounds', Carrigskeewaun', Wreaths', 'Last Requests', 'An Amish Rug', and 'Ceasefire'.
When considering the themes of Longley's work a word that always comes to my mind is 'compassion'. This is because the major theme of Longley's poetry is, for me, the compassion that he has for others.
Rest of answer available here.
Posted 2 years ago #
