Wormley

Study Guide

Course b-122 E

Advanced Modern Poetry & Social Issues

Professor Ruolf Wormley, MS PhD

Rev. 5, Nov. 1996

Instructions: Please read this section carefully as there are four levels of course involvement. Course a-122 is the advanced honors course and the 'b' designation of b-122 refers to the evening classes. The evening classes differ from the daytime classes in several ways. The 'a' classes are seated entirely of matriculated degree oriented advanced literature students. The evening 'b' classes are made up of four sorts of students: 1: Matriculated degree oriented advanced literature students whose course mix did not allow day time scheduling. These students are to consider themselves as 'a' curriculum and are responsible for all assignments in the 'a' workbook. If you did not get a copy of the 'a' workbook, notify me immediately, otherwise you will quickly fall fatally behind. 2: Masters of Fine Arts - Elocution candidates. In the 'a' workbook are your assignment items, marked 'E'. The 'E' is also tagged after the page number (example : page 25 / E ) so that the 'E' items are easier to find. For elocution students, the 'a' assignments are optional. If submitted, they will be critiqued but not graded. Your grade will come only from recitation. The importance for your studies is the mastery of conveyance of substance by voice and manner of presentation. For example, an 'a' student may assert that in a certain line of verse, the poet comes unglued and seethes at God. You, on the other hand, do not get to say nor write that, but must somehow convey it in your voice and demeanor. The only reason for permitting you to optionally write your interpretations, is to make allowance for new insights that might have been missed by others. You are encouraged to cooperate with the 'a' students on your assignments. Originality of thought is NOT your goal. Portrayal is. If you collaborate, note the students' names on your presentation card. Each card is to be handed to me prior to recital. That's where my notes go. I do not read your or any collaborating written work until AFTER the oral presentations. I do compare my notes of impressions with the later read written assertions. Disparity between what you convey and what is written really hurts you. Be careful in what you take on. Make no mistake about it, the 'E' students are the heart of the 'b' sessions and the reason that applications are so high (less than 5% get accepted). Don't let us down. Be bold. A bold interpretation that fails will be rated higher than a safe copy of a past performance. Use the video library primarily so that you don't inadvertently copy a past performance. All presentations are taped and made part of the library.

Rewind all tapes before returning. If any tape is damaged, report it to Miss. Hobson. You will be charged only if she discovers a defect that you do not report. Don't hit on Miss Hobson, either (this remark by her request). In addition to the 'E' listings in the 'a' workbook, a poem of the day in the 'b' workbook will be recited by random selection of an 'E' matriculee at each session. These, off-the-cuff recitations are not graded unless they are spectacular. Try to be spectacular. Let it all hang out, can't hurt here. This semester the 'b' workbook is dedicated to the poems of Gavin McGuiness. Females in the 'E' category may elect numerically paired alternative works (from the workbook Appendix-F listings) if the selection is irreparably male voiced. A second option is to take a chance on a selection from the great writers (I'll be the judge) that deals with themes similar to those in the daily pick. Gals, every time one of you tries to do a male portrayal - it stinks! A talent needed in elocution is knowing what material to avoid. This is equally true for the guys attempting ladies’ poetry, but that won't come up this quarter. 3: Gallery students. ('G'): You represent the bulk of the body heat in this course. You are not receiving grades, nor is your work graded. You may, however, submit your ideas to an 'a' student for critique. You must sign each submission and show some form of identification at the time. The 'a' enrollees are REQUIRED to review notes submitted by gallery listeners . Note the term 'listener'. You only listen. Do not ask questions in class. You may applaud or hiss presentations. Your main function is to provide mass to the audience for our 'E' enrollees. Be a good audience, but don't encourage bad performances. Your written notes submitted to the 'a' students may not exceed one half page. Limit comments to a single idea, question, pivotal concept, or observation. Occasional gallery submissions will be read aloud in later classes. 'G' students must not sit in the red tagged seats which are reserved for our 'a' and 'E' enrollees. You may bring a friend to class as long as seating allows. The large Wilson auditorium now permits this luxury. If you do bring company, use the balcony section until the start bell. If seats are still unoccupied in the main section after the bell, you may then QUIETLY relocate. Some gallery students may sit in the green tagged seats (see below - #4). 4: Gaelic Studies students. Consider yourselves part of the 'Gallery'. Your assignments and grades come from Professor Synge. He will hold symposia

after the recitals in the Green (what else) Ballroom - located at the far end of the entry hallway. Your seats are reserved with green name cards.

Finals As there are no final exams in this course, the assignments are critical. The only excuse for a late submission is delay critical to the work itself (one student went to Egypt to gather the details of a theory - I allowed that late submission IN ADVANCE so that the trip could be made during the inter- session). Get pre-approval for any such delays. Rumors Naughty words : Please let the misled souls, who are still picketing outside, know that we are not, as was rumored, concentrating on Bukowski again this semester. McGuiness merely hatchets people to pieces. He does not use any foul language. They can go home, assured. Dinner - for four - on the professor ? It is NOT a rumor, the offer is still on. Nobody has collected, so far. I dare anybody to write a coherent and convincing paper that shows Nietzsche to have been anything but a posthumously pandering schizophrenic. Of, course, I am the judge.

READ THIS ! Following are brief notes dealing with the 'b' workbook poems which will be presented and discussed. These notes are preemptory ! That is, they contain the essential obvious materials that ought NOT be rehashed. You can, of course, mention all or portions of this material. You need not avoid it. However, you may not CONFINE your work to this material. Remember, you are not here to just read and enjoy poetry, save that for the coffee houses! I demand - and by God I will get - excellence of scholastic effort. There are no degrees given out for baffling rant which no intelligent being can decipher. If I cannot understand what you are, allegedly, attempting to convey, then you have failed to CONVEY - thus you have failed. Justify and ILLUSTRATE your observations. Your philosophy is fine, but relate it to that of the great thinkers. I pride myself on the destruction of students who misquote or misrepresent the notions of past works to suit their own bias. Draw from history, past poetical works (foreign language allowed), and from the entire scope of human writing. I gave an 'A+' to one submission that merely placed an author's words, in segments, below a wide photo of a well known wall of cave art. It fit ! Be as wordy as you like, but, I am impressed by truths of brevity.

Workbook B - Selections of Poems of G.F.E. McGuiness

The poems of G.F.E. McGuiness can be read in many ways. However, there are strongly recurring themes. Irish nationalism is an obvious theme. Suffering the loss of a young bride-to-be with equal degrees of anger and rage is also obvious. More subtle is the handling of dualism. Duality : in man's nature - to be heroic or to be cowardly, in government - to serve or to oppress in nature - to nurture or to wantonly destroy. in spirituality - to ascend or slither McGuiness connects dualities with lines, as if constructing a connect- the-dots picture. New realities, not at all obvious in simple readings, are so constructed. He also takes on the mantle of the Irish story teller, whose obligation it is to retell the stories of others. From these second-person works, and notes on manuscripts, we can trace his travels. The shells, for example are those seen on the Pacific shores of California. Soldier works derive from stories told by his American friends who hid him away. Were these latter works 'songs for supper' ? Perhaps. Look at the art of renaissance Italy. All - so to speak - songs for supper. But the hosts are long forgotten, and only the songs remain. As to the story retelling, it is far richer than a mere verbatim recital. One doubts that the imagery presented by the poet ever existed in the originals. McGuiness puts this observation into the words spoken to him by a ghost (Cousins). in duty - to self or to others in love - lust vs. commitment

Away : This is a reply to someone who has tried to assert moderation. It says go away. Don't hold me back (anchor me). Gavin's anger needs expression lest it erupts inappropriately aimed, or worse (to him), dissolve, taking, with it, his soul. He sees himself as a being of anger, the incarnation of rage, a fury. Indignation must be acted on until the wrongs of the past are righted. McGuiness in his travels spent many years as a sailor and also as a farmer. His sea days were about equally divided as a sign-on hand on merchant marine vessels and as a fisherman. Once the authorities got wind of striking poetry retold by sailors and began asking questions, he was gone. The anchor is a nautical metaphor of the man himself. It is not too different from the land metaphor of being "planted", rooted in a cause. Against You : One of his most recent poems, this is not one of his poetic best, to be sure. However, it clearly provides insight to his breaking a vow of literary silence, of English - that is. The voice of the piece is certainly McGuiness. But the tone suggests that he is, himself, the intended listener, the conversation of a man talking to himself, considering alternatives, goals. Gavin had been living in America for some time. We know, for certain, that part of that time was in Ohio and in Illinois. An association with a Mr. Reilly settled him for a period. That settling was not destined to last due to his friend's ill health. The old rage resurfaces, as evidenced by this piece written just after the death of his American friend. The topic is fairly straightforward. Gavin McGuiness accepts that the language of America is not English. He adopts 'American' as a language of power, a weapon in his fight. He concedes the power of English, but asserts the greater power of the offspring language. He sets out an agenda. Some of the military imagery derives from his association with Richard Reilly who studied military history in retirement after a long military career.

Clutch: Four images of fists. The first, a hand holding a bouquet of flowers. The second, a gesture of determination. The third, a robber's grip on a bag of loot. The last, and worst, a choke hold. Murder. Gavin thrives on double and triple meanings. It ought not be lost on the reader that a clutch is also a bag. The title could very well read, "In the Bag." Maps : The systematic removal of Irish references, names, and history from current place names and activities is rejected. The natural, historic, and obvious is not explicable by the current Anglicized divisions and terminologies. It is the linguistic corollary of genocide. Refer also to the comments for 'Cousins'. Mavourneen : A very concise Katherine-Caitlin love declaration. His love and his country are intertwined images. Mother : An excellent translation of one of the early works, that demands the distinction between words and deeds. This piece asks the very obvious question, if "MOTHER ENGLAND" is a nurturer, as she claims, and not a predator in a guise, then explain the behavior. Muse : Clearly a counter argument to a demand to be temperate in language. This is an early work written before the "kidnapping". Already McGuiness is under pressure to be quiet. He is the victim of the bureaucratic ruse that asserts that anybody loud or making uncomfortable statements is disruptive AND seditious. Evil is OK. Being loud against evil is not. This poet does not seek approval, but awareness. Are 'JUSTICE' and 'LAW and ORDER' even related, philosophically?

Planted : It isn't clear from the manuscripts when this piece originated. It has the temperament of older reflection. It asks, "Do I carry this burden alone?". It is an ever harder task with time. The author is, metaphorically, an old sturdy tree on a mountain seen from a beach below. Viewing north, the upward branches seem to support the North Star and thus the heavens. The sky, so seen, seems to pivot on the tree itself. Is it the duty of this lone tree to sustain the motion of the universe? Lonely and rigid in a singular task of duty, the tree looks with guarded envy at the playful morning fog that rolls from off the ocean and up the lower slopes of the mountain before it melts away, at the sand piper that plays both on the sand and in flight, at storms that can come and go, at the seasons, and at change in general. It asks, "Am I of ONE CHOICE? Prayer : Probably with Katherine in his arms this thought, "God, If you must take her, please take me with her." In determining that Gavin and Katherine were not Romeo and Juliet, it is well to begin here. Unrequited love long antedates Shakespeare. The power is in the nature of the conflict and in the eventual resolution. These are very different stories. Promise : There are no notes on this translation. From the original, the going opinion is that the 'SHE' in the poem is opportunity. In many ways McGuiness blames himself for Caitlin's death. His father repeatedly warned him of the range of evil of which the 'Royalists' [sic] were capable. As the official powers were, young Gavin thought, constrained to the 'law', really, what could they do as long as you don't overtly break the law? The answer was an intolerable lesson. As in 'Bitter Lessons', some lessons do not educate but rather destroy the pupil. Would it have been better to have been quiet and gone along with the 'captivity'?

Requiem : Clearly, and supported by the manuscript notes, the poetic restatement of one of his father's stories wherein McGuiness senior, still wounded and bleeding, performed the burial ceremonies for his fallen comrades after an IRA reprisal raid. A field behind a farmhouse that was destroyed by the English is the hallowed ground. An interesting assertion is made that the failure to unite and participate in uprising causes more death. Gavin McGuiness states that the enemy wouldn't persist but for the perception of disunity. He calls uninvolvement "matricide". Sons : Irish history lesson. The question is whether the many churning power upheavals are a part of some global movement or merely random transient misfortunes. If the latter, then perhaps the current evil will also bubble away. If not, then a long road of hardship lies ahead. 'Flag' offers a related lesson, perhaps the solution. Drum : The Ulster men parade each year behind a big base drum to celebrate the drummers of the English invaders who dispatched the natives and took the land. Specifically, the events related to the Irish losses at the Boyne are the derivation of the celebration. The parade is not just a local historic notation of history, but a serious provocation bred of deep arrogance. Passing through the poor catholic communities, whose land was confiscated, by law, and whose not too distant relatives were systematically murdered and driven out, this is about the same as a Nazi parade through a Jewish community. Many of the Belfast riots followed similarly initiated insightful confrontations.

Tom Barry : An early member and officer of the IRA started out as a recruit in the English army during World War I. Fighting in the region between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers he was unaware that, at home, Irish patriots were being systematically hanged. Altered versions of English news papers were forwarded to the troops which removed all content of any unrest in Ireland, let alone a policy of hangings. Learning of the Easter Rebellion and Irish hangings, on returning home, was a severe psychological blow that transformed a bored action seeking Irish teenager into a raging soldier patriot. Touched : This is said to be about the moments just before Gavin's fiancee died. The clash of hope and uncompromising real events result in HIS spiritual death. Caitlin's demise is repeatedly expressed as HIS death. She lived. He died. Vision : His only view of the world for four years in captivity was a small crack in the mortar of the stone walled dungeon and his own mental vision. The former allowed just a pinhole view of the sky. Waves : A later piece, the dual representation of waves as a travel in time through memory and also as the effects of drinking that, perhaps, overcome the repression of painful memories. Pain of loss is clearly expressed. It is too vivid and shared by the reader to be called 'touching'. It crosses a line into the realm of tragedy. Words : Another poem dealing with official usage of language as a means of suppression. Law as a vehicle for treachery cloaked behind facades of platitudes. The generality falls to the specific. The specific is verbal concoction without substance of justice.

A gerrymander is a good example. Highly constructed of details, specificity, it is totally devoid of any pretense of evenhandedness. Pair that with bizarre voting rules that allow certain kinds of persons as many as three to four votes (each) and which deny entire categories of persons as having any vote have only a rigged outcome as real purpose. However, specifically enacted, they are 'THE LAW". Disrespect for 'THE LAW' is criminal. Again law without justice IS oppression. Unsaid : Interestingly, McGuiness looks to the Scots as brothers. He is known to have many friends and supporters in Scotland. Here, he asks the historical question , "Who benefits from the deaths in all these wars?" It is a caution against rising in response to calls from governments which use guile that plays on manliness or patriotism. He is telling the listener to think it through. A goddess of war feeds on the deaths of men. Men in high places sell their souls to this entity. The power of the mob does not benefit the mob. See also the comments about Mag Aonghusa versus son of Angus, in 'Cousins' notes. Valley : Perhaps a self salve. Just because there is beauty or inspirational quality, don't expect security. Nature is devoid of security. Enjoy the good while it is good. Nature is two edged. Winked : Gavin is an Irish story teller whose function is, sometimes, to take a story and pass it on - improved. Two poems, 'He Winked' and 'Faded Memories' are the same story retold from varied perspectives. Having lived in America, in various places, Gavin often repaid kindliness with gifts of poetic renderings of the lives of his benefactors. Dick Reilly was the most prominent. Mr. Reilly was a kindred soul to Gavin. Reilly 'lost' his love to the tragedy of competition. He, actually, never gained her approval, initially. A flashy but hollow character seduced this girl of his boyhood

dreams just as Reilly went off to war. In Patton's Third Army, totally heart broken, the young soldier lost himself, threw himself, into the glorious battles of the world at war. He married a cause, Patton's cause. See 'Violins of Autumn'. Many years later, Reilly married the woman who had been the dream girl of his childhood fancy. They courted without her ever realizing the degree to which he had been in love with her as a young man. McGuiness gives this romance two very interesting slants. One draws from his own tragedy in "Faded Memories". The other taps the years he spent as a sailor in merchant fleets, a nautical vantage in "He Winked ". The settled years that McGuiness spent with Mr. Reilly ended with Reilly's death. The toast to this friend is, as far as we know, the last selection not dealing with the throes of Ireland, although several of the older poems were revised to fit this man's memory. Richard Reilly was an amateur historian whose pursuit of the details of war reflects in the content of some of the best of McGuiness's works. The 'Empty Dance' was written from notes Reilly used for a lecture given at a meeting of The Daughters of the American Revolution. It was a lecture on the plight of the men who fought in World War I. Having seen the actual notes, consisting of just lists of statistics such as tons of rations, numbers of trench foot casualties, metal requirements of the war, and such, I cannot imagine how the imagery of that poem emerged. But then, I am not McGuiness. The Violins of Autumn : This follows rather closely on the events immediately before, during and after the "break out" of the third army. It is a startling retelling from the soldier's psyche. One wonders how the poet got that deeply into his friend's mind to literally become him. See also 'Winked'. Note, again, the marriage metaphor as depicting duty and dedication. Empty Dance : The great war, WW 1, was also the lonely war, the war of endless trenches and filth. What would an archaeologist think, if the diggings

from the old burried trenches had no written history? McGuiness sees a strange rigor mortis conveying the real torment which was not death, but lonely abandonment. A book end to 'The Violins of Autumn', 'Empty Dance' also metaphorically links the posture of death with mislead postures to empty ideals. Consider the sentiments of Tom Barry. Summertime Lullaby: This is a curious piece. On one hand it describes the beauties of nature in comfortable lulling tones. Then, it presents a solemn fact or perhaps implication. At face value, life, even comfortably lived, ends. At a deeper level and consistent with a theme found in more than a few of his other works, the beautiful and comforting things blind you with comfort to the bad. They set you up. At a very primal level, youthful Gavin's failure to believe in the evil that his father warned about destroyed his future. His life was "robbed", as he expressed in another piece. The poem warns against youthful perception more than anything else, taken in context. Marigolds : Rather simple poem that describes the square outside the home of the poet Yeats. In that square, marigolds are planted. The ideas which Yeats put forward are still alive and bright and as evocative as when he first penned them. This is in contrast to the cold and ever double- speaking politicians that have succeeded each other. Bitter Lessons : If a friend asks a favor, don't ask why or for details. That friend might not have the insight nor the ability to fully express the seriousness of the need. Damage to a friend by inaction is damage to oneself. Dingle Strand : I don't think there is any hidden message in this poem, but I could be wrong. The interest is in the playful structure set out in discrete thoughts of three lines structured in a/b/a/b rhyme of four lines plus a

swap to a/a/b/b including same line rhyme. This is a unique poetic structure. Rhymes in lines of four grouped in threes. Ahh, there is the hidden message - a unique and interesting form to help visualize a unique and interesting landscape! Taken : Written shortly after Caitlin's death, the original version of this poem was an out and out hit list. It actually named names of captors whose future was questioned. They all died violently. This reworking, generalizes that list. The severe torment of the original poem is not heard in this translation. This version is organized. The original, translated line by line, is erratic, almost shuffled. I don't speak Gaelige with the fluency of Professor Synge, perhaps he will recite the original for us, nevertheless the sound of the original is definitely more scary. You wouldn't want to be in the same room with any man making those sounds. I challenge an 'E' student to portray this American translation, adaptation, with the same generation of terror as Professor Synge evokes from the original. Guaranteed A+. Good effort, failing, gets a B. Takers? If so, notify Jane in my office.

Thus Siobhan : Reportedly, a child was thrust at McGuiness by two proud supporters. "We love you Gavin! Could you bless this child with your words?" These were the words. On Whispers : I think I cried when I read this one. I'm not sure if it was out loud, or just an internal reaction. The date of this piece is not recorded. It has the feel of mature reflection, but I wouldn't bet on it. We learn from this poem, that the dungeon cells of Gavin and Katherine were in the same hallway. Evidently they could not see enough to know if someone was near and able to overhear. One gets the impression that whispered conversations took place at night, when the likelihood of being heard was lessened. The speaking in Gaelige, only, probably began this way. Ocean : The original was constructed during the four years incarceration. It needs no additional words. Comparisons with older literature fails to find parallels. Know of any? Black Shore : This one really calls out to the imagination. Have you ever just gazed at the sky for hours on hours - wondering about life on other planets? Here, the land of the far shore fades to black as night falls. Lights, on land, on the other side, twinkle in continuity with stars in the night sky. These are land stars. McGuiness is too Earth bound to reach out to heavenly stars. Instead, he reaches out to hope, even impossible miraculous hope, that the star on which he wishes is the light of some house where his love awaits him. Aware of the impossibility of such wishful thinking, he reflects on the inevitability of the process.

He then wonders if people on the far shore have suffered as has he, and wishes them well. He suggests that few, knowing him, would wish him peace. Thus he relies on the anonymity of the darkness, that of his own candle in the night, for return blessings. His best chance for a prayer for his soul is if someone sees his light as a far away star from their shore and blindly offers up a prayer in his behalf. There is a strong implication that Gavin thinks he has no voice before God. He wants God's blessing but cannot drop his sword. "Vengeance shall be mine, as well." is a frequently quoted McGuiness-ism. Superficiality Song : (This is a condensation of a student submission) This poem really kicks butt. It never ceases to amaze me how people have deep convictions on subjects about which they know nothing. This is especially true in the case of events wherein our friends are not behaving in the most humanitarian way. If the official word is that England is in Ireland BECAUSE CATHOLICS AND PROTESTANTS ARE KILLING EACH OTHER, then that's it. It couldn't be that Belfast Harbor has huge economic value to England nor that the mercantile policies of England draw upon ruling other nations to insure raw goods for industry. No. That couldn't be it. The reality is that Catholics and Protestants get along rather well in the Republic of Ireland, where the "Church of Ireland" is a protestant sect in a Catholic majority country. Explain an elected Jewish mayor of Dublin. The tying of oppression to religion was the handiwork of William of Orange, a Dutchman who took power in England. An attempt was made, and failed, to exterminate the Irish from Ireland, including the children "Nits become lice.". That genocidal power still exists and exalts it's supremacy as a God given right to privilege. It is just another instance of apartheid. The English people are a very nice people. Really. But they have a schizophrenic government with half of it representing the power of a handful of heirs, thinking they are gods - they call them selves "Lords" and they mean it. The history of these ruling families is a litany of genocide, fratricide, matricide, patricide, looting, debauchery and every imaginable evil. Some lords! The eternal inbred genetic trait they carry in dominant genes is arrogance.

This is the charge McGuiness makes. It isn't religion. Religion is a smoke screen. It is about the arrogance of a predatory ruling class that has been tossed out of the Americas, out of India, out of Africa, out the orient, but not yet out of Ireland. It's amazing that Catholics and Protestants get along in the Republic of Ireland, in the Americas, in all the places where the English have been evicted but not in the one place where they persist and insist that they are the keepers of peace. Burned Meadow : Here the metaphorical and allusionary falls to the overt. McGuiness was robbed of the life he sought. He declares himself empty of purpose. Daniel O'Connell : This great Irish patriot subverted the banning of Irish political parties by forming organizations for the homeless, poor, sick and downtrodden. He sought financing for the fight by requesting that every member pledge a single penny a month to the cause (party). One More Chime : Yeats wrote about four times that chimes were rung in the history of Ireland. Each was a death knell, tolling a chance for freedom missed. McGuiness suggests that a fifth chime is due. This one is the death knell of the English grip. John : John Gilmartin was a drinking buddy during the years that McGuiness farmed and in the south of Ireland. John's wife, Mary, scolded both John and Gavin relentlessly as being too "detached" - her word for uninterested in social climbing. That she was shunned from admission to an art society consisting mostly of foreigners living on Irish soil led to her rejecting her husband as a husband for over a year. Gavin called this her "finest blessing", as the once faithful John sewed quite a few wild oats in the latter half

of that year. So many children were born with the same wild red hair, that set John apart, that McGuiness noted "The man never misses a shot."

Life Seeds : A farmer talks to his horse who pulls a plow. He relates that even as master of a mere beast, he could not hold respect with empty promises. Unfulfilled promises or hopes are not productive. Seasons : The poet sees himself as one of many whose essential being is innate and plays out to a careful scheme set by nature. But what happens when the sequence is thwarted? Whiskey : Here McGuiness mixes the metaphors of spirits - whiskey - and spirituality that derives from truth. "There's spirit in the truth" that can make you fall down from the unsteadying insights. He appeals to his Scottish brothers for spiritual support. The Cliffs of Moher : Pronounced 'Moor'. These towering dead vertical cliffs were the sight of a massacre. The jubilant troops of William of Orange celebrated their victorious invasion by throwing the entire population of the nearby village off these cliffs.

Killing Skies : (Excerpts from a student submission)

How could McGuiness have killed so many men, more importantly, men living very far away from each other in too narrow a time frame for a single man to have been the cause? This poem gives the clue. These are not the thoughts that ought to come from McGuiness. He is clearly giving life to someone else's thoughts. The notes which accompanied the American manuscript (see Appendix D in workbook 'a') confirm a long-standing rumor. Katherine's twin brother, Ian, formed the group called Brithim. Although only Protestants in Ulster had the privileges of the Ulster apartheid, not all Protestants were included. Many were deemed part of the general riff raff.* Ian wasted himself in "four brutal and hopeless years" of appealing to authorities, letter writing, petitioning, and even attempting to get a law suit active in the perverted but official legal system in order to free his sister. Much later, totally disillusioned, he was quoted, "If anybody asks you to hold on in faith, just kill them." and also " Faith demands a proper deity, not devils." This poem is McGuiness giving vent to the psyche of his spiritual brother-in-law. * In October of 1968, for example, a small group of students, Catholic and Protestant, joined in an attempted civil rights march. It was modeled on the Selma Alabama concept with marchers singing "We shall overcome." What happened was that the RUC, the official police force, first blocked the marchers' route then charged them and beat them with batons - men women and children lying on the streets bloodied. In the dry tinder of so many similar atrocities, the Bogside riots followed immediately on the news of this event. Violence spread rapidly all over Ulster. But there were no concessions. The Ulster apartheid would not have any of this equality nonsense. The students' request for 'one man one vote' was an attack on 'Loyalism' and a call to war as far as the establishment was concerned. By August the streets of Dungannon were jammed with civil rights activists pushing for voting parity, also singing American civil rights songs. Guns, gas, gas bombs - whatever - the police turned a blind eye as these and subsequent protesters were savaged.

Circles : Again, Ian's experience given voice by McGuiness. The two personalities blend so imperceptibly that it is hard to pull them apart. That is no accident, as McGuiness dwells on spirit. Two men of one spirit are not divisible. Promises and duties not honored are counted on the stars as infinite tally stones accumulated over vast quantities of time through deceit and stalling. Only violence has possibilities if the process is circular and self serving. One message comes through from the totality of the works, an ominous one: A truce is a weapon of the oppressor. Revolution cannot permit the oppressor even a moment of solace or rejuvenation. The Russian revolutionaries were so convinced that the royal line would eventually get back, as they always had, that they did not stop with killing those in Russia. They set hit squads to kill those in the line that fled Russia, regardless of where they were. This, perhaps, brutal characteristic is what has been missing in the Irish attempts to free themselves. They muster one nasty act then sit back to see if the British will say, "Gee. Maybe we ought to let them alone." The American revolution was a military operation that required British absence to be terminated, not truces for discussions that might eventually lead to peace. This concept permeates McGuiness poetry. Carry : The true measure of a man is valor and willingness to act, according to McGuiness. Here, a 'disabled' man proves equality of spirit, short of means. In this case, the means is a woman who sees the man as a man. A woman allows his attainment of self image. Shells : In old shell fragments on the beach, memories are evoked which portray solitary efforts which failed against much greater forces. Yet, efforts collectively may rise above impossibility. To that end, the wise thing is to not suffer in silence but organize. Hints to Brithim and general public outrage are inherent in the imagery.

Glow: The joy of childhood is stolen by the realities of oppression as realization comes with growth. Similarities to 'Egg' are noted.

Mistress: McGuiness again takes us back to his days at sea. Sometimes the sea is a metaphor for drunkenness (Waves), but not here. It is a massive life force. The poet is on night watch looking forward at the bow. The sea is his love - or is it Caitlin again? With McGuiness, it isn't clear - nor is it meant to be. He equates her with the natural essence of the good in life. Crown: Ireland wears a crown of thorns. The rubies - red blood from the thorns cutting the flesh - are derived of both the oppressor and those who readily acquiesce to oppression. By waiving and holding out to hope without active self determination - maybe they'll just go away - the populace lacks vision. Moses' horns - divinely inspired insight as depicted on DaVinci's Moses. Fertile Garden: The fertile state of Ireland is plowed under year by year. McGuiness supposes that the fertility of the ever enriched but never harvested field grows immensely. When it does bloom, the flower will be spectacular, he asserts. Egg: Interesting idea. The life force incubates in a sterile protective shell bathed in the ills of the outside. The attainment of completion of self requires exposure to potential harm. Notice the joining of twos. Biologically, the embryo is a joining of two progenitors, sperm & egg, father and mother lines. Psychologically, morally, a child's mind is formed from the early guidance of two parents, father and mother lines.

Early perfection, or potential of perfection, yeilds as growth requires maturation and that in turn requires interaction with the complexities of the real and outside world. The maturation of mind requires shedding many early absolute truths. Sky: The two sides of nature, beautiful and nurturing versus random and destructive. In the contrasts he sees his good side as a reflection of the memory of Caitlin as the sound (the bay) reflects a beautiful sky. The dark side is his own innate being. He sees that side cyclically tamed by the gentler force. Let Sail: Poets recreate ancient shores and thus keep them historically alive. Helen of Troy is, thus, saved immediately by a fleet of one thousand ships (historically actually 1301 ships) and then ultimately more permanently by a poet's art. McGuiness cannot lay claim to a fleet of ships nor any tool to bring the physical Caitlin back. He can command a fleet of words and images (his axe, as he frequently refers to it, which he lets sail) to preserve her memory. Imagery of bloody hatchet swinging is a metaphor for incisive and historically powerful correction of lies. Historic condemnation is as close as Gavin can get to a judgment day, not depending on the celestial to right the wrongs. Lilies : Overtly, a cemetery - place of the dead - inhabited by flowers, usually cut and placed rootless. Better, and more broadly, a psyche, not of death, but fallow. Lilies can actually grow here. Rebirth. The choice of the Lily, symbol of the Easter Rebellion, needs exploration.

Towers Fall : Constructed of symmetric modules, as a tower, the poem doesn't merely rhyme but nearly superimposes whole segments - word for word. Towers fall. Beliefs fall. Strong attachments, foundations, persist. Judges : With each new attack on their city, the republic Romans repelled, then further advanced their defenses until they had - defensively - become the most powerful military power. A people being shaped by their enemies is the key observation. It has implications. Ripples : Memory and fantasy viewed as reflections in a rippled (distorted) mirror which grows less and less clear with exhaustion. But character has many mirrors and cannot be ignored.

Ash : In the shape of an urn. What is the ash?

Squares : To castle is a chess move, allowed once under certain circumstances, to move the king two squares and place a castle where the king was. It is typically a bail out move in a circumstance of danger. It could be used to protect a queen as well, by placing the castle where the queen is protected, the king being, otherwise, in the way. Adrift : McGuiness rejects empty 'love and peace' gestures as the veneer of apathy or cowardice.

Excalibur : Sometimes, in order to progress or be better, you must take a stand. Not all paths go somewhere. They may end at their vanishing points along with those who take these paths. Stop. Take a stand.

Clann na Gael : A political organization. Mentions : Jesse Helms. Ian Paisley. Go on. Hit the books. Mist : The recurring phrase 'Beauty of the sea' is customarily spoken by a second speaker or chorus. The effect ought to be that of rhythmic rolling and breaking waves, in hushed tones. Cousins : Well, it is not subtle that McGuiness puts his name's derivation into so many of his poems. It might be fun to actually do a tally. McGuinness, the usual spelling, is derived from Magennis which a name structure derived from the phrase 'Mag Aonghusa', meaning 'One Choice'. Confusing in the derivation is the family variation MacInnes and the even nearer MacGinnis. This places an even older origin in Scotland as 'Son of Angus'. This being - probably - the oldest traceable Gaelic name, perhaps only rivaled by Donald. McGuiness has it both ways in his frequent allowance for Scottish linkage. The hurtful use of Scots against the Irish is dismissed as a fluke of domination, unnatural. Through all of the, easily16, variations of the name, the oddest quirk was the missing 'n'. Well, wouldn't you know that it was as symbolic as the 'F.E.' in his pen name.

My Wicklow : A well known place of pastoral beauty in mountains and glens, as well as literary significance contrasted with street riots. Ivory Child : Ivory = pale = dead. Body akimbo likened to the Nazi symbol. Underworld : Although there are many unrhymed and free meter McGuiness poems around, nearly all are either the Gaelige originals or translations of McGuiness poems by others. We know of no Gaelige original for this work. It may be the 'American' writing closest in mood and flow to his earlier native poetry. Streets : I suspect that this was a working fragment to be spliced or divided up into 'Cousins'. There are many such examples, in Gaelige, of poem fragments, somewhat modified or attenuated , that on casual reading seem to derive from larger works. Yet, they are more primitive and of lesser mastery than in the larger work. Most students, whose work is aimed at sequential dating, confirm that these lesser pieces are works in progress, perhaps notes or work-ups that escaped. Birds : Obvious metaphor. Rushing river flow as time and fate with poor old Gavin washed along, helpless. But birds are immune to such directionality. They fly up stream or suspend on air streams as they please. That is too easy. Note that McGuiness does not say that birds, per se, alone, can do this. They are examples of beings of 'fitting form'. It is the form that one chooses to assume that determines defiance of fate. Again, one choice. Put this one in the tally.

Canyon : A canyon is made of what isn't there. The Grand Canyon represents a massive hole, a loss of substance. Where did it go? Flag : Clearly not a noun, a verb. A people, if they keep their culture alive, can outlive tyranny. The English know this very well. That is why they so severely impress their culture onto their subjects. It isn't pride. It is a form of genocide. For example, Irish children baptized as Eamon must be registered as James and so called in school. That is inexplicable in any other frame of reference. It is an enforced and systematic erasure of the roots of a culture, an attack against ethnic resurgence. The origin of the phrase 'ethnic cleansing' as well as the phrase 'final solution' derive from the vocabulary of Irish domination. Lake : Author unable to see the beauty of nature devoid of his own nature which he lost with Caitlin.

Iamb : If you can't figure this one out, you flunk!!! And, yes, it DOES have meaning!

Well… OK, here is one of the morning (a-session) interpretations that got an ‘A’, (Courtney Boucicault - yes, related to the playwright) : An iamb is, as you well know, a two syllable sound pair in which the first is an unaccented lower sound and the second the more dominant, as in: ka-boom, sha-zam, de-fend, re-treat, o-press and so on. The word ‘iamb’ is an iamb. Therefore in iambic monometer (one iamb to a line), i - amb . there - fore :

think I

‘I think, therefore, I am.’ - backwards. Cute. But deep? As iambic monometer, this reversal of the usual order fits the bill, whereas the familiar forward ‘I think ’ would be a trochee, accent- unaccented. But McGuiness is about second meanings, always. The roots of the meter terms are telling. As ‘iamb’ means to ‘assail’ to ‘attack’ and ‘trochee’ means ‘run’, it is not surprising that McGuiness elects to attack. Secondly, McGuiness never questions his own existence nor would he allow anyone else to question his right to exist. He exhorts others to likewise: Whereas, the original forward form is a philosophic argument structured to answer a posed question, “Do we exist?”, McGuiness lashes out with an alternative: “If you want to prove your own existence by the experience of pain or possibly lose it, then dare to question my existence - or threaten it. I exist and don’t forget it. I am. Therefore, you think before you question my existence.” I am. He exists. For that reason, and that reason alone, he thinks. An up front, first order of business, biblical quote of God : I am. I am. A given. A Jeffersonian truth self evident with a poetical second layer, “ Iamb ”. Monometer. ‘One measure’. One choice. McGuiness. ‘ Think I ’. An instruction to others to think of ‘ I ’, that is of their own self worth.

Opprobrium : Coffles are lines of people tied together, as in slave chains or chain gangs. Tallies are taxes. Talents are taken offerings (taxes seen from the other side). Manus e nubibus is Latin for hand from the clouds. Does this line imply that heaven is shackled by hopelessness which generates apathy? This would be akin to the concept that only the ready are lucky. Scholars : McGuiness’s Gaelige works are laced with Latin. These last several poems more closely capture that ancient reflection than the many others. There are many Roman symbolisms as well (Moses’s Horns, for example). You cannot discuss this poem without reading and fully digesting the poem by Yeats that is clearly referenced here. Amantes – lovers, amentes – lunatics. The idea, it seems, is not so much to be Latin as to be anchored in old basics, time tested moralities. Another anchor. Anchor of the past. A stability of thought and reason. One choice? Mmm? Well, maybe. Maybe not. Cracks : Eye candy. Cute. But ‘Hostage of gravity’ ? There is a kind of black hole feeling to this poem. No? What is at the center of a black hole, hmmm? Yup. Unity. One-ness. McGuiness. White Horse : A very special potato failed in the years 1845+. It was the ‘white’ or ‘horse’ potato. A British salve without salvation was soup in the form of flavored water made aromatic with cheap herbs. The recipe for the supposed hunger fooling broth was dispersed to the many work houses (poor houses wherein it was intended that the facilities, work and services be so odious that the lazy Irish would be disinclined to utilize the services).

The Greek god Nyx had two children (twins), Somnos (dream) and the winged Thanatos (death) who carried a burnt out torch.

Sunt Lacrimae Rerum : Publilius Syrus, a Roman writer, was a favorite and contemporary of Julius Caesar. One of his many one-liners of pithy wisdom probably seeds this poem. ‘Cruelty feasts on tears’ is to be found approximately one half century BC in “Crudelis lacrimis pascitur non frangitur.”, or ‘Cruelty is fed, not broken, by tears.’. The actual Latin phrase ‘Sunt Lacrimae Rerum’, however, is from Virgil = There are tears (about things).

Landscapes :

Pastoral images, of bog fauna and such require the language of both the artist and the naturalist. The rich variety is once again transformed into singleness, “She comes to me…”. Professor Synge adds the following nature facts :

Curlew – a large bog bird with a very long thin turned down beak and an embracing bobbling song. Kestrel – A bog eagle-like bird that hovers to catch small prey, including rodents and dragon flies. Chaser – Four Spotted Chaser – a bog dragon fly noted for very fast bullet straight flight to overtake bugs for food.

Emperor Moth – A red and brown winged bog butterfly.

Ling – dainty red flowering heather common to the bog.

Asphodel – a dense carpet growing yellow flowered bog plant.

Bladderwort – A group of plants, some bog growers, which trap and digest insects.

Sundew – Bog plant, flowers like sun bursts, trap insects for food.

Cotton Grass – large tufts of snow white cotton-like hang.

Groups of such plants can suggest clouds from a distance.

Ragged Robin – A delicate red flower seen in or near hedgerows.

Note the interplay of beauty and choices of predatory species!

To Hell or Connacht : The official reply to the plea “Where will all those starving people go?”, was, “Let them go to Hell or Connacht.” Connacht was, at that time, a barren and impossible place to exist, regarded as a useless hell hole by the official British. This is yet another in the long list of clearly genocidal quotes from ruling Britain. Famine Ships: There must have been much angst in the old wooden ship sailing days. So many sayings reflect those fears. McGuiness adds to the most familiar. “The devil to pay.”, is the modern corruption of, “The devil to paye and no pitch hot.” Pitch is tar. Paye is a verb akin to pave, as in to apply tar, but not on a surface, rather into cracks for sealing. The single long wooden member that is the spine of the wooden ship, from which all cross supports diverge, and which is the very lowermost edge of the ship in the water was called the ‘devil’. It was so called because it was not accessible at sea, being covered by flooring. If it leaked then the sailors were, “between the devil and the deep blue sea”. An alternate form of ship building, distinctively Irish, was the stretching of animal skins over wicker basket-like frames forming boats called ‘currachs’ and ‘hookers’. Apollogia : Apologia is the correct spelling, yet this spelling, with license, is better, given obvious references to Apollo, Daphne and the Pythian games. Boreas also had a difficult catch, but fared better. Cupid had two kinds of arrows. The sharp golden tipped brought love, the dull lead tipped arrows brought aversion. The oak was a very important, actually the most important, druidical icon. The oak, having very deep roots and a very conductive physiology, draws lightening. It gets hit and distorts from the damage. It was viewed as a conduit to the gods who adorned it with mistletoe, mistletoe, a flowering plant that magically grows in thin air.

Regeneration :