September 1913

The poem ‘September 1913′ was written and set 100 years ago by W.B. Yeats

This poem was written as part of the ‘Responsibilities’ collection and is basically comparing the Ireland of 1913 to the  ‘Romantic Ireland’ of the past – the Ireland that he loves.

The poem is a reaction to the apathy of the Irish at the time. It was a post war poem and was written at the time of the James Larkin uprising and Irish independence.

It is a four stanza, 8 line per stanza, monosyllabic poem (which Yeats did so that all the people of Ireland could understand it). The first stanza begins with direct speech to the reader “what need you” even though he is addressing the middle class Nationalists at the time this makes it feel very personal. In this stanza Yeats is mocking the Catholics for being greedy and taking money from ‘their own’ country. “And prayer to shivering prayer” but “fumble in the greasy till”. He is mocking saying they are supposed to be good people of God yet making the county even worse with their greed.

The second stanza makes a reference to the young men fighting in the war as only children “childish play” and gives the feel that Yeats feels that the war is also childish, un-needed and a waste of young men’s lives.  At the end of each stanza except the last it says “Its with O’Leary in the grave” John O’Leary was a freedom fighter, political prisoner and a father figure to Yeats, he also loved Ireland and hated what it was turning into. Yeats also looked up to the other freedom fighters he gives respect too by listing “Edward Fitzgerald”, “Robert Emmet” and ” Wolfe Tone”.  In the last stanza the sentence changes to “But let them be, they’re dead and gone, they’re with O’Leary in the grave” Yeats wrote this because as if to say leave them rest peacefully, at least they cant witness and, like him be ashamed and horrified of what Ireland has become and that it was as if all they did and fought for was forgotten now anyway “All that delirium of the brave”. There is also mention of another freedom fighter ‘Maud Gonne’ who was Yeats’ love interest but after having turned down at least four marriage proposals from Yeats between 1891 and 1901, Maud married Major John MacBride in Paris in 1903.

This poem captures the contrast between the ideal and the real, critics say he invented the idea of romantic Ireland from romantic past, traditional folk/fairy tales and family traditions.

There is a A,B,A,B rhyming scheme throughout the poem which creates a spiteful tone, but there is also a negative, assertive, angry, patriotic tone to the poem. It is informal because of his emotion. The language impresses us with a sense of loss and encourages us to remember a sense of what might have been.

This poem can be compared to ‘Easter 1916’.

Feminism

Feminism is a collection of movements and ideologies aimed at defining, establishing and defending equal political, economic and social rights for women. This includes seeking to establish equal opportunities for women in education and employment. A feminist advocates or supports the rights and equality of women.

The most well known myth around the world is the creation myth in Genesis, in which God creates the world and creates man (Adam) and he then made Eve second which suggests the sexist idea that women are second best. It is thought that God made man in his own image, and so humans were immortal and flawless. God only asked them to do one thing, to not eat from the ‘Tree of Life’. Further into the myth the snake tempts Eve to eat from the ‘Tree of Life’. Eve then tempts Adam and God was furious, he takes away their ‘immortality’ and banishes them from the perfect Garden of Eden. The fact that Eve got tempted by the snake and the attitudes that followed are the Biblical (The Bible, Torah and Koran) , cultural, social and historic reason for women being treated as inferior.

In those days women were either;

– prepubescent girls

– ovulating women

– married, pregnant women

– unmarried women

– a widow

Women (especially when on their period) would be seen as dirty and smelly, this is because their was no toiletries or sanitation for them. And they were banned from places of worship because of it.

Traditionally women had the expressive role in the house and were normally, housewives, they cleaned, cooked, looked after children while their husband went out and worked. Sometimes the women would work but it was usually only in jobs such as wet-nursing, nanny’s, civil servants and sometimes prostitution etc.

Up until the Industrial Revolution in 1750 boys (except for a few rich girls) were the only ones in education as it was seen that they needed ‘information’ to obtain a good job as they would be the breadwinner for their family. It was thought that girls didn’t need to know ‘information’ as they would be the housewife and mother, and that their mothers would have taught them everything they needed to know.

Mary Wollstonecraft (the first women to bring up the thought of feminism) said that feminism was because of social, religious and historical views.

The first wave of feminism was in World War 1 and was that women should have the right to vote and as many men had gone to war women started doing some of their jobs

1920’s – Women being ‘more like men’ trousers were made for women to make them more practical in the workplace, they could drink, smoke and socialise

1960’s – Women got birth control made available to them, they earned the right to get their own contraception and were more free in life and do more of what they wanted

1970’s – Equal pay for women which then leads to all kinds of equality.

Easter 1916

I found this analysis of the poem Easter 1916 very useful

http://voices.yahoo.com/analysis-william-butler-yeats-easter-1916-4603101.html?cat=42

An interview…

Nimbus Type40

A fascinating interview with Margaret Atwood that I enjoyed!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rn2pq3SiqHc

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Margaret Atwood.

Margaret Atwood

Margaret Eleanor Atwood, was born on November 18th, 1939 in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. She is a poet, novelist, literary critic, essayist, and environmental activist.

She is among the most-honoured authors of fiction in recent history. She is a winner of the Arthur C. Clarke Award and Prince of Asturias Award for Literature, has been shortlisted for the Booker Prize five times, winning once, and has been a finalist for the Governor General’s Award several times, winning twice. She is also a founder of the Writers’ Trust of Canada, a non-profit literary organization that seeks to encourage Canada’s writing community.

 

 

‘Spelling’, ‘Christmas Carols’ and ‘A Woman’s Issue’ are poems written by Margaret Atwood.
The overall themes in these poems are mistreatment of women and rape in war.

The titles stand out in each of these poems. The use of the word “Issue” in the title ‘A Woman’s Issue’ is a homonym, the phrase ‘a woman’s issue’ in older times were used to mean a woman’s menstrual cycle, but the word ‘issue’ also means a problem. Margaret Atwood uses grotesque language and graphic imagery to portray how badly the women/rape victims in war are treated , Atwood especially uses graphic verbs to give the reader a sense of how much pain is inflicted by ‘the enemy upon the women’, “jammed”, “scrape”, “cut her open”. This makes the reader feel and have sympathy for the women. This kind of language contrasts emotion with the almost scientific, blunt language used when describing women as ‘exhibits’.

‘Christmas Carols’ the title makes the reader think of Christmas which is December 25th, it is a time when many Christian groups celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, it is a time of festivity and joy. Throughout the poem there are connections to Christmas, but there seems to be an underlying reminder that children are not always “holy”, and can be seen as punishment for rape, the child always being a constant reminder to the victim.

Across all of these poems the reader can see similarities which make Atwood poems stand out. The bitter, graphic and often ironic language which is used.