Paul Durcan

Paul Durcan

Nessa
1. The delights and dangers of falling in love.
  1. "And I very nearly drowned"
2. Personal poem about the first time Durcan met his wife
  1. "With Nessa"
3. She's in control from the beginning
  1. "She took me by her index finger / And dropped me in her well"
  2. "Would you care to swim? she said to me."
4. Love is thrilling, exciting, dangerous, uncertain.
  1. "And that was a whirlpool, that was a whirlpool"
5. Wonders will it last. But we know it ends happily.
  1. "Will you stay with me on the rocks?"
Wife Smashed Television Gets Jail
1. Dramatic title, tabloid-like, humorous.
  1. "We got there before the finish of Kojak"
2. Tv cannot be used as a positive influence on family life, the poem shows the society thinking the opposite.
  1. "the basic unit of society"
3. Values of family being lost - American culture consuming our culture.
  1. "dame"
4. The whole poem is ironic, giving it dark humour.
  1. "peaceably watching Kojak"
5. Set in Ireland 1970's, we know this because of several references to Irish culture.
  1. "Justice O'Brádaigh"
  2. "Queen Maeve"
The Girl with the Keys to Pearse's Cottage
1. Irish Cullture - emigration
2. Ironic, that the tour guide of Pearse's cottage must emigrate. This is the oppsoite of Pearse's dream for Ireland.
  1. "She had no choice but to leave her home"
3. No future for the youth
4. Irish identity, belonging, instability.
5. Ordinary everyday people were effected.
  1. "From your Connemara postman's daughter's proudly mortal face."
6. Lack of interest in Pearse's cottage - lack of interest in the countries ambitions.
7. Cáit Kilann (the girl) is the symbol of the emigration and loss.
  1. "O Cáit Kilann, O Cáit Kilann"
8. Alliteration
  1. "Photographs of the passionate and pale Pearse."
Parents
1. Relationship between parents and offspring.
  1. "In her sleep she is calling out to them / Father, Father / Mother, Mother"
2. Parents can't control the future of their children.
  1. "But they cannot hear her"
3. Is the child having a nightmare? Or is it their future. In both the parents are unable to help him/her.
4. Disturbing images, show fear, anxiety, nervousness, worry.
  1. "Through the night, stranded, they stare / At the drowned, drowned face of the child."
  2. "As if locked out of their own homes"
5. Metaphor of sea used to represent possible dangers or nightmares.
  1. "She is under the sea / And they are above the sea"
Sport
1. Explores father and son's relationship
2. Personal poem about Durcan's time in a mental hospital.
  1. "I was a patient"
3. We feel sorry for Durcan as he tries to impress his father. Anxiety to let him down.
  1. "I was fearful I would let down / Not only my team but you"
4. Constantly looking for approval.
  1. "Seldom if ever again in your eyes / Was I to rise to these heights"
5. Father reacts positively for first time - need to be praised..
  1. "Well played, son"
6. Durcan is proud - but there is a sad reality, he is in a mental hospital because of his family... his father used to beat him.
  1. "In your eyes I had achieved something at last"
  2. "The Grangegorman Mental Hospital team"
The Arnolfini Marriage
1. Written about the famous Jan Van Eyck painting. A poem written in response to a painting is known as a Ekphrasis.
  1. "We are the Arnolfinis.
    1. "Do not think you may invade / Our privacy because you may not"
2. Shows idealism of marriage
3. Unity / Harmony / One
  1. "The two halves of a coconut."

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	Created by joannefinnegan19 over 8 years ago