2002 Paper 2 - Section 3

If I ever had the good fortune to host a visit by Michael Longley to give a reading of his poems to my fellow students I would find the task of selecting his poetry quite difficult, as I love all of his poetry. However, if I had to choose I would select the following poems: 'Badger', 'Wounds', 'Carrigskeewaun', 'Wreaths', 'Ceasefire' and 'Poteen'.

I would like him to open with the poem 'Wounds'. I feel the strong images would capture both my peer group's imagination and attention. Most young people are fascinated with war and the whole issue has become more relevant in recent times. I think these young men who held onto their prejudices as they came out of the trenches screaming, 'Fuck the Pope', would intrigue them. I think it would amuse many in my class and this is always an effective way to start a presentation. The image of the priest 'Resettling kilts with his swagger-stick … Over a landscape of dead buttocks' should really provoke thought among my class. After all many of these men were close to our age when they went to war.

I think the poem will also help our class to confront the harrowing reality of the Northern situation. It will help them to see these killings as something more than a mere statistic or a brief newspaper report. Longley tends to put his victims in ordinary domestic situations and this makes their deaths even more moving. This is certainly true of the bus conductor who ' … collapsed beside his carpet-slippers'. Finally I think conveying the assassin as a 'shivering boy' will be an original insight for my generation who are used to seeing glamorised and false Hollywood portrayals of sectarian murderers.

Longley's recital of 'Wreaths' will do much to reinforce the lessons learned in 'Wounds'. I think my class will be both appalled and interested in the description of the three killings in the North. Once again, Longley personalises the victims by revealing details about their lives. The civil servant ' … was preparing an Ulster fry for breakfast/When someone walked into the kitchen and shot him.' In the same way the greengrocer was preparing for Christmas when the 'death-dealers' gunned him down in his own shop. Some of this poem is quite difficult and I would welcome the poet's full explanation of 'Christ's teeth ascended with him into heaven'. I feel my class would benefit hugely from this direct experience.

I think one of the poet's poems that would attract the most interest initially would be 'Ceasefire'. Most of my peers have seen the recent film 'Troy' so they would be familiar with the story of Priam and Achilles. It is a beautifully written poem and it stresses the importance of forgiveness. I think this is a lesson we all need to learn. Longley creates a poignant picture of the two enemies weeping together ' … until their sadness filled the building.'

I would have to ask the poet to read 'Carrigskeewaun' at this point to ensure that they don't get the impression that Longley's work is all about death and depressing themes. There is much joy in Longley's work also and I would like his visit to convey this. He has said that he sees himself as more of a 'nature poet rather than the country poet' and I think this poem proves this. My classmates could not fail to be impressed by the fabulous images and it may inspire them to visit Mayo. The benevolent force of nature is especially strong in the poem's final lines:

'Its surface seems tilted to receive
The sun perfectly, the mare and her foal,
The heron, all such special visitors.'

I also think this poem contains many sound effects such as assonance and onomatopoeia and the reading aloud of the poem will enhance those effects.

To continue with the theme of nature I would ask the poet to read 'Badger' next. I think Longley's unusual perspective on the badger would appeal to my fellow students. The animal is usually viewed with disdain and is blamed for spreading disease. However, in this poem he is presented as a strong, determined and mysterious creature. The first section of the poem describes the animal's movements, 'his path straight and narrow', and emphasises his strength, 'his face lit by the moon, he/Manages the earth with his paws.' As most of my class are from the city I think they would enjoy learning about the badger's movements along with the 'fox's zig-zags' and the 'arc of the hare'. I also think my class would be intrigued with the way Longley describes the badger's death. His use of birth imagery to convey the violent death is highly unique:

'For the digger, the earth-dog
It is a difficult delivery
Once the tongs take hold,'

The tongs were being used to deliver the badger to his death, not as expected, to produce new life. I would hope the image of the 'earth-dog' with 'His limbs dragging after them' would provoke much sympathy for the badger. It could also stimulate debate on the issue of animal rights.

The final poem I would ask Longley to read would be 'Poteen'. All Irish people have heard at least one story about this illicit substance and I think my class would be interested to hear more. In this poem Longley creates a picture of the illegal activity of making poteen but it also hints at Ireland's violence and our attitude towards it:

'The whole bog an outhouse
Where, alongside cudgels,
Guns, the informer's ear
We have buried it — Blood-money, treasure-trove.'

I think the mystery and the sinister quality will appeal to my class and I feel, as a final poem, it will leave the class thirsting for more.

I feel this selection of Longley's poems would give a fair and lively representation of the poet's work. I also think it would motivate students to read more of his poetry. I earnestly hope my peers will gain as much from Longley's work as I so clearly did!