tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-786207835641480928.post3105534182471601245..comments2024-03-27T11:10:57.384-04:00Comments on NeverEnding Story: Dark Wings of the Night: Seamus Heaney and His View of HaikuChen-ou Liu, 劉鎮歐http://www.blogger.com/profile/06235248170011255532noreply@blogger.comBlogger14125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-786207835641480928.post-25344475850576017772013-09-15T08:34:23.323-04:002013-09-15T08:34:23.323-04:00Below is excerpted from Stepping Stones: Interview...Below is excerpted from Stepping Stones: Interviews with Seamus Heaney by Dennis O'Driscoll, pp. 212-3.<br /><br />Helicopters and roadblocks have appeared regularly in your poems, Were you especially aggrieved by British army patrols of that sort?<br /><br /><br />One half of me would be saying, "They're only a bunch of squaddies doing their job; as individuals, they'd sooner be at home in Leeds or wherever -- they're here because of the IRA's threat to life and limb." But another half rebelled when I'd turn a corner and there were the armoured cars blocking the road, marksmen in the hedge, soldiers in warpaint manning the checkpoint. A lot depended on the manners of the individuals you were dealing with. But the truth of the matter was that they were deployed to keep you in your place, their comrades had shot down people in Derry and they could basically do what they liked. The disgrace of the army comes from the way the higher-ups protected the low-downs. leaving aside the scandal of Bloody Sunday, there were those cases where soldiers who'd shot innocent people and were found guilty of it got a token sentence and then were readmitted, smirking, to the ranks. In cases like that, the contempt for the nationalist people, the contempt for justice, told you what you were dealing with.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />At that point you just wanted to say, "To hell with them." And it wasn't the squaddies from Leeds you'd be thinking about, but the Loyalist element in the Scottish regiments and the blond-voiced top brass in the officers' mess. For twenty years and more, every time I drove up from Dublin into Tyrone and Derry, I always felt a kind of generalized menace on the lonelier bits of the roads: you knew the countryside was full of clandestine activity, not just by the paramilitaries on both sides, but by the undercover operations of groups like the SAS. I remember doing a haiku about it:<br /><br />Springtime in Ulster:<br /> aerials in hedges, squawk<br /> of walkie-talkies<br />Chen-ou Liu, 劉鎮歐https://www.blogger.com/profile/06235248170011255532noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-786207835641480928.post-27276181356022586592013-09-05T11:07:47.837-04:002013-09-05T11:07:47.837-04:00Marion:
Glad you liked Basho's haiku.
By the...Marion:<br /><br />Glad you liked Basho's haiku.<br /><br />By the way, It's slippery not icy.<br /><br />Maire:<br /><br />Thanks for sharing your thought and life story.<br /><br />Heaney's use of my father’s stick adds emotional weight to the poem and enhances the sense of time's passing.<br /><br />Chen-ouChen-ou Liu, 劉鎮歐https://www.blogger.com/profile/06235248170011255532noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-786207835641480928.post-83547017238702752882013-09-05T04:28:37.294-04:002013-09-05T04:28:37.294-04:00Chen-ou-Liu,
I find this thread really interesting...Chen-ou-Liu,<br />I find this thread really interesting as I too am Irish and agree with Jane and Marion on Seamus Heaney's haiku. I feel the traditional haiku is fine but it is too telling and was written after a fall. <br />I also have a cane which is very dear to me from a loved one who has passed on. I think the Irish like their canes (stick) LOL. MaireKerkedijkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02384722157581322711noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-786207835641480928.post-18659573905970075442013-09-05T04:08:32.925-04:002013-09-05T04:08:32.925-04:00Ah, so it was not inspired by life in Northern Ire...Ah, so it was not inspired by life in Northern Ireland at the time. What a shame! Thanks for sharing that. Now I agree with you that 'icy' rather than 'dangerous' would have enhanced it. :)<br /><br />I found Basho's very humorous!<br /><br />marion Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-786207835641480928.post-25312825723816719602013-09-04T15:55:38.903-04:002013-09-04T15:55:38.903-04:00Marion:
I just checked out Seeing Things and foun...Marion:<br /><br />I just checked out Seeing Things and found out there is a prefatory note (or title)added to the haiku: 1.1.87<br /><br />In The Japanese Effect in Contemporary Irish Poetry, Irene De Angelis gives the back story behind the poem (p. 30)<br /><br />Heaney wrote it after a small accident when he fell on a icy pavement in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and hurt his knee.<br /><br />Interesting enough, Basho also wrote of his fall when crossing a mountain pass:<br /><br />Had I walked this slope<br />tocking along with my stick<br />not fall from a horse<br /><br />Chen-ouChen-ou Liu, 劉鎮歐https://www.blogger.com/profile/06235248170011255532noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-786207835641480928.post-7639047222080316842013-09-02T15:57:38.314-04:002013-09-02T15:57:38.314-04:00Marion:
Yes, you raised a good question. This hai...Marion:<br /><br />Yes, you raised a good question. This haiku was included in Seeing Things, which was published in 1991, in the era of The Troubles.<br /><br />Thanks for sharing your wonderful thought.<br /><br />Chen-ouChen-ou Liu, 劉鎮歐https://www.blogger.com/profile/06235248170011255532noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-786207835641480928.post-79381381097217424592013-09-02T11:24:28.028-04:002013-09-02T11:24:28.028-04:00I was wondering if Heaney was alluding to The Trou...I was wondering if Heaney was alluding to The Troubles here in Northern Ireland when he used 'dangerous' because, at that time, the streets would have been a dangerous place.<br /><br />But if not, I guess slippery would indeed enhance it. <br /><br />marionAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-786207835641480928.post-90393862628500773462013-09-02T10:42:01.065-04:002013-09-02T10:42:01.065-04:00Jane and Marion:
Thanks for the read and for shar...Jane and Marion:<br /><br />Thanks for the read and for sharing your thoughts.<br /><br />The use of a small letter to start each haiku is just a convention enforced by the ELH editors, gatekeepers of the genre, contradicting that of the mainstream English language poetry tradition. There is no aesthetic value embedded in using or not using a small letter to start each haiku.<br /><br />As for the 5-7-5 syllabic structure, there is nothing wrong with this traditional format as long as the haiku is not padded with superfluous words. Clearly, each and every word in Heaney's haiku is effectively utilized. <br /><br />However, I do think 'dangerous' in the first haiku is a little tell-y, and that it might be better to use 'slippery' to enhance the poem.<br /><br />Just some thoughts for your consideration.<br /><br />Chen-ouChen-ou Liu, 劉鎮歐https://www.blogger.com/profile/06235248170011255532noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-786207835641480928.post-72011811796098251212013-09-02T09:57:51.648-04:002013-09-02T09:57:51.648-04:00Hi! Michelle:
Thanks for the read and for sharing...Hi! Michelle:<br /><br />Thanks for the read and for sharing your thought.<br /><br />Pound's 'Metro Poem' is the most-read and most-studied poem of the 20th century. I think the posts listed in my reply might interest you.<br /><br />Chen-ouChen-ou Liu, 劉鎮歐https://www.blogger.com/profile/06235248170011255532noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-786207835641480928.post-26889873286880353782013-09-02T09:04:03.700-04:002013-09-02T09:04:03.700-04:00Interesting, thank you! I love those lines:
The ...Interesting, thank you! I love those lines:<br /><br /><br />The apparition of these faces in the crowd:<br />Petals on a wet, black bough.<br />Michelle de Villiershttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13448693540108725901noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-786207835641480928.post-35936786667020192142013-09-02T07:01:30.871-04:002013-09-02T07:01:30.871-04:00Thank you for sharing this interesting article on ...Thank you for sharing this interesting article on Seamus Heaney, Chen-ou. <br /><br />I have known Heaney's poetry for many years, having studied his work at school here in Ireland. However, it was only after the publication of 'Bamboo Dreams', the first anthology of haiku by poets from Ireland, that I discovered he was interested in short form poetry, as his 'dangerous pavements' haiku you mentioned above features in foreword of this collection. <br /><br />This particular haiku really touched me when I first read it, as my father had passed away not long before and his walking stick still stood in my mother's porch. Interestingly, I hadn't realised it was 5-7-5 until I read Jane's comment. The 'springtime in Ulster' haiku, on the other hand, is noticeably adhering to that format and the punctuation really jumps out at me. However, anyone who has lived during The Troubles in Northern Ireland will immediately recognise the 'squawk of walkie-talkies' of the British Army as they patrolled the hedgerows here. An inspired choice of words!<br /><br />marionAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-786207835641480928.post-13118511135621353772013-09-01T13:26:37.670-04:002013-09-01T13:26:37.670-04:00Thanks so much, Chen-ou, for all the research on S...Thanks so much, Chen-ou, for all the research on Seamus Heaney and especially for bringing his haiku here. Still I am dismayed that such a learned writer, still in 2008, was writing his haiku in 5,7,5 syllables and starting each poem with a capital letter. We still have so much to do in sharing haiku. Thanks for this site and may it prove to the breakthrough of others for better haiku.<br />\o/ JaneJane Reichholdhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11162556752572809406noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-786207835641480928.post-65226545390396979962013-09-01T10:19:31.029-04:002013-09-01T10:19:31.029-04:00I just published another 'Dark Wings of Night&...I just published another 'Dark Wings of Night'post, titled 'Tankas for Toraiwa by Seamus Heaney,' accessed at http://neverendingstoryhaikutanka.blogspot.ca/2013/09/dark-wing-s-of-night-tankas-for-toraiwa.htmlChen-ou Liu, 劉鎮歐https://www.blogger.com/profile/06235248170011255532noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-786207835641480928.post-60283539632009205362013-09-01T08:28:17.941-04:002013-09-01T08:28:17.941-04:00For more information about Pound's "Metro...For more information about Pound's "Metro Poem" (first English language haiku), see my following posts:<br /><br />To the Lighthouse: Haikuesque Reading of Ezra Pound’s “Metro Poem” http://goo.gl/pJKo9 <br /><br />Poetic Musings: Ezra Pound’s "Metro Poem" as a Yugen Haiku, http://goo.gl/fSpou <br /> <br />To the Lighthouse: The Haiku as a Form of Super-Position http://goo.gl/qWOx5 <br />Chen-ou Liu, 劉鎮歐https://www.blogger.com/profile/06235248170011255532noreply@blogger.com