No rhyme or reason to festival ban on poetry

SIR, I write to comment on the decision by the powers that be at the Rose of Tralee to ban the recitation of poetry by Roses at this year’s televised contest. I refer specifically to the recent comments by Rose of Tralee spokesperson Mr Drummey on the ban suggesting that “poetry had a place in the contest in the olden days” when “poems were seen as a form of entertainment before all the modern entertainment we now see”.

As a poet, I take umbrage with the suggestion that poetry and poems are no longer seen as a form of art or worthy entertainment by the pageant’s organisers. It seems a bit strange and not a little incongruent that a festival which traces its genesis to the lyrical verses of the popular iconic rhyming poetic ballad “The Rose of Tralee” has abandoned poetry the very basis of its foundation.

Even more interestingly, the poetic ballad that spawned the festival suggests that the literary Rose

“Was lovely and fair as the rose of the summer and ’twas not her beauty alone that won me;

Oh no, ‘twas the truth in her eyes ever dawning,

That made me love Mary, the Rose of Tralee”

So in essence it seems crystal clear that the Rose of Tralee organisers have abandoned the very art form, poetry, that brought about the festival’s existence in the first place. Are there no sacred cows left in the lexicon of the Irish summer? What’s next – perhaps soon the goat at Puck fair won’t be allowed anymore due to some idiotic bureaucratic EU regulations? Recitation of poems by prospective Roses of Tralee is as emblematic of the month of August in an Irish summer as The Galway Races, The Dublin Horse Show and Wexford strawberries.

I call on the Rose of Tralee organisers to reconsider and revoke their decision to exclude poetry from the contest. If this isn’t possible and there are to be no more poetry recitations – will the organisers forego the singing of the poetic ballad that is the very lifeblood of the festival?

It seems extremely ironic that if it wasn’t for the poetic lyrical verse of the ballad of the Rose of Tralee, perhaps the festival wouldn’t exist at all.

The poet Shelley and many others have suggested that it has been proved time and again in history, that poetry is the highest form of art and literature. In our new culture of TV ratings not even traditional poetry recitation at The Rose of Tralee in the Festival Dome remains immune from galloping tides of change that is today’s mass popular media. Sincerely, Paul Horan, Asst Professor, Trinity College Dublin.

Plenty talk but no poetry at this year’s Rose of Tralee contest.