PRESCRIBED POETRY
Section Three of Paper II is Prescribed Poetry. This section is worth 50 marks. There is a list of eight poets prescribed for study by students. Of these poets, four come up on the exam paper and you answer on one. The eight poets prescribed for the Leaving Certificate 2018 are: Eavan Boland, Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin, John Montague, Paul Durcan, Robert Frost, John Keats, G.M. Hopkins and Philip Larkin.
GUIDELINES
π Aim to spend 50 – 60 minutes on this section π Write four to five pages (length guidelines in English are always
flexible; quality not quantity!) π Use quotations to back up your discussion points – Aim to use one to three quotations in each paragraph (so 15 – 20 quotations in total) π Ensure you answer the exam question asked as clearly as possible. Any pre-prepared / learned off material must be relevant to the question asked π Refer to the question regularly, e.g: once in your introduction,
once in your conclusion and then every second paragraph π Past exam question: “Durcan takes a narrative approach to explore a variety of issues in poems of great emotional honesty.” Discuss this statement, supporting your answer with reference to the poetry of Paul Durcan on your course. (2016) π To ensure you engage with your task here, you must keep your focus on the key task words. Here, these are ‘narrative approach’, ‘emotional honesty’ and ‘issues’. Are you confident that the points you are making are relevant to this question? Are you addressing the topics specified in the exam question? π Always plan your answer before you begin. Your plan doesn’t need to be very detailed but it should contain the outline (by paragraph) for your essay π Be enthusiastic about the poems you are discussing – use adjectives such as: impressive, powerful, fascinating, poignant, detailed, memorable, etc. π Engage with the poems you are discussing. Be personal; focus
on how these poems appeal to you π Express yourself well using good phrasing and correct
sentencing.
Previous exam questions
• “Boland makes effective use of symbols and metaphors to explore personal experiences and deliver penetrating truths about society.” To what extent do you agree or disagree with this statement? Support your answer with reference to the poetry of Eavan Boland on your course. (2017)
• “Keats uses sensuous language and vivid imagery to express a range of profound tensions.” To what extent do you agree or disagree with this statement? Support your answer with reference to the poetry of John Keats on your course. (2017)
• “Montague makes effective use of evocative language to express a profound empathy with others.” Discuss this statement, supporting your answer with reference to the poetry of John Montague on your course. (2015)
• “Frost communicates rich insights into human experience using language that is both accessible and appealing.” Discuss this statement, supporting your answer with reference to the poetry of Robert Frost on your course. (2015)
• “Ní Chuilleanáin’s demanding subject matter and formidable style can prove challenging.” Discuss this statement, supporting your answer with reference to the poetry of Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin on your course. (2015)
Sample answer
Give your response to the poetry of Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin in the light of this statement. Support your points with suitable reference to the poems on your course. (50 marks)
Having studied the poetry of Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin as part of my Leaving Cert, I can honestly say that I thoroughly enjoyed it. I must admit I knew very little about Ní Chuilleanáin or her work before this year. Now, however, I can certainly see why she was deemed worthy of inclusion on the English syllabus. Personally, I must admit I would love to meet Ní Chuilleanáin as I would relish the opportunity to ask her about some of her poems. Her work is famous for being very complex and dense, with many of her poems having multiple layers of meaning. Her intricate style and startling imagery make her a challenging poet, but I find this innovative style appealing. Personally, I love a challenge!
The first poem by Ní Chuilleanáin that we studied in class was ‘The Bend in the Road’. This is a perfect example of this poet’s innovative stylistic approach. The poem begins abruptly with a very definite setting: “This is the place where the child / Felt sick in the car”. This dramatic opening line creates a strong sense of place as we are transported back in time to a very specific location. Ní Chuilleanáin explores the power of a place to evoke a vivid memory. She recalls a mundane event 12 years ago, where their son Niall was carsick on a day-trip to the lake. They stopped on the roadside and waited for his nausea to pass “they pulled over and waited in the shadow of a house”. This ordinary event has taken on a special significance over the years. The poet feels nostalgic as she reflects on all the time that has passed since that day. She ponders how her son has grown up seemingly overnight – “You are taller now than us”. She marvels at how quickly the years have passed, almost imperceptibly like the “green creeper” that now covers the house.
In the second stanza, Ní Chuilleanáin ponders how this location still holds such a vivid memory “Over twelve years, it has become the place where you were sick one day on the way to the lake”. The simple, conversational language draws us into the poem but the themes are much more abstract and complex than we might expect. The poet ends the poem with a profound exploration of transience, loss and death. In the final verse, she reflects on her deceased loved ones “never long absent from thought” and wonders if the time that passes is stored and preserved somewhere for us. She uses the image ofa “cumulus cloud” as an abstract symbol for memory, suggesting that the air is a repository or storehouse for the past – “softly packed like the air is all that went on in those years.” In the powerful closing line, Ní Chuilleanáin says she feels the presence of the dead in this place, as if their spirits are preserved here “This is the place of their presence: in the tree, in the air.” She repeats the phrase ‘This is the place’ to remind us of the power of a specific location to evoke the past. I enjoyed studying this poem because the startling images that draw us in also have a deeper symbolic meaning that makes them stick in your memory.
Another poem which is certainly memorable is ‘Street’. This
“Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin’s innovative use of language and startling imagery make her a memorable poet to read.”
poem also begins with the commonplace but ends with the surreal. The opening line here is colloquial, anecdotal in style “He fell in love with the butcher’s daughter”. A sense of threat seems to hang over this poem but it is difficult to pinpoint. The ‘he’ is an unnamed man, a love-struck voyeur who admires this woman and her “white trousers” from afar. His gaze is directed to the unexpected weapon she carries “Dangling a knife on a ring at her belt”. He then follows the trail of “dark shining drops” she leaves behind. We wonder are these droplets of blood splashing behind her on the “paving-stones”. It seems so. The beginning of this poem is confusing because we have an image of attraction and romance “he fell in love” but also an image of slaughter and death. Even her trail of blood is paradoxical as it is described as being both “dark” and “shining”.
The unknown man follows the girl “down the slanting lane
at the back of the shambles.” The tone here is ominous and eerie. He seems obsessed by this girl and the paradox of beauty and horror she presents. I found this poem unnerving as it begins as a typical boy-meets-girl love story but it contains an unmistakable undercurrent of danger and violence. The poet only allows us to see glimpses, close-ups of this mysterious couple’s encounter. We are given neat details like “Her shoes
paired on the bottom step” but the gaps left in the narrative mean it is deliberately vague. We are left to wonder what kind of love poem this is. What does the future hold for this strange couple? Ní Chuilleanáin does not offer us any clear answers to these questions. Instead we are left ‘dangling’ by Ní Chuilleanáin’s verse like this captivating girl’s knife. Perhaps this man is a metaphor for the reader, as we too are helplessly captivated, following her lead. I think ‘Street’ is a good example of the poet’s innovative style as it is certainly unlike any poem I have read before!
The next poem I wish to discuss today is arguably Ní Chuilleanáin’s masterpiece ‘Translation’. Like ‘Street’, this poem is challenging to read but it is also very memorable. The poem, we are told, was written “for the reburial of the
Magdalenes” at a ceremony in Glasnevin Cemetery in 1993. The ‘Magdalenes’ were the thousands of Irish women who lived and died in the Magdalene laundries. These women were mostly unmarried mothers who were forced to work in the
convent laundries as punishment for their ‘sins’. Their daily life involved hard manual labour, silence and brutality. This poem transports us back in time to the grim, industrial laundry “White light blinded and bleached out….steam danced Around stone drains and giggled and slipped across water”.
The words ‘giggled’ and ‘danced’ are used deliberately as a sad reminder of these girls’ stolen youth. Their natural playfulness and innocent gaiety has been crushed by the cruel, oppressive system of the laundries.
The tone used throughout this poem is prayer-like and pleading. Ní Chuilleanáin asks us to “Assist them now” ,to release them from their penance of relentless washing and scrubbing. The poet wants to give these poor, forgotten women a voice. She asks us to hear their story, now their lifelong silence is finally over “one voice Had begun, rising above the shuffle and hum….Allow us now to hear it”. The voice will be shrill and “sharp as an infant’s cry” according to Ní Chuilleanáin. This sad simile calls to mind the terrible grief and loss felt by these young mothers forced to give up their babies.
In the final verse, the focus changes to the nuns who ran the laundries. The poet shows an unexpected compassion for these women, who are presented as being trapped in the same miserable confinement as the unfortunate ‘Magdalene’ girls. The nun who speaks in the final verse calls the system
“A parasite that grew in me”. She seems to feel that she was brainwashed, exploited, caught by a sense of duty and doubt but that now “that spell Lifted”. The image of “the bunched
keys” are a symbol of this woman’s role as jailer, a role that haunts her now. The final line is moving and powerful in its simplicity: “I rise and forget a cloud over my time”. I think Ní Chuilleanáin uses the word ‘cloud’ as a metaphor for the shadow of shame that hangs over Irish society as a result of these institutions. These places left a tragic legacy for all involved and represent a dark period in Ireland’s social history. The poet wishes to ‘translate’ the shocking Magdalene story of decades of silence and abuse. This poem is a poignant tribute to the 30,000 Magdalene women and their children. Personally, I found it an upsetting but memorable poem. I hope it will enable these poor women to finally rest in peace.
The final poem I wish to write about today is ‘To Niall Woods and Xenya Ostrovskia married in Dublin on 9 September 2009’. This is actually my favourite poem by Ní Chuilleanáin as it is probably her most upbeat. This poem is an epithalamium as it was written to celebrate the occasion of her son Niall’s wedding day. This is an innovative poetic form and it is one I had not come across before. In the opening line, the poet directly addresses the newlywed couple “When you look out across the fields And you both see the same star”. She invites them to follow the star just as the magi in the bible followed the Star of David. She portrays Niall and Xenya as a couple embarking on a journey together, almost like a magical quest in a fairy-tale “time to set out on your journey, With half a loaf and your mother’s blessing.” I like the practical detail of the ‘loaf’; she is reminding her son that he will have to provide for himself and his new family now.
I love how the poet uses folktales and mythology. She refers to several different fairytales and legends including “sleeping
beauty” and “the firebird”. Each tale she refers to has a valuable lesson for this young couple. I like the poet’s inclusion of these folktales as I feel it gives the poem a romantic, magical quality. In the final verse, Ní Chuilleanáin references “the Book of Ruth”, which is an Old Testament Bible story about a young woman Ruth who was cared for by her kind mother-inlaw Naomi. I think the poet sees herself as Naomi, in that she will care for and protect Xenya, her new daughter-in-law. I love how the poet ends this poem with some heartfelt reassurance: “You will have to trust me, she lived happily ever after”. The atmosphere of warmth and affection is summed up perfectly in these fairytale four words ‘lived happily ever after’. This sweet ending makes this poem memorable for all the right reasons.
In conclusion, Ní Chuilleanáin’s poetry had a huge personal impact on me. Her poems are beautifully crafted beacons of innovation. Ní Chuilleanáin has said herself that she values secrecy in her work. This is certainly reflected in her dense poetic style. Personally, I like the fact that her poems are open to multiple interpretations. I think it only makes her work more memorable. I believe Ní Chuilleanáin is an outstanding poet who deserves her inclusion on our Leaving Cert course.