Noreen O’Rourke Poetry in my Life

Poetry in my Life

My first experience of poetry was hearing my Grandmother reciting from memory as I sat beside her by the fire. I was too young to memorize many of the lines , but I can clearly recall her voice, and how she would repeat the last line of a verse as she paused to remember the next. One of her favourites was ‘Lord Ullins Daughter’ who ran away with her lover , was chased by her angry father and was drowned.

It began -

A chieftan to the Highlands bound Cries , Boatman do not tarry, And I’ll give thee a silver pound To row us o’er the ferry.

And the last lines ran -

The waters wild went o’er his child And he was left lamenting.

At primary school, we learned many poems and recited them in class.

We loved the jaunty rhythm of ~Up the airy Mountain~

and ~I remember, I remember the house where I was born~

and we felt the wistful longing in ~The old Woman of the Roads~ ~Oh To Have a Little House…~

At secondary school the English course did not give a lot of space to Poetry, unlike the present day. Mostly it was studied with exams in view. There was a section called “Appreciation of Poetry”. It was something about which we read other people’s opinions, without forming many of our own.

Fortunately in later years , I came to have a real appreciation of poetry. It is so much easier to experience a great variety of poetry because of the availability of books and the opportunity of hearing recordings by the authors , or by readers with special expertise in recitation . We can hear Seamus Heaney in his gritty Northern accent , and Brendan Kennelly in

the soft tones of his native Kerry. Getting to know the lives of poets leads to understanding of their themes , and how the imagery in their poems comes from the environment in which they lived.

Patrick Kavanagh celebrates his native county in the lines

~Monaghan hills, you made me The sort of man I am~

Emily Dickinson lived a secluded life in Massechusetts. . Many of her poems are dark and dig deep into the mystery of Life and Death—

Because I could not stop for Death He kindly stopped for me The carriage held but just ourselves And immortality~

W. B.Yeats found inspiration for many of his poems from the landscape of Sligo – the best known- “The Lake Isle of Innisfree” Out of his life long passion for Maud Gonne McBride came - “The poet longs for the cloths of Heaven”, which ends with the memorable lines –

But I being poor , have only my dreams –Tread softly because you tread on my dreams

Noreen O’Rourke