Paul Durcan

Paul Durcan

1. En Famille, 1979

   • The delights and dangers of falling in love.
     • "And I very nearly drowned"
   • Personal poem about the first time Durcan met his wife
     • "With Nessa"
   • She's in control from the beginning
     • "She took me by her index finger / And dropped me in her well"
     • "Would you care to swim? she said to me."
   • Love is thrilling, exciting, dangerous, uncertain.
     • "And that was a whirlpool, that was a whirlpool"
   • Wonders will it last. But we know it ends happily.
     • "Will you stay with me on the rocks?"

2. Wife Smashed Television Gets Jail

   • Dramatic title, tabloid-like, humorous.
     • "We got there before the finish of Kojak"
   • Tv cannot be used as a positive influence on family life, the poem shows the society thinking the opposite.
     • "the basic unit of society"
   • Values of family being lost - American culture consuming our culture.
     • "dame"
   • The whole poem is ironic, giving it dark humour.
     • "peaceably watching Kojak"
   • Set in Ireland 1970's, we know this because of several references to Irish culture.
     • "Justice O'Brádaigh"
     • "Queen Maeve"

3. The Girl with the Keys to Pearse's Cottage

   • Irish Cullture - emigration
   • Ironic, that the tour guide of Pearse's cottage must emigrate. This is the oppsoite of Pearse's dream for Ireland.
     • "She had no choice but to leave her home"
   • No future for the youth
   • Irish identity, belonging, instability.
   • Ordinary everyday people were effected.
     • "From your Connemara postman's daughter's proudly mortal face."
   • Lack of interest in Pearse's cottage - lack of interest in the countries ambitions.
   • Cáit Kilann (the girl) is the symbol of the emigration and loss.
     • "O Cáit Kilann, O Cáit Kilann"
   • Alliteration
     • "Photographs of the passionate and pale Pearse."

4. Parents

   • Relationship between parents and offspring.
     • "In her sleep she is calling out to them / Father, Father / Mother, Mother"
   • Parents can't control the future of their children.
     • "But they cannot hear her"
   • Is the child having a nightmare? Or is it their future. In both the parents are unable to help him/her.
   • Disturbing images, show fear, anxiety, nervousness, worry.
     • "Through the night, stranded, they stare / At the drowned, drowned face of the child."
     • "As if locked out of their own homes"
   • Metaphor of sea used to represent possible dangers or nightmares.
     • "She is under the sea / And they are above the sea"

5. Sport

   • Explores father and son's relationship
   • Personal poem about Durcan's time in a mental hospital.
     • "I was a patient"
   • We feel sorry for Durcan as he tries to impress his father. Anxiety to let him down.
     • "I was fearful I would let down / Not only my team but you"
   • Constantly looking for approval.
     • "Seldom if ever again in your eyes / Was I to rise to these heights"
   • Father reacts positively for first time - need to be praised..
     • "Well played, son"
   • Durcan is proud - but there is a sad reality, he is in a mental hospital because of his family... his father used to beat him.
     • "In your eyes I had achieved something at last"
     • "The Grangegorman Mental Hospital team"

6. The Arnolfini Marriage

   • Written about the famous Jan Van Eyck painting. A poem written in response to a painting is known as a Ekphrasis.
     • "We are the Arnolfinis.
       • "Do not think you may invade / Our privacy because you may not"
   • Shows idealism of marriage
   • Unity / Harmony / One
     • "The two halves of a coconut."