(Page numbers given refer to Collected Poems: Derek Mahon [CP]: The Gallery Press, 1999)
Poem Title |
Original Publication |
CP Page no |
In Carrowdore Churchyard |
Twelve Poems, Belfast: Festival Publications, 1965 |
17 |
Allusion to Classical figure Euripides, Homer (in the reference to ‘the blind poet’)
Classical/post-Classical intertexts The poem is an Elegy to Louis MacNeice, whose career as a classicist is noted in the reference to Euripides. Echoes of his poetry are present throughout. (See H. Haughton, The Poetry of Derek Mahon (Oxford: Oxford University Press), p.39ff.)
Further Comment Mahon’s friend and contemporary Michael Longley recounts that he, Mahon and Seamus Heaney each attempted to write an elegy to their much admired predecessor, MacNeice, though Mahon’s far outshone their attempts. (In M. Murphy & C. Ní Anluain, Reading the Future: Irish Writers in Conversation with Mike Murphy (Dublin: Lilliput Press, 2000), p.123.) Classical references feature strongly in the poetic and theatrical works of all four Northern Irish poets.
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Poem Title |
Original Publication |
In Carrowdore Churchyard |
Twelve Poems, Belfast: Festival Publications, 1965 |
CP Page no |
17 |
Length / Form |
|
Allusion to Classical figure |
Euripides, Homer (in the reference to ‘the blind poet’) |
Allusion to Classical place |
|
Relationship to Classical text |
. |
Close translation of words/phrases/excerpts |
|
Classical/post-Classical intertexts |
The poem is an Elegy to Louis MacNeice, whose career as a classicist is noted in the reference to Euripides. Echoes of his poetry are present throughout. (See H. Haughton, The Poetry of Derek Mahon (Oxford: Oxford University Press), p.39ff.) |
Further Comment |
|
Further Analysis |
Mahon’s friend and contemporary Michael Longley recounts that he, Mahon and Seamus Heaney each attempted to write an elegy to their much admired predecessor, MacNeice, though Mahon’s far outshone their attempts. (In M. Murphy & C. Ní Anluain, Reading the Future: Irish Writers in Conversation with Mike Murphy (Dublin: Lilliput Press, 2000), p.123.) Classical references feature strongly in the poetic and theatrical works of all four Northern Irish poets |