In Ireland Today, Poetry is More Counter-Cultural Than Catholicism

We all know that Catholicism is counter-cultural in today's Ireland. We know that our political elites have pushed through a social agenda that is anti-Christian and anti-Catholic. We know there is a deep-rooted hostility to Catholicism in the media, in the universities, and so on. We know there is a "soft persecution" against Christians, which so far is limited to fairly minor things such as discrimination against Catholic societies in universities, or bullying of Christian bakers reluctant to bake cakes for gay weddings.

I've come to the conclusion, however, that poetry is even more counter-cultural than Catholicism in today's Ireland.

There is at least a space for Catholicism. There is no space for poetry.

Every Sunday, hundreds of thousands of people attend Mass in towns, suburbs and villages all over Ireland. There are quite a few Catholic publications in Ireland: The Irish Catholic, The Catholic Voice, Alive!, Position Papers, and so on. There is Spirit Radio, Radio Maria Ireland, and any number of Catholic blog and radio channels.

There is really no space for the discussion of poetry, outside school and university.

I'm not just talking about formal spaces. There are no informal spaces, either. Try to talk about poetry and eyes glaze over.

For instance, some years ago I was reading Idylls of the King by Lord Alfred Tennyson, a heroic verse cycle of poetry which was extremely popular little more than a hundred years ago. I plan to return to it in the future. It's the kind of thing you can really get your teeth into. And indeed I found a satisfying amount of academic articles devoted to it, as well as a couple of book-length studies in UCD library. 

However, my attempts to talk about it with people floundered utterly. Zero interest. Not even the faintest glimmer of interest.

There are Star Trek nerds, Doctor Who nerds, politics nerds, philosophy nerds, all kinds of nerds. But there are no Idylls of the Kings nerds, no Tennyson nerds. You won't find an internet forum or Facebook group devoted to either.

Catholicism is counter-cultural in Ireland, but it is at least on the agenda. People have a lot to say about it, are keen to engage you in argument and debate or even sympathetic discussion.

Poetry? Nothing.