tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7091756463128804432.post2493721755186949129..comments2024-03-27T02:55:10.109-07:00Comments on Irish Papist: Louis MacNeice on ArtMaolsheachlannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09406722311993627528noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7091756463128804432.post-40900684501477967832014-07-26T04:55:49.064-07:002014-07-26T04:55:49.064-07:00I suspect Autumn Journal gets the attention it doe...I suspect Autumn Journal gets the attention it does because its 'reportage' makes selections from it fit well in anthologies.Maolsheachlannhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09406722311993627528noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7091756463128804432.post-37392190089908133452014-07-26T04:54:57.122-07:002014-07-26T04:54:57.122-07:00I think Autumn Sequel is actually better, though l...I think Autumn Sequel is actually better, though less praised.Maolsheachlannhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09406722311993627528noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7091756463128804432.post-30792844427306224242014-07-26T04:33:05.395-07:002014-07-26T04:33:05.395-07:00Ah, I was being grouchy at that moment.
Autumn Se...Ah, I was being grouchy at that moment.<br /><br />Autumn Sequel is actually the sequel to Autumn Journal. It's much less of a 'journal', and more impressionistic, as MacNeice puts very well, when recalling his Autumn Journal in it:<br /><br />Our days are quick<br />Quick and not dead. To lop them off with a knife<br />In order to preserve them seems pure fake.<br /><br />There are some amazing lines. At one put MacNeice describes the process of history, where the seeds of one era are always planted in the previous one, thus:<br /><br />The black bureau<br />Of history where pale clerks do sum on sum<br />Carrying over and over.<br /><br />I'm so glad to hear from another reader of MacNeice. At his best he's amazing. I generally like people who have strong convictions, but MacNeice's poetry takes agnosticism, in the best sense, to its highest level-- I think. Or even fence-sitting!<br /><br />The most famous lines, the ones included in the Oxford Book of English Verse and alluded to in Rev, have been posted by someone else here:<br /><br />http://settheweatherfair.wordpress.com/about/<br /><br />I like the lines you quote from House on a Cliff. I also like some lines from MacNeice that I don't quite understand. Like these:<br /><br />The glamour of the end attic, the smell<br />Of old leather trunks – Perdita, where have you been<br />Hiding all these years? Somewhere or other a green<br />Flag is waving under an iron vault<br />And a brass bell is the herald of green country<br />And the wind is in the wires and the broom is gold.<br /><br />I don't know what it means, but it's incredibly haunting.<br /><br />My father often quotes his poem 'Dublin', which he knows by heart. I don't think any poem has captured the atmosphere of Dublin so perfectly. And MacNeice wasn't even a Dubliner.<br /><br />Thanks for that Dominic. I'm proud to have you as a reader of my blog!Maolsheachlannhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09406722311993627528noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7091756463128804432.post-82292728942803296742014-07-26T04:17:49.222-07:002014-07-26T04:17:49.222-07:00Ah, just seen that this extract is from 'Autum...Ah, just seen that this extract is from 'Autumn Sequel' and not 'Autumn Journal', sorry. I suppose that makes two to investigate!Dominic Nnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7091756463128804432.post-3573615040186996312014-07-26T04:14:57.015-07:002014-07-26T04:14:57.015-07:00Sorry, I had to leave this when it first came up i...Sorry, I had to leave this when it first came up in my feed-reader, because I knew it needed time to read properly. I'm glad I did, though I'm sorry it skewed your statistics.<br /><br />That extract has entirely changed my thoughts on the 'Autumn Journal'. I have some selected poems of MacNeice's with a different extract, but didn't get on with it. I had better give it another go, because I thought these lines were wonderful - unrelentingly tight without showing off.<br /><br />The MacNeice poem I like is 'House on a Cliff', even though I don't quite understand it.... 'Indoors the tang of a tiny oil-lamp. Outdoors the winking signal on a waste of sea...... Outside the chill, the void, the siren'. I can think of few other poems that clinch the feeling of the night sea like that. And there too he picks his structure and sticks to it seemingly effortlessly.Dominic Nnoreply@blogger.com