Wednesday, March 26, 2008

John Montague - 1929 to ...



Quotes:
“Brooklyn-born, Tyrone-reared, Dublin-educated, constituted a tangle, a turmoil of contradictory allegiance it would take a lifetime to unravel.”

“Losing a family and a country in one sweep must not have been easy, although for long I suppressed my earlier memories.”

“The few years from four to eleven were a blessing and a healing.”

“The poetic world of Dublin was acrimony and insult.”

“I would not wish anyone to go through what I endured as a young writer.”

“The wider an Irishman’s experience, the more likely he is to understand his native country.”

“The missing link of Ulster poetry.”

“There had not been a poet of Ulster Catholic background since the Gaelic poets of the eighteenth century.”

“Destiny seems to have decided to give me back my lost childhood in America….But I am grateful to have explored Ireland so intimately.”


1925 Montague’s father emigrated to New York
1928 Wife and two young sons join the father
1929 Montague born in Brooklyn, New York
1933 Returned to Tyrone and raised by his aunts
1941 Enrolled in St. Patrick’s College, Armagh
1941-46 Influenced by Sean O’Boyle
1946 Wins scholarship to UCD. Later studies in US
1952 Montague’s father returns to Ireland
1958 Forms of Exile, his first poetry collection, published
1972-84 Publishes his most important work
1972-88 Lectures at UCC, influencing a generation of poets
1987 Honoured by governor of New York for literary achievements
1998 Appointed to Ireland's First Chair of Poetry

To summarise…

v Ability to see beneath surface of things
v Interest in Irish history and folklore
v Interested in life’s victims
v Deals with the theme of exile
v More than one layer of meaning in many poems
v Concern for people’s sufferings
v Records intimate personal experience
v Importance of childhood experiences
v Honest but compassionate observer
v Deals with the theme of cruelty
v Eccentric people often the subject
v Preoccupied with family roots

Questions

1. “John Montague; a poet for the twenty-first Century.”
In response to the above statement, write an essay on the poetry of Montague.

2. “John Montague; a poet with much to offer the young, modern reader.” Write a speech for your class-mates in which you discuss Montague under this heading.

3. “John Montague; the man behind the poetry.” Discuss.


In all answers you must support your answer by detailed reference to at least SIX poems you have studied on your course.

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