Required Texts
Finneran, Richard J., ed. The Yeats Reader. New York, NY: Scribner, 1997. ISBN: 9780684831886.
Crotty, Patrick, ed. Modern Irish Poetry. Belfast, IR: Blackstaff Press, 1995. ISBN: 9780856405617.
Higgins, Rita Ann. Throw in the Vowels. Tarset, UK: Bloodaxe Books, 2005. ISBN: 9781852247003.
Boland, Eavan. An Origin Like Water . New York, NY: W.W. Norton, 1996. ISBN: 9780393038521.
Ni Dhomhnaill, Nuala. Selected Poems. Dublin, New Island Books, 1989. ISBN: 9781851860272.
First, the man himself. Browse freely and widely in the poems in The Yeats Reader. The Autobiographical selections are worth a glance, as well. Be sure to pay some attention to the following poems:
- Adam’s Curse
- Song of Wandering Aengus
- No Second Troy
- The Wild Swans at Coole
- The Fisherman
- Easter 1916
- On a Political Prisoner
- A Prayer for My Daughter
- Sailing to Byzantium
- Byzantium
- The Tower
- Coole Park and Ballylee
- The Crazy Jane poems
- Lapis Lazuli
- The Circus Animals’ Desertion
- The Coat
- Among School Children
- Leda and the Swan
- When You Are Old
The poem discussed each day should be read prior to coming to class.
| SES # | TOPICS |
|---|---|
| 1 | Hearty welcomes (the Irish are renowned for hospitality, after all) |
| 2 | “The Wild Swans at Coole” |
| 3 | “Lapis Lazuli” |
| 4 | Yeats, “When You Are Old” and “Leda and the Swan” |
| 5 | “Easter 1916” |
| 6 | Patrick Kavanagh |
| 7 | Louis MacNeice |
| 8 | John Hewitt |
| 9 | Richard Murphy |
| 10 | John Montague |
| 11 | Seamus Heaney |
| 12 | Michael Hartnett |
| 13 | Derek Mahon |
| 14 | Paul Durcan |
| 15 | Paul Muldoon |
| 16 | Ciaran Carson |
| 17 | Paula Meehan |
| 18 | Medbh McGuckian |
| 19 | Free sampler day. Come to class prepared to read us a poem from the Crotty anthology. No explanation or defense expected, we’ll just listen. |
| 20 | A video encounter with Eavan Boland |
| 21 | Yeats, Cathleen ni Houlihan and Evan Boland, “A Kind of Scar.” Think back to any women you recall appearing in any of the poems we’ve read. |
| 22 | Panel discussion of Boland’s poetry. Each of you should put forth a “provocation” a statement which includes which poem in the book seems most clearly to grapple with Yeats, and a few sentences about how that struggle is enacted. |
| 23 | Panel discussion of Rita Ann Higgins. Same sort of “provocation” due for this class. |
| 24 | Panel discussion on Nuala ni Dhomhnaill. Same “provocation” system as before. |
| 25 | Last class. Ah, that we could sip some stout or fine Irish whiskey! |
