Paul Durcan

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Paul Durcan

• 5th Year Poetry

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Paul durcan Biography
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Paul durcan Biography
The hostility of Durcans father reached its peak
when at the age of 19, after a breakdown of
relations with his family, Durcan was forcibly
committed to a psychiatric hospital by his
family. Against his will he was committed to St
John of Gods in Dublin and later a hospital in
London.
Over the course of nearly three years Durcan was
needlessly exposed to dozens of ECT sessions. He
has described his fear that the doctors would
perform a lobotomy on him, as they did on many
other patients.
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Paul durcan Biography
Durcan maintains that he did not suffer from
mental illness as his family alleged. However he
says he has suffered from depression and insomnia
ever since the ECT treatments. He said "Here were
these authoritarian, cocky middle-aged men
telling me they knew everything about me.   "They
could inject electricity and gas into you so as
to make you conform."
In 1965 Durcan fled hospital and made his way to
London where he became friendly with the poet
Patrick Kavanagh. Kavanagh became a surrogate
father for Durcan and he saw him almost every
day.
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Paul durcan Biography
His first collection of poetry Endsville, which
he co-authored with Brian Lynch, was published in
1967. Soon after, Durcan met Nessa ONeill at a
wedding Kavanagh had invited him to. They were
later married and had two daughters before
returning to Ireland in 1970.
Durcan went back to education, studying
archaeology and medieval history at UCC after
reportedly being informed by the English
department he did not understand English or
poetry and had no future in it. Durcan
describes this as one of the most traumatic
moments of his life.
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Paul durcan Biography
He carried on writing, despite the lack of
encouragement, and received first class honours
in his degree as well as the Patrick Kavanagh
Poetry Award in 1974.
In 1984 Durcan and Nessa decided to end their
marriage after sixteen years. This painful and
traumatic event is captured in his poetry as his
response to his fathers death in 1988. Durcans
poetry deals with themes of love, marriage,
family and Ireland and its history.
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Wife Who smashed television gets jail

• This poem is unusual in that it takes the form of
  a newspaper report. The poem reports how the
  womans husband testified against her, telling
  the judge how She came home, my Lord, and
  smashed in the television.
• Midway through an episode of Kojak, his wife
  returned from the pub and marched angrily into
  the living room.
• She seems enraged by the fact that families spend
  all their time watching television rather than
  engaging in conversation.

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Wife Who smashed television gets jail

• He refuses to turn it off and she makes good on
  her threat, using her boots as a hammer to smash
  the appliance. I didnt turn it off, so instead
  she turned it off.
• Television sets, she suggests, have infiltrated
  family life and now play the role of parents and
  spouses I didnt get married to a television.
  In her opinion, the family would be better
  spending their time in the pub as it is at least
  a place of human interaction.

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Wife Who smashed television gets jail

• The report switches from reporting the husbands
  testimony to describing the reaction of the
  presiding judge. He suggests televisions should
  be considered members of the families who own
  them the television itself could be said to be
  a basic unit of the family.
• The judge deems that any wife who shows a
  preference to the pub rather than watching
  television is a threat to the family. He
  sentences her to an unspecified time in jail with
  no chance for an appeal.

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THEME fAMILY

• This poem highlights the negative impact of
  technology can have on family life. The wife
  laments how the family sit stupefied in front of
  the screen while the old traditions of eating
  together, talking, sharing news and opinions are
  all gone.
• TV is portrayed as an insidious addiction the
  husbands response to his wifes attack on the TV
  is to rush off elsewhere so he and his kids dont
  miss a moment of Kojak. Though they have
  differing opinions on TV sets, both the wife and
  the judge make clear that televisions have become
  part of the family.
• The poem, then, presents a conflict between human
  interaction on one hand and machine interaction
  on the other. This is especially clear when the
  wife declares shed rather have her children in
  the pub than in front of the television. Pubs may
  be considered inappropriate for children but she
  feels at least there people engage with each
  other.

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THEME marriage

• Durcans poetry often presents a gritty and
  realistic view of marriage. However the
  relationship presented in this poem is likely the
  most dysfunctional of all.
• The wife comes to feel so ignored and
  marginalised that shes provoked into the violent
  attack on the television set.
• This surely is marital breakdown in the extreme.
  Then to make matters even worse, the husband
  appears to report the wifes action to the
  police, testifies against her in court and
  effectively gets her locked up.

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THEME the strength and power of women

• Durcans poetry is full of strong and impressive
  women. Yet among these women, the woman who
  smashed the television stands out.
• This is a woman not afraid to rebel. She has been
  ignored in favour of the television for long
  enough. She has watched the television destroy
  family life across the country for long enough.
  She responds with her own small but unforgettable
  act of rebellion.
• Its unsurprising then that she is compared with
  Queen Maeve, who in Irish legend was the fierce
  and powerful ruler of Connaught, and the equal of
  any king.

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THEME Ireland and irish history

• This poem presents Ireland as an oppressive place
  especially towards women. The role of women is
  to maintain the stability of the family unit, and
  thereby the stability of society itself.
• In such an environment women must function as
  loyal and obedient wives who look after the
  household and their husbands needs. Any women who
  rebel against this role, like the wife in the
  poem, will be regarded as a social menace and
  dealt with severely by the authorities.
• Tellingly, there is no mention in the report of
  the wifes testimony. Perhaps the judge felt her
  husband was the only one worth listening to and
  was happy to convict on his evidence alone. Or
  perhaps she was invited to speak but the reporter
  felt her words were not worth sharing. Either
  way, her silencing reflects the marginalised
  status of women in Ireland at that time.
• The bias against women is also suggested when the
  husband describes how Kojak shoots a woman who
  happens to share his wifes name After shooting
  a dame with the same name as my wife. Were left
  with the impression that this is a world where
  women are controlled and oppressed.

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Style Language, tone, structure etc.

• Form
• The poems most notable feature is its
  presentation as a newspaper report. The title is
  written in the style of a newspaper headline,
  while the body of the poem mixes quotes and
  reportage just as a real court report would.
• The husbands testimony is quoted verbatim, while
  in the last six lines Durcan skilfully captures
  the clipped, neutral style of the court reporter.
  

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Style Language, tone, structure etc.

• Tone
• Durcan brilliantly captures the tone of the
  husbands speech as he gives his testimony. There
  is something very realistic about the way he
  moves from a casual style of conversation (me
  and the kids, my mothers place, my mother
  has a fondness) to a more formal one
  (peaceably, my Lord, whereupon).
• We are left with a vivid impression of a man used
  to speaking in a casual manner who throws in a
  few big words to try to impress the judge and win
  his favour.

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Style Language, tone, structure etc.

• Language
• Its important to look at the words used by the
  husband to describe his wifes behaviour.
• He frames her outburst in emotionally charged
  language, designed to make her actions seem
  violent and unreasonable and uses words like
  marched, smashed, declared, disappeared.

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Style Language, tone, structure etc.

• Humour
• This poem is rich in the surreal humour the
  flavours much of Durcans poetry . We see this in
  the wifes attack on the television and the
  husbands equally bizarre response as he rushes
  his kids to his mothers place to catch the end
  of Kojak.
• We also see it in the judges overreaction as he
  imprisons the wife for breaking what is, after
  all, her own appliance.
• Durcan uses this bizarre scenario to make a
  serious point, attacking both the destructive
  influence of television and the oppression of
  women in the Ireland of the day. Although the
  poem is very quirky, it is also a powerful piece
  of social criticism.

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Personal response
This poem was written at a time when televisions
were the only form of electronic entertainment.
Yet its message is even more relevant today in
our world of smart phones, laptops and games
consoles. We now have so many different screens
to get lost in so many different ways to ignore
each other.
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QUESTIONS

1. The wife feels it is better for a family to drink
   in the pub together than watch television
   together. Why do you think she believes this? Do
   you feel that she has a point?
2. Given that this poem was written in the 1970s is
   it still relevant to the Ireland of today? Give a
   reason for your answer.
3. Write a personal response to this poem. (Use
   SMILES to help structure your answer)

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Parents

• Durcan compares sleep to an ocean. When we fall
  asleep we slip beneath the surface and drown in
  its depths.
• He depicts (image) parents looking down on their
  child who is lost in the swirling reaches of
  unconsciousness A childs face is a drowned
  face
• The ocean of sleep separates or estranges those
  who slumber from those who are awake.

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Parents

• Sleepers stay on one side of the oceans surface,
  waking people on the other. The surface of this
  ocean, then, is like a barrier separating the
  parents from their child they are Estranged
  from her by a sea. Durcan reinforces this point
  by repeating it almost exactly in line 16 and 17.
• The parents long to connect with their child but
  the impassable barrier of deep sleep prevents
  them from doing so. Durcan uses a wonderful
  simile to describe this comparing the parents to
  people who have been locked out of their own
  home.

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Parents

• Sleep is also compared to a pane of glass
  separating the parents from their child in the
  metaphor Their big ears are fins behind glass.
• But it is a twisted or distorted pane that makes
  the parents ears resemble huge fish-like fins. It
  seems to suggest that even if the sleeping child
  could somehow sense what was happening around her
  it would seem bizarre, distorted and
  incomprehensible.
• This is a strange but powerful image that
  reinforces our sense of the great divide between
  the waking and the sleeping worlds.

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Parents

• We sense however that this is no ordinary sleep,
  that this particular child may be very ill. After
  all, the parents seem highly anxious and
  concerned about their child, staying up all night
  to watch over them And through the night,
  stranded, they stare
• Their foreheads are furrowed with lines of
  worry. Durcans choice of language highlights the
  parents fear and suspense. Their clenched and
  puckered foreheads are compared to the mouths of
  fish Pursed-up orifices of fearful fish

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Parents

• We sense also that the child may be experiencing
  some kind of fever that brings vivid, unpleasant
  and chaotic dreams. Even though she is
  unconscious she knows something is wrong.
• In her dreams she longs to connect with her
  parents And in her sleep she is calling out to
  them / Father, Father / Mother, Mother. But of
  course her parents cant hear what she shouts in
  her dreams.
• If she woke she would see her parents standing
  over her but she is lost in her fevered sleep and
  cannot do so. The repetition of the word
  drowned in the poems last line reinforces our
  sense that the child is sick At the drowned,
  drowned face of their child.

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Theme family

• The poem highlights how far away our loved ones
  seem while they are sleeping. Sleep is likened to
  a barrier or pane of glass that leaves us locked
  out or stranded.
• When our loved ones sleep beside us we experience
  a strange kind of loneliness because they are
  lost in another world where we cannot reach them.
  
• Durcan is a poet who presents an honest and
  rounded view of family life, celebrating the joys
  of family life but also its difficulties. This
  poem seems to deal with the agonies of having a
  sick child, highlighting the stress and worry
  experienced by parents in that awful situation.
  We sense the tension as they stay up all night
  watching over their child, their foreheads
  furrowed with worry.

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Style Language, tone, structure etc.

• Metaphor and Simile
• This poem uses an extended metaphor that compares
  sleep to an ocean. Sleepers slide into this ocean
  and drown within its depths while waking people
  remain stranded above its surface. The oceans
  surface is presented as an unreachable barrier
  between sleep and waking.
• Other metaphors are used to describe the parents
  faces as they watch their sleeping child. Their
  ears are compared to fins. And in a bizarre
  comparison their clenched brows are likened to
  the mouths of fish.
• A fine simile is used to describe the distance
  between the waking parents and the sleeping
  child, with the parents compared to people locked
  out of their home.

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Style Language, tone, structure etc.

• Language
• Durcan choice of language illustrate the worry
  and stress the parents are experiencing. Words
  such as estranged, furrowed, pursed-up and
  stranded highlight the feeling of isolation and
  anxiety they are feeling.

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questions

1. What does the poem suggest about what it is like
   to be a parent? Refer to the poem in your answer.
2. The poem features a number of similes and
   metaphors. Describe three and say which one found
   most effective.

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Sport background

• In this poem the poet addresses his father, with
  whom he had a very difficult relationship.
• As Durcan himself describes it When I was ten,
  he began to be somewhat problematic. When I think
  about it there were gratuitous beatings and he
  was incredibly severe about things like
  examinations. If I hadnt got second or third
  place it was bad news, and sometimes he would
  take the strap off his trousers and beat me. A
  man has to be so very complicated if he takes a
  school report for a ten-year-old that seriously.

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Sport background

• Durcans father was a high-ranking judge, and in
  the poets account emerges as nearly a stereotype
  of that profession stern, severe and
  uncompromising. A man to whom discipline was
  everything.
• He could make no sense of his sons sensitive
  personality and artistic tendencies. To him these
  seemed like signs of mental disorder or insanity.
  
• Over the poets teenage years the relationship
  between father and son became increasingly tense
  and then broke down completely. Finally, when
  Durcan was nineteen, his father had him committed
  to a psychiatric hospital.

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Sport

• Sport recalls a memory from this difficult
  period spent inside institutions. As he turned
  twenty-one, the poet was being held in
  Grangegorman Mental Hospital I was a patient /
  In B Wing.
• Hes selected to play in goal for the hospitals
  Gaelic-football team in a match against Mullingar
  Mental Hospital both teams it seems are made up
  of inmates rather than of staff members.
• The poet provides a vivid portrait of the
  opposing team. He emphasises the great size and
  bizarre appearance of the Mullingar players,
  describing them as big country men who had
  gapped teeth, red faces / Oily, frizzy hair,
  bushy eyebrows.

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Sport

• The poet stresses the enormity of the Mullingar
  full-forward line, which was over six foot tall
  / Fifteen stone in weight. The three
  full-forwards were all schizophrenics, while the
  centre half-forward was rumoured to be an
  alcoholic solicitor locked up for castrating his
  best friend.
• Yet the poet held his nerve and bravely defended
  his goal against the intimidatingly crazy
  Mullingar attack To my surprise / I did not
  flinch in the goals He plays far better than he
  expected, leaping high and diving full
  stretch to deny the Mullingar team.

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Sport

• The poet credits his impressive display to the
  fact that his father was present at the game. So
  keen was he to observe his sons performance
  that he drive all the way from Dublin to
  Mullingar.
• The poet was determined not to disappoint his
  watching father I was fearful I would let down
  / Not only my team but you. In fact, he wanted
  to captivate or mesmerise him with the quality
  of his performance.
• His fathers presence gave him the will to die,
  the motivation to ignore pain, risk and potential
  injury that are essential to all sportsmen and
  artists, according the poet.

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Sport

• The poet suggests that both artists and
  sportspeople share a particular mentality.
  According to the poet, both require a will to
  die, a willingness to do whatever it takes to
  achieve their goals.
• Athletes train long after they have passed
  through the pain barrier, throw themselves
  heedlessly into tackles and keep fighting long
  after their bodies start aching.
• The artist also needs to take risks but they are
  with their mental health rather than physically.
  The artist must expose themselves to mental
  suffering, probe the darkest corners of their
  minds, explore all kinds of painful memories and
  memories in the creation of art.

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THEME family

• This may seem like a funny and light-hearted
  poem but it provides a moving portrait of a
  complicated father-son relationship.
• The father comes across not as loving and
  supportive but as severe, critical and
  judgemental. He seems to have a low opinion of
  his son and is dismissive of his talents and
  abilities There were not many fields / In which
  you had hopes for me.
• The use of the word observe in the first stanza
  indicates the fathers cold and critical manner.

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THEME family

• The poem also highlights the personality clash
  between father and son. The young poet was a
  sensitive, talented and artistic individual. But
  to his father they meant nothing. The father
  regarded his sons only success as playing on a
  winning team for Grangegorman Mental Hospital
  In your eyes I had achieved something at last
• The poet would go on to be come a famous and
  successful poet (a feat remarkably difficult to
  achieve) but these achievements would mean little
  compared to his performance in goal on his
  twenty-first birthday Seldom if ever again in
  your eyes / Was I to rise these heights

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THEME family

• This is a highly dysfunctional family
  relationship. However, we also sense that some
  affection or love exists between the two.
• The father turns up to support his son,
  travelling fifty miles to watch an obscure
  football match between two mental institutions.
  At the end of the game he seems to take genuine
  pride in his sons performance Sniffing your
  approval, you shook hands with me. / Well played,
  son
• Perhaps he felt that at last his son was doing
  something he could understand, something manly
  and physical.

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THEME family

• The poets twenty-first birthday should have been
  an occasion of family celebration, yet it turns
  out to be a grim parody of togetherness, the
  father shaking hands with the son hes had
  incarcerated.
• However, the poet too displays a kind of
  affection towards the father who had him locked
  up. He is desperate to impress or mesmerise
  him, and terrified of letting him down.
• We are left then with the agonising sense of what
  might have been, that this father-son pair could,
  under different circumstances, have had a healthy
  and happy relationship.

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THEME family

• We sense the poets anger at being locked up, at
  being misunderstood, dismissed and disregarded by
  his father.
• There is perhaps also a sense of anger at his
  younger self for trying so hard to impress the
  man who had him incarcerated.
• Yet there is a real sense of sorrow here, as if
  the poet acknowledges the residual love that
  continues to exist between them even after he had
  been committed. We sense him lamenting his
  fathers own mental and emotional issues, and the
  terrible impact they had on their relationship.

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Style Language, tone, structure etc.

• Tone
• In this poem we get a real sense of the young
  poets state of mind and personality. We sense
  his vulnerability as he stands between the
  goalposts but also his hope and determination to
  impress his watching father.

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Style Language, tone, structure etc.

• Imagery
• Like much of Durcans poetry Sport features
  imagery that is memorable strange and surreal. In
  particular the depiction of the Mullingar players
  with their gapped teeth and bushy eyebrows,
  of their centre half-forward who was rumoured to
  be an alcoholic solicitor locked up for
  castrating his best friend

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Style Language, tone, structure etc.

• Humour
• This poem is filled with the zany humour for
  which Durcans poetry is so often celebrated the
  bizarre set-up of the match between two mental
  hospitals, the almost cartoonish depiction of the
  Mullingar team, the farcical final scoreline
  Having defeated Mullingar Mental Hospital / By
  14 goals and 38 points to 3 goals and 10 points.
  There is also the fact that one of the players
  allegedly castrated his best friend but meant
  well in doing so.

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Nessa

• The poet remembers how he first met Nessa
  ONeill, the woman who would become his wife. The
  couple were introduced at a wedding in the
  Shangri-La Hotel in Dublin.
• Because they are by the sea in summertime, they
  decide to leave the wedding and go to the sea I
  hopped into the Irish sea. On their way back to
  the hotel they lie down together in a field. He
  describes how he could have happily lain beside
  her in the field for the rest of his life Id
  have lain with her in the grass all my life /
  With Nessa
• The poet is clearly immediately smitten with
  Nessa he feels intoxicated, out of control,
  overcome by emotion. He uses a wonderful metaphor
  to capture these sensations describing how Nessa
  took me by the index finger / And dropped me in
  her well

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Nessa

• As well as the sexual connotations present,
  these lines powerfully suggest his sense of being
  out of control, of falling helplessly towards
  something new and unknown. This is reinforced by
  the refrain that is repeated in some form at the
  end of each stanza And that was a whirlpool,
  that was a whirlpool, / And I very nearly
  drowned. The intensity of his emotions are
  almost too much, he feels as is he is drowning in
  them.
• Nessa is portrayed as an energetic, carefree and
  spontaneous young woman. She seems confident and
  self-assured as she takes the lead in her budding
  relationship with the poet She took me by the
  index finger.

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Nessa

• The final stanza clearly takes place sometime
  after the memorable first meeting, shifting from
  the past to the present tense. The poet and Nessa
  are still together.
• However, now the poets feelings are fraught with
  uncertainty, dread and desperation. Perhaps their
  relationship has entered a rocky period, or
  perhaps the poet feels as if Nessa is about to
  leave him. Or perhaps he simply feels insecure
  aware of how vulnerable loves makes us, of the
  devastation hell feel if Nessa ever chooses to
  leave him.

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Nessa

• The poet uses images from their first meeting to
  describe his current dark state of mind. He
  describes himself on the rocks of Dalkey, where
  he and Nessa went swimming on that first day.
  This hard and desolate shoreline serves as a
  powerful metaphor for his bleak mental state.
• He pleads with Nessa to relieve the feelings of
  dread and uncertainty that grip him regarding
  their relationship. He asks her to stay with
  him on the rocks, to promise herself to him
  and relieve his fear and insecurity.
• He asks her to come for him into the Irish
  Sea as if he longs for her to rescue him from
  the waves of dread and doubt that threaten to
  overwhelm his mind.

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THEME romantic love

• In some respects Nessa highlights the heady
  excitement that marks the beginning of a new
  relationship. We sense the energy and passion of
  this first meeting, the exhilaration that fills
  them as they begin to fall in love.
• Yet the poem also deals with what might be
  described as loves darker side. The poet might
  feel excitement on this first meeting but he
  feels like his life is spinning dangerously out
  of control. He compares this feeling to that of
  falling down a well or being sucked into a
  whirlpool. The poet is keenly aware that falling
  in love leaves us exposed and vulnerable.

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THEME romantic love

• This is especially evident in the last stanza
  where the poet seems gripped with fear and
  uncertainty about the status of his relationship
  with Nessa. We get the sense that he fears for
  the relationships future and worries whether
  Nessa loves him with the same intensity.
• The images of the poet on the rocks, drowning in
  the Irish Sea and riding in the dust-wrapped taxi
  all convey his misery as he struggles with the
  feelings of doubt and insecurity that threaten to
  overwhelm him.

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THEME the strength and power of women

• Durcans poetry contains many portraits of strong
  women. Nessa, his former wife, certainly falls
  into that category. She takes the lead in the new
  relationship and leads him on an intense romantic
  journey. Again and again she takes the
  initiative, suggesting that they go for a swim
  and lying beside him in the field.
• She comes across as the more self-assured,
  confident and assertive of the two. This
  vivacious, spontaneous young woman is portrayed
  almost as a force of nature a whirlpool whose
  powerful energy threatens to overwhelm the poet.

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Style Language, tone, techniques etc.

• Tone
• We get a sense of the poets personality and
  character. He seems far less self-assured than
  Nessa and is led by her. Hes reluctant to enter
  the water, suggesting hes less carefree than his
  new love. In the end he is unable to resist her
  or her invitation into the sea.

51
Style Language, tone, techniques etc.

• Imagery
• Like many of his poems Nessa features strange
  and surreal imagery. The image of the couple
  riding in a taxi-cab wrapped up in dust is
  unexpected and unsettling. It recalls the image
  of their first meeting but now the poet envisages
  a taxi surrounded by a dust cloud, as if this
  cloak of dust represents the doubts and
  uncertainties that blur the poets mind.
• It is a memorable, unusual image and the feelings
  of insecurity it conveys are heightened by the
  poems refrain Oh you are a whirlpool

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Style Language, tone, techniques etc.

• Metaphor
• The poet uses several fine metaphors in this
  poem. He compares the sensation of falling in
  love to that of falling down a well into a pool
  of dangerous swirling water And dropped me in
  her well. This powerfully captures the
  dizzying, headlong feeling of excitement that
  accompanies a new relationship.
• A similar effect is created when he compares
  Nessa to a whirlpool. In the third stanza this
  powerfully captures the force of her personality
  and the effect she has on the poet. In the final
  stanza however, the metaphor takes on a darker
  quality, suggesting the poet is on the verge of
  being overcome with feelings of doubt and
  insecurity.

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Nessa Questions

1. What do the first three stanzas suggest about
   infatuation and the beginning of a relationship?
2. Consider the various images and metaphors
   associated with sea and water. Why do you think
   the poet decided to use these? What do they
   suggest both about the relationship and his state
   of mind?

54
The Difficulty that is marriage

• The poet lies in bed beside his wife. Shes
  curled up fast asleep but he lies awake beside
  her. The poet describes how she seems faraway,
  capturing the sense of distance we sometimes feel
  when we lie beside a sleeping loved one. (A
  feeling also dealt with in Parents)
• As he lies there the poet thinks about his
  marriage and his life.

55
The Difficulty that is marriage

• It is clear the poet and his wife have had their
  fair share of arguments over the years. They
  differ or disagree with each other a lot. Other
  people involved in an argument might agree to
  disagree neither can be convinced of the
  others point of view so they agree to stop
  fighting put the issue aside.
• However, the poet and his wife cannot even
  manage this. Instead of agreeing to disagree,
  they disagree to disagree. It seems as if they
  argue even about the possibility of taking a
  break from the arguing. Durcans honesty about he
  and his wifes spats is quite humorous.

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The Difficulty that is marriage

• Yet despite their many differences, the poet
  loves his wife deeply. He cannot believe his luck
  that this woman come into his life and fell in
  love with him How was it I was so lucky to have
  ever met you?
• The closeness they share is evident when he
  describes her as my sleeping friend. He knows
  that his wife must have flaws and denies
  idolising or worshipping her I do not put you
  on a pedestal or throne. Yet he simply cannot
  see any faults that she might possess You must
  have faults but I do not see them. To him, she
  seems almost perfect.

57
The Difficulty that is marriage

• The poet says he is not a brave pagan, one of
  those atheists convinced that nothing waits for
  us beyond the grave. Such people are almost
  proud of their mortality. They accept or even
  celebrate that this life is all they have and
  concentrate on living it to the full. But the
  poet cannot join them in this, he believes in an
  afterlife beyond death.
• Durcan makes the contrast between the heaven
  that he believes awaits us and earth very clear.
  Heaven is a changeless kingdom, an eternal and
  constant state of being where nothing ever
  changes. This world, on the other hand, is a
  changeling earth, a site of flux and motion
  where nothing ever stays the same.

58
The Difficulty that is marriage

• In heaven our existence would be free of acres
  and worries. During our earthly existence,
  however, we will always be faced with troubles
  I have my troubles and I shall always have
  them.
• The poet, however, would gladly sacrifice heaven
  if he could live here on earth forever with his
  wife Yet gladly on this changeling earth I
  should live for ever / If it were with you my
  sleeping friend.
• He would swap an eternity in this troubled and
  changing world, provided he could spend it with
  his wife But I should rather live with you for
  ever / Than exchange my troubles for a changeless
  kingdom.

59
Theme marriage

• This poem presents an honest and deeply moving
  portrait of a marriage. The complexity of married
  life is suggested not only by the poems title
  but also by the fact that the poet lies awake at
  night pondering the questions that arise from his
  relationship. The poets marriage like any
  other has both positive and negative aspects.
• It is clear from Durcans poetry that his
  relationship with his wife he fairly intense and
  tempestuous. They argue a lot, disagreeing and
  differing about many things. In fact there are
  times they cannot even agree to disagree, yet
  ultimately their relationship is a happy one.

60
Theme marriage

• The poet would sacrifice heaven to spend
  eternity on earth with his wife. The poem, then,
  is a realistic and unflinching it highlights the
  ups and downs of any long-term relationship.
• Theres almost a sense that the poet loves his
  wife too much. His love for his wife makes heaven
  seem downright unappealing. Perhaps, this is the
  difficulty referred to in the poems title. The
  world is place of change and trouble but loves
  makes the thought of leaving it unbearable, even
  if we believe that heaven is waiting for us.

61
Style Language, tone, techniques etc.

• Sound Effects
• The opening line features repeated d sounds,
  creating a somewhat jarring effect that seems to
  correspond with the fractious nature of the
  relationship We disagree to disagree, we
  divide, we differ.
• The third line also features alliteration, with
  the poet using repeated m sounds. Here, the
  effect is softer hinting at the love the poet
  feels I array the moonlit ceiling with a mosaic
  of question marks

62
Style Language, tone, techniques etc.

• Metaphor
• The pet describes the thoughts that crowd his
  mind when he lies awake at night as a mosaic of
  question marks upon the ceiling.
• Humour
• The poet is quick to use self-deprecating humour
  when describing his own life, especially when it
  concerns a problem he is facing. In this poem he
  tells us that is no brave pagan to convey the
  fact that he would not find it easy to live with
  the thought that there is no afterlife.

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POEM Theme Tone Imagery Mood Effect Other Poetic Techniques
Wife Who Smashed TV Family Marriage Strength and Power of Women Irish Society Journalistic Humorous Realistic Dramatic and funny Light-hearted Bizarre Surreal Form (Newspaper report) Emotionally charged language Humour
Parents Family Isolation Anxious Striking and unusual Heavy and serious Unsettling Metaphor Simile Language choice
Sport Family Father-son relationship Nostalgic Vivid comedic imagery Sad yet light-hearted Sympathy Tone Humour
Nessa Marriage Romantic Love Strength and Power of Women Nostalgic Uncertain Water whirlpool, well, sea Love Revealing of the poet Tone Metaphor
The Difficulty That Is Marriage Marriage Romantic Love Reflective Loving Domestic cosy Adoring Moving Revealing Sound effects (alliteration) Metaphor Humour
64
Sample durcan question

• Durcans poetry can be at once gloomy and
  bright
• From your reading of his poems do you agree with
  this statement? Support your answer with
  reference to his poems.

65
Answering the question

• The first thing you must do in your answer is
  address the question.
• The question asks you if you agree that Durcans
  poetry can be at once, gloomy and bright.
• Though you are free to agree or disagree with a
  question (provided you can back up your answer
  with strong reasoning referring to the poems) it
  is almost always easier to argue in the positive.

66
Answering the question

• Clarify the 5 poems you want to discuss in
  relation to this question.
• Once you have selected them look at the
  individual poems and decide which heading it
  falls into Gloomy? Bright? Just one? Both?
• This question allows you to follow the SMILES
  guide very closely. Discuss what the Subject
  Matter and Message/Meaning of the poem is and
  whether it is a gloomy and/or bright message.
• Then go on to discuss how you came to know this
  was it made clear through the Imagery? Language?
  Effect on you? Structure?
• Discuss that in detail, using your notes, with
  each poem and you have your essay!

67
Answering the question

• Try to find ways to connect your discussion of
  different poems to make your essay coherent
  rather than just 5 separate discussions. For
  example Like Sport, Wife Who Smashed
  Television Gets Jail presents a story in a
  light-hearted, humorous and bright manner.
  However, again similarly to Sport, this
  brightness disguises a much darker message.
• Remember also to continually address the Q
  throughout your answer! The words bright and
  gloomy and synonyms of these words should run
  throughout your answer!

68
Answering the question

• Get planning!

69
Sample introduction

• I agree with the statement that Durcans poetry
  can be both gloomy and bright. Though Durcans
  poetry can often be funny and bright, there is
  almost always a more serious issue lurking under
  the surface. Throughout his poetry, Durcan
  discusses topics such as the fears and problems
  that come with romantic relationships, his
  troubled relationship with his father and the
  heartache of being a parent. However, I found
  these poems interesting and enjoyable rather than
  depressing because he is often humorous, he pokes
  fun at himself and is for the most part
  light-hearted in his poetry. In this essay I will
  discuss the poems Wife Who Smashed Television
  Gets Jail, Parents, Sport, Nessa and The
  Difficulty That Is Marriage and show how they
  can be both bright and gloomy.