Michael Longley and Birds

The following essay attempts to shed some light on Michael Longley’s poems about birds, which form a fairly complicated network of mutual enhancements and cross-references. Some of them are purely descriptive lyrics. Such poems are likely to have the name of a given species or a specific individual...

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Main Author: Przemysław Michalski
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Lodz University Press 2018-10-01
Series:Text Matters
Subjects:
Online Access:https://czasopisma.uni.lodz.pl/textmatters/article/view/3735
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spelling doaj-e52d6529f6c247da9dfb46b505527d9d2020-11-25T01:10:08ZengLodz University PressText Matters2083-29312084-574X2018-10-018688310.1515/texmat-2018-00053735Michael Longley and BirdsPrzemysław Michalski0Pedagogical University of KrakówThe following essay attempts to shed some light on Michael Longley’s poems about birds, which form a fairly complicated network of mutual enhancements and cross-references. Some of them are purely descriptive lyrics. Such poems are likely to have the name of a given species or a specific individual representative of that species in the title. Others make references to birds or use them for their own agenda, which often transcends the parameters of pure description. Sometimes birds perform an evocative function (“Snow Geese”), prompt the poet to explore the murky mysteries of iniquity (“The Goose”), judge human affairs from the avian vantage (“Aftermath”), or raise ecological problems (“Kestrel”). Most of the time, however, Longley is careful not to intrude upon their baffling otherness. Many of his bird poems are suffused with an aura of subtle yet suggestive eroticism, a conflation of the avian and the amorous.https://czasopisma.uni.lodz.pl/textmatters/article/view/3735longleyirelandpoetrybirds
collection DOAJ
language English
format Article
sources DOAJ
author Przemysław Michalski
spellingShingle Przemysław Michalski
Michael Longley and Birds
Text Matters
longley
ireland
poetry
birds
author_facet Przemysław Michalski
author_sort Przemysław Michalski
title Michael Longley and Birds
title_short Michael Longley and Birds
title_full Michael Longley and Birds
title_fullStr Michael Longley and Birds
title_full_unstemmed Michael Longley and Birds
title_sort michael longley and birds
publisher Lodz University Press
series Text Matters
issn 2083-2931
2084-574X
publishDate 2018-10-01
description The following essay attempts to shed some light on Michael Longley’s poems about birds, which form a fairly complicated network of mutual enhancements and cross-references. Some of them are purely descriptive lyrics. Such poems are likely to have the name of a given species or a specific individual representative of that species in the title. Others make references to birds or use them for their own agenda, which often transcends the parameters of pure description. Sometimes birds perform an evocative function (“Snow Geese”), prompt the poet to explore the murky mysteries of iniquity (“The Goose”), judge human affairs from the avian vantage (“Aftermath”), or raise ecological problems (“Kestrel”). Most of the time, however, Longley is careful not to intrude upon their baffling otherness. Many of his bird poems are suffused with an aura of subtle yet suggestive eroticism, a conflation of the avian and the amorous.
topic longley
ireland
poetry
birds
url https://czasopisma.uni.lodz.pl/textmatters/article/view/3735
work_keys_str_mv AT przemysławmichalski michaellongleyandbirds
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