Far From Kiltartans Poor He Died

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William Butler Yeats poems in memory of Major William Robert Gregory celebrate him as an Irish airman, not giving the fact that he was a lover of the empire and stood against everything the poor of Kiltartan loved or wanted.

This poem explored that aspect of Lady Gregorys son, who did not share his mothers politics.

He died far from Kiltartans poor being shot down by friendly fire in Italy, and far from for them in fighting for Crown and Country.

----------------- The Poem -------------------------

Far from Kiltartans poor he died
As to fight for his dream he tried
To outdo his enemy he vied
Only by his own to be shot down

And a poet who of the war vowed not to write
As it was no a writers war to fight
Nor a fit subject for verse in his sight
Wrote of an allied airman who fought for the crown

For far from the cause of liberty
So for Serbia and Belgium to be free
And Ireland too - far from that he
Wore uniform among the clouds

It was for empire to remain great
To be the worlds most powerful state
White, English, of the Reformed faith
He died, far from Kiltartans crowds

For it was far from fighting for Kiltartans poor
He died far from Kiltartan it is sure
He desired to keep them so, his heart was pure
British, to the very bone.

And the Kaiser, whose forces he faced
Whose Empire his own displaced
Was no more Kiltartans enemy disgraced
Than was the Hero from among their own.

John Haynes and Creative Writing

John Haynes and Nigel McLoughlin are among the many teachers I *met* through Facebook. They teach students in creative writing. John's website currently features brief introductions to topics of interest to poets. Here is an excerpt from his introduction to the topic of poetic language. In this introduction, Haynes refers to the Russian linguist and literary critic Roman Jakobson:
. . . The poetic function is when the focus of attention is on the 'message' (i.e. the language) itself. For this reason poetic language is sometimes called 'reflexive'. This doesn't mean that in poems we don't also take account of other factors such as emotion and content.

Jakobson points out that the poetic function occurs in all areas of life not just in poems. 'Heinz meanz beanz', 'Go to work on an egg', 'No pain no gain', 'credit crunch' and so on are all examples.

A poem is a kind of text in which language itself is the defining feature. On this line of thinking all the poetic 'devices' we come across are seen as ways of turning our attention to the text as text. So poetry is not just understanding what the writer is talking about and how they feeling about it, but about language as such.

Jakobson's view tends to present poetic language as a sort of 'play', where we enjoy and celebrate the words in our mouths, as it were. Obviously there are more serious things here, such as having a sense of what human communication is, how language and thought intermesh.

Read the whole thing at John's website.

In addition to his comments on creative writing, Mr. Haynes has generously posted engaging commentary on poems at his Reading Blog. Here is an excerpt from the beginning of his commentary on W.B. Yeats' poem "When You Are Old":

A medieval poem, a translation with variation from a time when courtly romantic love was the mode. As in much of such poetry the poet/lover expresses a platonic sort of love which is not returned by the beloved. Also the troubadour poet would not really expect to be loved in return, partly because the beloved was of a far higher social status than himself.

(John's Reading Blog contains the full text of Yeats' poem.)

Read the full essay at John's reading blog. Enjoy!

Yeats Night 2005

Here you have a few River Junction Poets, met on the occasion of Yeats' birthday, 2005. Pictured are, from L to R: Andy Christ, Karen Choate, Marion Tincknell, Betty van Ochten, Sue Nearing, Colleen van Connett, Pat McNair, Robert Schade and Pat Bourdow. Thanks to Janet Marineau for taking the picture. At the time this picture was taken, all the people in the picture were members of the River Junction Poets for at least two years. Roughly nine months after this picture was taken, we lost our dear friend and fellow poet Robert Schade to an infection shortly after his surgery. May he rest in peace. Not only did he write his own witty verse, he translated poems from German into English and shared them with the group. We remember him as a gentle man, lover of life, a fellow poet...one sorrowfully missed.

Here you have a few River Junction Poets, met on the occasion of Yeats' birthday, 2005. We were at the Barnes & Noble bookseller on Tittabawassee Road in Saginaw, Michigan. Pictured are, from L to R: Andy Christ, Karen Choate, Marion Tincknell, Betty van Ochten, Sue Nearing, Colleen van Connett, Pat McNair, Robert Schade and Pat Bourdow. Thanks to Janet Marineau for taking the picture. At the time this picture was taken, all the people in the picture were members of the River Junction Poets for at least two years. Roughly nine months after this picture was taken, we lost our dear friend and fellow poet Robert Schade to an infection shortly after his surgery. May he rest in peace. Not only did he write his own witty verse, he translated poems from German into English and shared them with the group. We remember him as a gentle man, lover of life, a fellow poet...one sorrowfully missed.