Discrediting old irish legends

veryangryman · 03-11-2019 09:15PM #1

It's not well publicised that Yeats proposed to Maud Gonnes daughter as well.

Or that Kavanagh could be a bowsie at times to get his work out.

James Joyce hardly ever got caught fingering a young wan in the jacks or the likes?

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1 · 03-11-2019 09:22PM

If by bowsie you mean unruly and drunk. Kavanagh was just like that. I knew him and he was foul mouthed and a pest when drinking. Not sure if you're saying this wasn't so or not.

odyssey06 · 03-11-2019 09:26PM

veryangryman wrote: »

It's not well publicised that Yeats proposed to Maud Gonnes daughter as well.

Bit dubious on that one - I remember hearing about that in secondary school discussion of one of his poems, and there it is on Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._B._Yeats#Marriage_to_Georgie_Hyde_Lees

Your Face · 30-11-2019 12:16AM

We tear it down, put nothing in its place and call it progress.

El_Duderino 09 · 30-11-2019 12:34AM

Your Face wrote: »

We tear it down, put nothing in its place and call it progress.

I don't see why we don't just leave it where it is and talk about it and it's context, and call it history.

Don Joe · 30-11-2019 12:37AM

Marjorie Chubby Sodium wrote: »

If by bowsie you mean unruly and drunk. Kavanagh was just like that. I knew him and he was foul mouthed and a pest when drinking. Not sure if you're saying this wasn't so or not.

Interesting. He's dead 52 years ago. You must be blowing out a lot of candles on a cake these days

Are you from Monaghan?

30-11-2019 06:57AM

veryangryman wrote: »

It's not well publicised that Yeats proposed to Maud Gonnes daughter as well.

Or that Kavanagh could be a bowsie at times to get his work out.

James Joyce hardly ever got caught fingering a young wan in the jacks or the likes?

How is any of this "Discrediting old irish legends"?

We expect our poets/artists to be deviants, alcoholics, homosexual, perverts, etc. I don't see how any if it is lessening their contributions... and as for old Irish legends... you're simply talking about famous Irish people from the past?

Hercule Poirot · 30-11-2019 07:14AM

Very disappointed - thread title led me to believe there would be a thorough debunking of the myth that Fionn MacCool built the Giants Causeway when we all know it was actually Paddy McGinty from back a hind

ILoveYourVibes · 30-11-2019 08:22AM

Op you just made them more awesome...they were rebels.

30-11-2019 10:00AM

veryangryman wrote: »

It's not well publicised that Yeats proposed to Maud Gonnes daughter as well.

Or that Kavanagh could be a bowsie at times to get his work out.

James Joyce hardly ever got caught fingering a young wan in the jacks or the likes?

We got Joyce's letters to Nora, which are.. yeah

gozunda · 30-11-2019 10:06AM

Re Discrediting old irish legends

?

Is this part of the new English Leaving Cert syllabus then or something?

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1 · 30-11-2019 11:26AM

Don Joe wrote: »

Interesting. He's dead 52 years ago. You must be blowing out a lot of candles on a cake these days

Are you from Monaghan?

I was 23 when he died. Shared the Inniskeen bus with him many times in my youth.

corner of hells · 30-11-2019 11:45AM

Marjorie Chubby Sodium wrote: »

I was 23 when he died. Shared the Inniskeen bus with him many times in my youth.

By the " stoney grey soil " ?

ShamNNspace · 30-11-2019 12:04PM

Marjorie Chubby Sodium wrote: »

I was 23 when he died. Shared the Inniskeen bus with him many times in my youth.

Still working at 75 my hat off to you sir

Raconteuse · 30-11-2019 12:07PM

My mother was one of the trainee nurses who tended to him when he was dying. She says he was an awful bollox.

biko · 30-11-2019 12:20PM

Your Face wrote: »

We tear it down, put nothing in its place and call it progress.

They started work this morning down at city square
They're pulling down the statues of our great grandfather's hero
The new books said he wasn't such a great man after all
And anyway remember that the times they are a-changing
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_bcoStFk4s

Widdershins · 30-11-2019 12:29PM

"Bowsie"

beejee · 30-11-2019 12:56PM

Your Face wrote: »

We tear it down, put nothing in its place and call it progress.

Rings true these days.

The devil makes work for idle hands, as the saying goes, but it's equally true for idle minds.

I fancy it to going to someone's funeral and insisting upon laying out all the negative and dark details of the persons life. Why do that? Who wants that? Who would appreciate that?

There's a line to avoid in propping up a person as a Saint, of course.

Idle minds with nothing to do but dig and nit pick and pull apart and be ultimately destructive, a sign of a decaying civilisation/society.

Let people be. Especially those that are not in a position to defend themselves.

Widdershins · 30-11-2019 01:03PM

Artistic people can have very strong/colourful/obnoxious/bizarre personalities. I guess it'sometimes a sign of curiosity about that.

razorblunt · 30-11-2019 01:32PM

Jonathan Rhys Myers’ is Jonathan O’Keeffe and he was an absolute eejit in school, not persecuted for his talent that everyone was blind too like he goes on about.

beejee · 30-11-2019 01:58PM

Widdershins wrote: »

Artistic people can have very strong/colourful/obnoxious/bizarre personalities. I guess it'sometimes a sign of curiosity about that.

That's true too. If someone is genuinely curious it can be a pleasure to read into people/topics and gain an appreciation of the subtleties involved, a balanced and nuanced "view"

The sincerity of the Internet, however, has the depth of a puddle. Everything is reduced, a sentence, a thought, and that's all. Just enough information to propagate the same shallow idea, and enough to sound knowledgeable to the unknowkedgeable.

A little information is a dangerous thing. Ah whatever, it's Saturday

Church on Tuesday · 30-11-2019 03:45PM

Marjorie Chubby Sodium wrote: »

If by bowsie you mean unruly and drunk. Kavanagh was just like that. I knew him and he was foul mouthed and a pest when drinking. Not sure if you're saying this wasn't so or not.

I don't doubt that's all true, Kavanagh was a pretty flawed individual but still a great poet.

Wompa1 · 30-11-2019 04:19PM

Wasn't James Joyce a bit of a bollocks on the beer too? Starting fights and the like?

ShamNNspace · 30-11-2019 05:07PM

Wompa1 wrote: »

Wasn't James Joyce a bit of a bollocks on the beer too? Starting fights and the like?

Drink the Cross off an asses back that lad.. Don't know how he ever got time to be writin da bukes himsel an Nora wit his camog an eyeglass up around WoodQuay every morn waitin for the early house to open

Gynoid · 30-11-2019 05:24PM

Church on Tuesday wrote: »

I don't doubt that's all true, Kavanagh was a pretty flawed individual but still a great poet.

I have known a few poets, most of them bowsies in one way or the other. I don't think one can have poetic vision without quite some suffering of the psyche. They leave their wounds raw, open. Of course it is a pain in the hole for those who live with them.
Kavanagh's line ''Through a chink too wide there comes in no wonder'' is up there among the greatest lines ever written (in my opinion). It is philosophy distilled.

Obvious Desperate Breakfasts · 30-11-2019 05:24PM

razorblunt wrote: »

Jonathan Rhys Myers’ is Jonathan O’Keeffe and he was an absolute eejit in school, not persecuted for his talent that everyone was blind too like he goes on about.

He has always seemed like a complete dose.

Church on Tuesday · 30-11-2019 05:34PM

Gynoid wrote: »

I have known a few poets, most of them bowsies in one way or the other. I don't think one can have poetic vision without quite some suffering of the psyche. They leave their wounds raw, open. Of course it is a pain in the hole for those who live with them.
Kavanagh's line ''Through a chink too wide there comes in no wonder'' is up there among the greatest lines ever written (in my opinion). It is philosophy distilled.

Ditto Charles Bukowski.

the purple tin · 18-02-2020 10:57AM

We've all heard about Brendan Behan's past and Flann O'Brien was an awful man for the drink too.
The real question should be are there any old irish writers and poets who didn't drink and were nice pleasant fellows?
Shaw maybe?

Bob Harris · 18-02-2020 11:00AM

I heard Miriam O'Callaghan was a virgin.

JohnnyFlash · 18-02-2020 11:01AM

the purple tin wrote: »

We've all heard about Brendan Behan's past and Flann O'Brien was an awful man for the drink too.
The real question should be are there any old irish writers and poets who didn't drink and were nice pleasant fellows?
Shaw maybe?

It’s not just Irish writers. Journalism and writing have always been professions/callings that have attracted degenerates and drunks.

elefant · 18-02-2020 11:03AM

veryangryman wrote: »

It's not well publicised that Yeats proposed to Maud Gonnes daughter as well.

Or that Kavanagh could be a bowsie at times to get his work out.

Both of these are extremely well publicised.

Discrediting old irish legends

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