https://sunygeneseoenglish.org/members/jsf11/activity/ Activity feed for Joseph Figliolia. Thu, 27 Aug 2026 18:23:02 -0500 https://buddypress.org/?v= en-US 30 hourly 2 d7df331ef2a813b6e85943969cf3a07c http://sunygeneseoenglish.org/groups/irish-studies/forum/topic/yeats-and-heaney-violence-in-the-land/#post-409 Tue, 29 Apr 2014 02:36:12 -0500 Joe, I definitely agree with your attitudes about the function of violence in Yeats’ and Heaney’s poetry, but I think that both violence, and art, don’t necessarily have to serve as a tool for positive social change. For Yeats in particular, although he was a cultural nationalist who recognized the potential for art to be transformative, art was…[Read more]

]]> 7b944e31c766dd87735181ccf1fe6fdf http://sunygeneseoenglish.org/groups/irish-studies/forum/topic/heaney-and-the-tribes-complicity/ Thu, 24 Apr 2014 21:26:53 -0500 In his bog poems, Heaney seems to aestheticize corpses as the objects of a necessary ritual sacrifice. The corpses, in this case, are sacrificed for various causes that either cement tribal values, or signify the consequences of subverting these values. In “The Tollund Man,” the body is sacrificed to the “mother goddess” who serves the same…[Read more]

]]> fbe68824cd3d0b14da5d25027d43b6ac http://sunygeneseoenglish.org/groups/irish-studies/forum/topic/poets-and-the-dantean-contrapasso/ Sun, 20 Apr 2014 18:50:42 -0500 In Heaney’s poem “An afterwards,” an unknown “she” places poets in the ninth circle of Dante’s inferno, the one saved for traitors. The unknown “she” remarks that for “backbiting in life,” poets will be forced to gnaw the necks and heads of those they “backbite” in hell. This punishment seems particularly apt because backbiting involves slandering…[Read more]

]]> 4d95af74b140f55d653c271e26080742 http://sunygeneseoenglish.org/groups/irish-studies/forum/topic/yeats-transition-from-paradox-to-paradox/#post-375 Mon, 07 Apr 2014 14:51:59 -0500 Devon I think your point about the changing function of the Rose in yeats’ poetry is a good one. I agree with you that even in Yeats’ early poetry, the rose serves as a symbol of transience. By definition, a flower is closely linked to the earth and the cycle of seasons, and by extension, inevitable death and decay. Paradoxically, however, yeats…[Read more]

]]> 29ef45f9908646f0cf0aecff99e2805a http://sunygeneseoenglish.org/groups/irish-studies/forum/topic/self-actualization-in-michael-robartes-and-the-dancer/ Wed, 26 Feb 2014 18:29:14 -0500 For those of you familiar with humanistic psychology, specifically Maslow’s theory of “self actualization,” this poem takes on a new degree of antifeminism. In Maslow’s theory, “self actualization” equates more or less to unity of being achieved through striving towards, and eventually realizing,  one’s ideal self. For maslow, this actualization…[Read more]

]]> 0ad5ccde32a52e60269c75c44eebc5a8 http://sunygeneseoenglish.org/groups/irish-studies/forum/topic/in-the-seven-woods-as-metapoetry/#post-214 Mon, 10 Feb 2014 17:10:07 -0500 This observation is especially interesting after our recent discussion about Yeat’s careful placement of his poems within this collection. For example, the concerted decision to transition from” Adam’s curse” to  “Red Hanrahan’s Song about Ireland” is imbued with a layer of self conscious irony in light of the concluding stanza of the first poem.…[Read more]

]]> a9d822c5d557b75870ea48c58baaf3ad http://sunygeneseoenglish.org/groups/irish-studies/forum/topic/the-gaelic-fountain/#post-203 Wed, 05 Feb 2014 17:07:23 -0500 I like your point about the “new fountain,” and I also see how celtic legends and myths–although native to Ireland–reflect the “global current” of thought that is inherent in all cultural traditions. For example, the stories of Cuchulain, the son of a sun god, mirror the stories of demi gods in Greek mythology like Theseus, Hercules, Perseus and…[Read more]

]]> 9f7b5ddbbcfa30ee9e0864ab7936ff50 http://sunygeneseoenglish.org/groups/irish-studies/forum/topic/thoughts-on-the-lover-tells-of-the-rose-in-his-heart/ Tue, 04 Feb 2014 00:35:37 -0500 In light of our recent discussion about the symbolic function of roses in Yeats’ poems, I found this poem particularly interesting. In the poem, the narrator appears to lament the discrepancy between the mundane material world, and the ultimate reality symbolized by the rose. The narrator also expresses his longing to recreate existence in the…[Read more]

]]> 6451f705bf2c171728eff7244fa33175 https://sunygeneseoenglish.org/activity/p/450/ Tue, 28 Jan 2014 22:07:31 -0500 0 ec1d8c5fcb9409665cc76902ad9f2798 https://sunygeneseoenglish.org/activity/p/449/ Tue, 28 Jan 2014 22:07:21 -0500 0 e12965de11063201ee1f3a94126057ca https://sunygeneseoenglish.org/activity/p/447/ Tue, 28 Jan 2014 22:04:52 -0500 0