ADDRESS BY PRESIDENT MARY MCALEESE ON THE OCCASION OF THE OPENING OF THE POETRY EXHIBITION
ADDRESS BY PRESIDENT MARY MCALEESE ON THE OCCASION OF THE OPENING OF THE POETRY EXHIBITION AT BEWLEY’S CAFÉ, GRAFTON St. DUBLIN
There are many different opinions and views about poetry and poets. For instance, there is the story about the couple who were talking seriously about getting married and the boy asked the girl if her parents knew that he wrote poetry. “Not yet” she said, “I’ve told them about your drinking and gambling, but I couldn’t tell them everything at once!”. Or there was Robert Burton, the scholar and clergyman, who declared that “all poets are mad!” - maybe he was related to the girl’s parents! And Groucho Marx said his favourite poem was the one that starts “Thirty days hath September” because it actually tells you something!
On the other hand, Shelley tells us that poets are “the unacknowledged legislators of the world” and that “poetry is the record of the best and happiest moments of the happiest and best minds.” Carl Sandberg, the American poet, said in 1923 that “poetry is the achievement of the synthesis of hyacinths and biscuits” - but perhaps statements like that only encourage the likes of Robert Burton! But clearly there are many schools of thought on poetry, and I think it’s safe to assume that there are as many views as there are poems. Regardless of what all those great minds might have thought, there is a desire in most people to put pen to paper at some stage in their lives - to express an emotion or describe an experience that has had a profound impact on their consciousness. Wasn’t it Horace - who died in 8 BC - that said “skilled or unskilled, we all scribble poems . . ”, and who also said that “you will have written exceptionally well if, by skilful arrangements of your words, you have made an ordinary one seem original”.
In Ireland, the tradition of writing stretches back over many centuries – though probably not back quite as far as 8 BC! - and has brought this island universal recognition and acclaim. We’re really very lucky indeed to have such a literary heritage. But as a nation, we’ve contributed to international literature on a scale that is vastly out of proportion and unrelated to the size of our population. We’ve got an extraordinary record in producing writers of distinction, and the calibre of their work has been consistently recognised - from the novels of Maria Edgeworth, George Moore, James Joyce and John Banville, the poetry of Yeats and Seamus Heaney; or the plays of Wilde and Shaw – to say nothing of the great tradition of poetry in our own Irish language. Perhaps one of the profoundest truths about poets is to be found in the words of the poet form the Aran islands, Máirtín Ó Direáin, “Uaigneach an file, thar gach duine” – the poet is lonely above all people.
Looking at the 20th century alone, Ireland has produced no fewer than four Nobel prize winners for literature - playwright George Bernard Shaw, poet William Butler Yeats, novelist and playwright Samuel Beckett and most recently, poet Seamus Heaney. While we know that other countries have had their share of good writers, few places have had such a profound influence over the hearts and imaginations of their writers as has Ireland.
Literature is a powerful medium in giving voice to the intimate and innermost personal lives of people at local, national and international levels. And it is important that channels be available in which the force and energy of literature can be given expression. On the international stage, awards like the Nobel Prize for Literature give recognition on a global scale to the world’s top authors, helping to bring their work to an ever-expanding audience. On a national level, awards - such as the Irish Times Literature prizes and the IMPAC prize - bring the work of Irish authors to the attention of a wider national and international audience. But at local level, it’s events such as this exhibition, which help to encourage and promote new and emerging writing talent. Without event like these, the work of many talented writers might never see the light of day.
From time to time at graduation ceremonies in Queen’s University I would remind parents of a mother and father in Bellaghy, Co. Derry, who had once sat in their seats wondering what the future held for their son, the dreamy young man, given to writing poetry instead of milking cows. Of course, I speak of Seamus Heaney. And from heaven they can view the beautiful new library called after him!
I don’t quite know what it is about us that gives us this great tradition in writing. It’s as though we have a natural facility with rhyme and rhythm - and with lyric and verse - a facility that has given us great poets like Yeats and Heaney. As Samuel Lover said sometime around 1842, “when once the itch of literature comes over a man, nothing can cure it but the scratching of a pen”- and I’m sure that if Samuel were alive today, he would have prescribed the same remedy for women!
Expression through the written word is very fulfilling. But it can have it’s frustrations and headaches. As Yeats put it “a line will take us hours maybe, Yet if it does not seem a moment’s thought, Our stitching and unstitching has been naught.” It is important for anybody taking their early steps in a creative field - in ‘stitching and unstitching’ - that they have guidance and advice on the tools of the trade, and the secrets of the craft. It’s so easy to have a false start, to lose heart and to give up in a welter of self-doubt, if early attempts are met with failure - it’s so easy to miss out on the great adventures and challenges that writing means to those who practice it, as well as depriving the rest of us of the gift of fresh insight and imagination.
The initiative taken by the teachers in mounting this exhibition is a very important contribution to the development of writers and writing talent. Seeing your own work in an exhibition is an educational experience in itself. Every work tells us a little something about its author - it bares the soul, if you like - and allows others to get access to the thinking and mindset of the poet. That experience - that recognition, and the affirmation that it gives - helps to build confidence in young aspirants and gives them vital encouragement to move on to greater things. I commend the teachers on this fruitful initiative. I would also like to commend Bewley’s for their assistance in facilitating this exhibition - I have no doubt that the influence of Joyce coupled with this poetry exhibition, will add considerably to the cultural ambience of Bewley’s. Sponsorship for an event such as this is an essential component in the confidence building it is designed to foster. It is a statement about the validity, the credibility of the project. It matters. Great thanks are due to the sponsors.
I am delighted, therefore, to be here today to see the exhibition and to declare it open. In wishing the exhibitors every success with their writing, I leave you with a word of caution from the French playwright Jean Cocteau who said that “The worst tragedy for a poet is to be admired through being misunderstood!”- but then he doesn’t seem to have a healthy view of poets, because he also said that “poetry is a religion with no hope!”. As I said, there are many views about poetry . . . Yours are as good as and better than many. Trust them.