The main poem from kinsella's works that shows transience is 'His father's Hands'. This poem is too erratic and long for my liking but I can certainly relate to what he says and this is probably the poem I can relate to most out of all of Kinsellas poems that we have studied throughout the leaving cert course. Things like how his father destroys the point by prodding the air, remind me of my family as my father does the exact same "his fingers prodded and prodded marring his point". When my father does it, I too, zone out and start thinking of other things. Kinsella's grandfather also reminds me of my own. My dad is the spitting image of him, so I often think of my grandfather when I see my dad. This is exactly what Kinsella does as well. "I have watched his father's hands before him". My grandfather is also very hard of hearing and near blind, as the grandfather in 'His father's hands' is."To his deaf, inclined head". This poem reminds me of my grandfather and for that reason alone, I really like this poem. However unlike this poem, my grandfather is not an isolated figure, that is looked upon with pity, my grandfather is the life and soul of a party at times and so I can never read this poem and feel the sadness and loneliness that others do, but that is a plus in my eyes. This poem actually inspired me to look back to my roots, and discover more about who my family was before me. "And some years before that the Family came from somewhere around Tullow". Although the style of the poem isn't the type I normally like, this poem is very memorable to me and I don't think I will ever forget it because of the effect it has had on me.
In 'Dick King' , we see that Kinsella is thinking about another dear person to him. This poem takes the form of a elegy as he remembers his time with Dick King before he passed away. "When I sheltered.... years were to come". This poem is very sweet and you can tell that Kinsella misses Dick on a regular basis and has never forgotten him. "You haunt with the taint of age and of vanished good". I like the fact that he remembers those dear to him. It shows that he is more than just a poet to be learned about for an exam, he is a person with people he also holds dear. I too, like to write about those close to my heart a lot. The clarity of Kinsellas memories of his childhood really do show how amazing the human memory can be. He vividly describes the horses' "dipped faces under the fountain in James' street" and how the rain landed "on the cobbles". I also like how Kinsella changes the form of the poem when he switches from reminiscing about time he spent with Dick, to actually describing him as a person and tells us about his life. It becomes a very simple structure to reflect Dick King's simple lifestyle. You can see also in this poem, some of Jung's philosophies. He keenly believed in remembering the past and your childhood. You can tell Kinsella does through his crystal clear imagery. I would also like to remember my childhood and all that has happened with the same kind of clarity that Kinsella can.
Another of his poems that shows optimism is 'Model school, Inchichore'. This is a good example of Kinsellas skill at showing the amazing power of memory. In this poem he recalls, with crystal clear clarity, his school days from when he was just in primary school learning his addition tables in Irish and playing with marla, "Miss carney handed us out blank paper and marla" to when he was in secondary school, thinking about what he had learned in religion, "Will God judge... day of judgement". He can easily remember and depict himself and the other children in the class as they "tittered at each other" over silly things they found amusing in class.
This poem is also a good example of the many layers in Kinsellas poetry. This poem can be read in two different ways. The first way is the simple way, about a boys journey through school. The second way is more metaphorical. If you look carefully, the poem indicates that as the boy gains knowledge, he also simultaneously loses his innocence and happiness (to a degree). The first half of the poem are bright and happy as he plays with marla and enjoys classes outside. "Sat ourselves down... greeny gold shade." However the poem starts to grow colder as Thomas switches the seasons from Summer to Autumn and Autumn to Winter as the boy grows into a teenager. The boy is then shown as an isolated but knowledgeable figure as he quotes paragraphs from his religion class. "I sat by myself". I also get the feeling that Kinsella is trying to tell us that knowledge is a bitter thing when he says, "The taste of ink off the nib shrank your mouth.". This is also a good example of Kinsellas work ability to show transience. I think the way he just adds it subtly into the poem is pure genius. The most abstract idea I found in this poem was the snake he made out of marla, "rolled it into a snake curling around your hand". This could be a symbol of the snake from the story of Adam and Eve. The snake tempted Eve to try the apple and gain knowledge but this only caused them to be removed from paradise forever. Again, this is subtle so you only pick it out if you read the poem thoroughly.This element makes 'Model school Inchichore' my favourite poem out of all Kinsellas works.
We also see the loss of innocence in 'Tear', which is another memory from Kinsellas childhood about the time he lost his grandmother. This poem is very vivid and you can imagine you were right there in the room with him through it all. It was for that exact reason that I did not like 'Tear' as I found it emotional to the stage of disturbing, reminding me of the first person I lost who was close to me. The way he describes his reluctance to say goodbye to his grandmother is understandable, but I do not like how he describes her. "Drying mud". I think that insulting someone who has passed is wrong and shouldn't be done, even in poetry for imagery. I also dislike the how he says "smell of disused organs and sour kidney" as if the body was already rotting. Those along with the idea that it is more favourable to him to "kiss the damp" than his dying relative has caused me to strongly dislike this poem. However even though this poem is not for my tastes, the imagery is clear and the depiction of the pain that is experienced and loss of innocence that is lost when a relative close to you dies is very obvious in this poem. You can tell that the boy in the poem will not leave as the same person who entered. "Old age can digest anything." He has been forever changed by his run in with death now that he is old enough to understand it, rather than when he was too young and his sister died. His "Child-animal grief" shows us this.
I really liked studying Kinsella's poetry even though I couldn't relate to a lot of the themes that his poetry deals with, such as the negative effects of aging. However there was others that I could like how the dead haunt the present and how memories haunt us. I may be too young to have a lot of experience with getting "haunted" but there are a few things that, try as I might, cannot forget and I can relate to Kinsellas poetry in that way. He has shown that he is a thoughtful person and thinks about family and friends even when working. I love how he can so clearly depict thing that happened to him back when he was as young as 7 or 8 and I hope that I can do that too when I am older. Kinsella's acceptance with death is inspiring and showed me that even when our body grows old and good looks are a thing of the past, you can still continue to carry yourself with pride and grace. It is for these reasons and many more that I have enjoyed studying Kinsella for my leaving cert course, and I plan to look further into his work when I have time after it. He is definitely a poet that I will try to remember when I am an old woman.
The End.
2012 words :P