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Max Garland went into a pub late one night in Ireland. The band soon stopped playing, but Garland stuck around -- and learned that the popular poetic tradition is alive and well in Yeats Country. |
In Ireland, Yeats Country is the area which William Butler Yeats drew subjects from for his writing and where he was laid to rest. Max Garland has spent a considerable amount of time in Yeats Country and taken some captivating photos. UWEC Senior Laura Baures interviewed Garland, and posted some of his photos along with Yeats's poems on this site.
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Max Garland, poet and English professor at UWEC, took original photographs of subjects of Yeats's poetry. Here are some links to his photos plus the verses that go with it:Yeats Links |
Max Garland's dimly lit office perfectly sets the story he is telling
about the Irish people and poetry. He went into a pub, late at night,
hoping to catch the band’s last set. When it became apparent that the
band was not going to play again, Garland stuck around anyway. Then, a
culturally spectacular event occurred.
Irish people, spanning all ages, were in the pub with Garland—age groups that, in the United States, would be hard to find shopping at the same stores. Imagine the scene: a dimly lit and smoky bar. Irish accents are in the background, forming and dissipating like the foam-head on a beer. Then, a voice emerges, clear and daunting. "One man stood up and began (singing - reciting - performing) a capella, a traditional Irish folk song."
He went on for about six minutes with the ancient complicated narrative.
"Then others stood up and performed. Teens and retired persons were sharing and exhibiting their common knowledge of poetry."
Garland sees poetry, drama, and music as not being as segregated from the working class in Ireland. In fact, Garland attributes the wider appreciation of Irish folk tradition to Yeats and his colleagues.
"Poets like Yeats, and later poets like Seamus Heaney, have reached out," Garland explained.
Yeats focused much of his writing on the people and places in Western Ireland. Western Ireland has a very "Authentic" nature because of the Gaelic language and the old customs and myths; it's the part of Ireland that most stubbornly resisted colonization.
Garland's family has prevalent Irish ancestry, like many others from western Kentucky. Max Garland grew up with folk songs, bluegrass, and mountain music, much of which has Irish and Scottish roots. He found poetry to be the best way for him to communicate his thoughts and, at some point, he became attracted to Yeats's use of myth and pre-Christian Celtic traditions.
Yeats's poetry and photographs of the places he talks about in those poems can be found on this site. Garland has spent a considerable amount of time in Ireland. The photographs featured on this site were taken in May of 1990.
Perhaps you will want to read it aloud. Imagine you're in a bar. The people around you are listening and listening well. They know all of the words too.
UWEC > English Department > Faculty Projects > Yeats Country >
Last edited 27 Apr 2002