Courtney McGrailOne Wide Expanse
by Michael Longley
(UCD Press, €20 / £17)
These writings from the Ireland Chair of Poetry, which Ulster poet Michael Longley held between 2007 and 2010, consists of three essays. They are derived from the annual lectures which he was required to give, aside from his teaching, and deal with different aspects of the state of poetry today.
In his first lecture he describes how he came to know, love and to write poetry. He quotes liberally from the poets who have been important in his life, and comments well on their meaning to him and to us. The second essay, taking its title from Keats reference to Chapman’s Iliad, deals with the topic of classics as he read them and as they ought to be known in a world that seems to cherish them less and less. This is a vital and interesting piece.
Even more interesting is the third essay on the role of the western landscape and the Irish language in Irish poetry and thought, which will interest many readers.
While none of the pieces says the last word on the topics in hand, they go very far beyond being merely a preliminary word. An excellent and insightful book.
Shattered Fragments: Finding God in the Brokenness of Life
by Margaret Naughton
(Red Hen Publishing, €12.00)
Margaret Naughton is a healthcare chaplain in Kerry. She is the author of a little booklet Walk with Me into the Light (Veritas), intended to help those passing through the stages of loss and grief, which was praised in the pages a while ago. This is a far more personal book, for it recounts her own struggle with faith and the lack of faith, with her work as a chaplain which brings her into constant contact with others in great stress and greater need.
But she found, she says, that pain, a constant of life in many ways, and doubt, most certainly a constant for the truly religious, are the ways in which the inner truth of life and its meaning can be approached and passed beyond.
For those who benefited by her earlier book, or indeed any readers troubled by their feelings of inadequacy, her pages will be in themselves a great help. Margaret Naughton brings balm out of Gilead.
The Bad Christian’s Manifesto: Re-inventing God (and other modest proposals)
by Dave Tomlinson
(Hodder & Stoughton, £8.99)
The hardback of this book was noticed here when it came out over a year ago. But the paperback at a cheaper price is now to hand. One has to love this vigorous little book by a maverick Anglican. What does God look like? He asks. Well for one thing she’s black. Of course, he wants to shock, but also to shake people up out of their thoughtless acceptance of clichés.
This is an amusing and thoughtful book which will be enjoyed at one go, but returned to later when the notions sink in a little.