Remember walking through Belfast with my then girlfriend before the troubles..A group of young girls passed us by..I remember her say to me.."Those girls that passed us by are Catholics..I know it by their uniforms"...
I know what the poem is supposed to be about, but to me it just about sums up the last generation of Irish men and women. They were stoic and tight lipped about everything, they would talk weather and nonsense with their neighbours, and you couldn't get the bare faced truth from them if their life depended on it. They shoved everything under the carpet, answered no question, but they had one back for you. And the problem is they seem to live forever and even infiltrate some younger generations minds with their gobshitery. They won't be missed.
Olivia Mae , that's great n all , ...but , " whatever ya say , say nothing " was probably the difference between Life and Death , " a closed mouth catches no flies "
@Mycroft Holmes I believe he was commenting on a very typical culture of suspicion and reticence to talk, even to ones neighbours, that was (and still is) very prevalent in Ireland, especially the North.
Careful “Olivia” ,your slave mentality is showing,it’s creeping out from under your Irish Uncle Tom seasoned with self loathing . You, have obviously evolved tremendously as a communicator. You use a poem describing the language of a people under siege, surrounded by hatred ,fighting to survive, as a platform to anonymously and sweepingly disparage an entire generation of people. In the end, YOU have said nothing. In the future, do us all a favor ,agus Dún do bhéal. I suspect for the gaeilge , just as for Heaney’s poem, you’ll need help to understand.
@Olivia Mae I agree with what @patrick pearse has said about your comment & would go a bit further. I'd like to be 'all eloquent' etc but feel driven to say that your comment is such a 'shitty' reaction to something as beautiful as this poem, even though IT'S truth is harsh. I wonder how much of this 'bare faced truth' you share, & where you choose to hare it ... facebook? Your truth is likely not truth about you, at all, but just more attacks on other people, generations, cultures, whatever ... anything different from you, so that you can attack it, callously. What a petty motivation, in any part of life - to make yourself great by belittling others - including whole generations. How insecure! Maybe you should have asked those people from 'the last generation of Irish men and women' why they were so tight lipped. I'm 100% certain that there must have 'been a reason'. And no, it wasn't just 'about religion'. FYI: I'm 50, so I think I just missed that generation you speak of, but I respect people for who they are - not what generation, gender, colour or whatever they come from. I was born in 1969, East Tyrone - Heaney's county, in the North of Ireland. In my view, this poem is superb - simple.
@WakinTheDeadFan It's about not saying that you are catholic to protestant Irish and vice versa. The divide between the two and one side as bad as the other.
The American way is to plant a flag. Turn up the music, load your weapon, and turn the safety off. Stand outside and bellow. Dare the others to bring it on.
@@kennethgibson1265 forgive the glibness... but division knows now boundaries. America and elsewhere most certainly can head in this direction. Religious hatred is as pathetic as it is predictable. There is nothing sacred about sectarianism.
Genius. I especially love the way his eyes light up at certain phrases -- as if he's delighted with (and even surprised by) his own words.
One of my favorite poems about the Troubles. RIP, sir. You are sorely missed.
Oh, the tears well up to remember The Troubles and the innocent dead.
Whatever you say, you say nothing. What an infuriating sentence....thank you Seamus 👏
Patrick Radden Keefe’s work brought me here; apparently, to say nothing requires an infinite amount of words.
Same. I was also named after him, so that’s another reason
Shall never be expressed better.
as open as a trap...brilliant
This man. Xxxx
Sorely missed seamus didnt reach for the big words nor the small just the right ones
Well said
Slainte, what a visionary
Remember walking through Belfast with my then girlfriend before the troubles..A group of young girls passed us by..I remember her say to me.."Those girls that passed us by are Catholics..I know it by their uniforms"...
Wow
Religion's never mentioned here, you know them by their eyes and hold your tongue. Yep he's got priest eyes
Anyone here in 2024? After the U.S. election?
Erin is right. Erin is better. We'll spoken though sir
Think GOD CLAWD❤😊
Subhan'Allah
I know what the poem is supposed to be about, but to me it just about sums up the last generation of Irish men and women. They were stoic and tight lipped about everything, they would talk weather and nonsense with their neighbours, and you couldn't get the bare faced truth from them if their life depended on it. They shoved everything under the carpet, answered no question, but they had one back for you. And the problem is they seem to live forever and even infiltrate some younger generations minds with their gobshitery. They won't be missed.
Olivia Mae , that's great n all , ...but ,
" whatever ya say , say nothing " was probably the difference between Life and Death ,
" a closed mouth catches no flies "
@Mycroft Holmes I believe he was commenting on a very typical culture of suspicion and reticence to talk, even to ones neighbours, that was (and still is) very prevalent in Ireland, especially the North.
Careful “Olivia” ,your slave mentality is showing,it’s creeping out from under your Irish Uncle Tom seasoned with self loathing . You, have obviously evolved tremendously as a communicator. You use a poem describing the language of a people under siege, surrounded by hatred ,fighting to survive, as a platform to anonymously and sweepingly disparage an entire generation of people. In the end, YOU have said nothing. In the future, do us all a favor ,agus Dún do bhéal. I suspect for the gaeilge , just as for Heaney’s poem, you’ll need help to understand.
@Olivia Mae I agree with what @patrick pearse has said about your comment & would go a bit further. I'd like to be 'all eloquent' etc but feel driven to say that your comment is such a 'shitty' reaction to something as beautiful as this poem, even though IT'S truth is harsh. I wonder how much of this 'bare faced truth' you share, & where you choose to hare it ... facebook? Your truth is likely not truth about you, at all, but just more attacks on other people, generations, cultures, whatever ... anything different from you, so that you can attack it, callously.
What a petty motivation, in any part of life - to make yourself great by belittling others - including whole generations. How insecure! Maybe you should have asked those people from 'the last generation of Irish men and women' why they were so tight lipped. I'm 100% certain that there must have 'been a reason'. And no, it wasn't just 'about religion'.
FYI: I'm 50, so I think I just missed that generation you speak of, but I respect people for who they are - not what generation, gender, colour or whatever they come from. I was born in 1969, East Tyrone - Heaney's county, in the North of Ireland. In my view, this poem is superb - simple.
@WakinTheDeadFan It's about not saying that you are catholic to protestant Irish and vice versa. The divide between the two and one side as bad as the other.
This will happen in America if we keep going down the cultural divide.
You have no idea what you are talking about
The American way is to plant a flag. Turn up the music, load your weapon, and turn the safety off. Stand outside and bellow. Dare the others to bring it on.
@@kennethgibson1265 forgive the glibness... but division knows now boundaries. America and elsewhere most certainly can head in this direction. Religious hatred is as pathetic as it is predictable. There is nothing sacred about sectarianism.
Yeah well you outta know sweetie