Retreat from the global confusion (duh!) (1 Viewer)

[CHUDYMASTER]

What does it mean to bring the past to the present in the context of Heaney's poems? Furthermore, I'm having troubles ascertaining the link between the poems Punishment, Funeral Rites and Tollund man and the idea of retreat from the global to the local. That is, I can't exactly identify the two aspects and work out what is retreating.

It's an interesting topic, but endlessly complicated.

 

[foxy]

Heaney's use of historical/archaic parallelism, is to show that the past is important for directing the present/future. Think of it this way, we still have wars/conflict and 'ethnic cleansing' (as in 'punishment') still exists...why? because we dont learn from the past.

also he is "preserving" the past...which is important to the whole 'retreat from the global' aspect ...as in modern times, everything is about standardisation...think of Disneyland being built in China (hongkong)...what is that going to do to traditional chinese tourism there? people are obviously going to lose their sense of identity, because of disneyland (globalisation in a sense).

because of this, some people therefore 'retreat' from the 'global' .... people retreat back into their traditions because they dont want to be standardised/globalised..

In heaney's case, he preserves the past/history through literacy (his poems) in which history can't be lost, if it has been noted down; tollund man = metaphor for preservation etc.

hope this helps! yeah its a pretty hectic topic but once u understand it, it gets interesting

 

[CHUDYMASTER]

I get ya, thanks for the help!

 

[ashwin]

Thats one of the best definitions and explanations ive read! But I'm still not sure about what the RFTG presented in Funeral Rites is. It seems as though it is already all local, and there is no element of the global world, or in fact, a Retreat from the global. Does anyone know, or have any suggestions about what the RFTG in Funeral Rites is? Is it similar to that of Tollund Man and Punishment??

 

[foxy]

well...aparently it works on a local, national and global level (u can see that heaney seperates the poem into three sections..each relating to those three levels)

again its like what i said, he is referencing alot from the northern irish troubles (u really have to understand the background of this to understand his poems' messages)...and also using archaic terms again, "gunnar" etc.

first para about personal, second paragraph he seems to want some sort of National Burial (a funeral procession which should involve like the whole nation) to make up for the brutal killings (also to reflect national unity). the third paragraph links to personal significance, national and global

all in all...the poem is about MEMORY and how important it is to remember things and not forget about the past (preservation!!!), in these times of globalisation/violence/standardisation etc

mm i think i confused myself when i was talkin bout the paragraphs, but ooh well hope that helps! the poems are way too out there