Important Features of Derek Mahon’s Language and Style


All poetry questions will require a discussion of language and style. This may be asked for explicitly in the wording of the question, or implicitly in phrases such as ‘expertly crafted’, ‘innovative style’ or ‘eloquent poetry’. Always have a selection of quotations prepared on the various literary techniques a poet uses.


IMAGERY


 important aspects of a poet’s style to discuss. Similes (comparisons that use ‘like’, ‘as’  (descriptions of non-human objects that give them human characteristics) and pathetic fallacy (the attribution of human emotions to non-human things – usually the weather) can  and help draw the reader into a poem.


SIMILE Mahon uses striking similes to draw interesting and apt comparisons. For example:


 ‘banging round the house like a four -year -old’ (‘Grandfather’) Mahon compares the sound of the old man moving around to the commotion and furore caused by a little boy. There is both humour and sorrow evoked by this image. The noise the grandfather makes conveys something of his mischievousness and playfulness. However, it also may reveal that he is experiencing something of a second childhood and a loss of faculties with his advancing age.


 ‘I sank as far that night as any/ hero’ (‘After the Titanic’)


In this simile the voice of J. Bruce Ismay compares himself to the heroes of the Titanic who went down with the ship while he escaped on a lifeboat. He uses the word ‘hero’ presumably to  giving up their places in the lifeboats so that women and children might escape. However, while the heroes sank to the bottom of the ocean, it is Ismay’s position in society that sank. His reputation was forever destroyed, his peace of mind and sense of self-worth were forever taken from him. In this way he feels like he ‘sank’ just the same.


 ‘yachts tinkling and dancing in the bay/ like racehorses’ (‘Kinsale’)


The comparison between the yachts sailing on Kinsale Bay and racehorses paraded around a paddock before a race reminds us of the movements of a racehorse ; its pent-up energy and its eagerness might make it caper and ‘dance’. Racehorses and yachts are also suggestive of wealth and prosperity , hinting that the brighter future brings with it more material comfort than many Irish people had experienced in the past.


LEAVING CERTIFICATE HIGHER LEVEL


365


Derek Mahon


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