Yeats, Gonne, and Tom
One thing I have found is that, while a whole hour seems initially to stretch out before us, in truth, it flies by and there is never enough time for all the fascinating things I learn about a topic.
William Butler Yeats and Maude Gonne are a bit far afield from the themes of Scotland, time travel, medieval history and music, but...I think I can make this work! There was lots of violence and unrest in medieval Scotland. There was violence and unrest around Yeats and Maude Gonne.
And actually, this isn't entirely a stretch. In 1314, Scotland was battling against England for its right to rule itself, to be a free nation. In 1315, Edward Bruce went to Ireland to lead the Irish chiefs against England, who all the way back then was invading Ireland. Six hundred years later in 1916, Ireland was still fighting the same battle, for its right to be the independent nation that it was. My books are set in a time of uprising, as an uprising is the backdrop of the lives of W.B. Yeats and Maude Gonne. Part of what we learn (I hope) from historical fiction, is that we are not so different from those who went before us.
Maude and Yeats had a long-standing and unusual relationship in which she repeatedly rejected his multiple proposals over the space of ten years, while she has gone down in history more as being Yeats's muse, than for her revolutionary activism. A number of his poems are written about her. Tread softly because you tread on my dreams, the famous line from the end of Cloths of Heaven, was written with her in mind.
In No Second Troy, he compares her to Helen--perhaps in beauty, but definitely in inciting violence.
Given time, I'll talk more about Yeats tomorrow, and I expect I'll write more about him and Maude here.
Yesterday, I posted a piece featuring Foggy Dew. I'm excited to announce that tomorrow's guests on Books and Brews will be Tom Dahill and Ginny Johnson, Irish musicians and authors of the newly released Danny Who? which is the story of Tom's four decades in music, including his travels around the country and to Ireland.
Tom grew up in St. Paul, learning Irish music from some of the masters, from the time he was young. He and Ginny between them play quite a number of instruments. I'm excited to talk to him and hoping they bring an instrument or two.
We'll be on 950 AM here in the Twin Cities at 8:00 am tomorrow morning. If you're not in the Twin Cities, a link will be posted after the program to listen.
And actually, this isn't entirely a stretch. In 1314, Scotland was battling against England for its right to rule itself, to be a free nation. In 1315, Edward Bruce went to Ireland to lead the Irish chiefs against England, who all the way back then was invading Ireland. Six hundred years later in 1916, Ireland was still fighting the same battle, for its right to be the independent nation that it was. My books are set in a time of uprising, as an uprising is the backdrop of the lives of W.B. Yeats and Maude Gonne. Part of what we learn (I hope) from historical fiction, is that we are not so different from those who went before us.
Maude and Yeats had a long-standing and unusual relationship in which she repeatedly rejected his multiple proposals over the space of ten years, while she has gone down in history more as being Yeats's muse, than for her revolutionary activism. A number of his poems are written about her. Tread softly because you tread on my dreams, the famous line from the end of Cloths of Heaven, was written with her in mind.
In No Second Troy, he compares her to Helen--perhaps in beauty, but definitely in inciting violence.
Given time, I'll talk more about Yeats tomorrow, and I expect I'll write more about him and Maude here.
Tom grew up in St. Paul, learning Irish music from some of the masters, from the time he was young. He and Ginny between them play quite a number of instruments. I'm excited to talk to him and hoping they bring an instrument or two.
We'll be on 950 AM here in the Twin Cities at 8:00 am tomorrow morning. If you're not in the Twin Cities, a link will be posted after the program to listen.
COMING UP:
- March 25, 2017: I will co-host Food Freedom on AM 950 with Laura Hedlund and Karen Olson Johnson. Guests: Michael Agnew, craft beer expert, Dr. Chris R. Powell on Irish literature. We'll taste Irish beer.
- Listen to January's program: poetry and coffee beer
- Listen to February's program: Russian literature and Russian beer
- March 20-24, 2017: Indie-Con, an online convention of indie authors in which I'll be participating with guest blogs, Q&A, and critiquing.
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