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She Weeps Over Rahoon
by James Joyce
Rain on Rahoon falls softly, softly falling,
Where my dark lover lies.
Sad is his voice that calls me, sadly calling,
At grey moonrise.
Love, hear thou
How soft, how sad his voice is ever calling,
Ever unanswered, and the dark rain falling,
Then as now.
Dark too our hearts, O love, shall lie and cold
As his sad heart has lain
Under the moongrey nettles, the black mould
And muttering rain.
James Joyce’s novels can be difficult to get through, however his poetry is much more accessible. He is a master of the English language and I particularly enjoy this piece. The emotion, imagery, mood, and structure are all very well done.
She Weeps Over Rahoon is a twelve line poem, divided into three quatrains. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, CAAC, DEDE. The meter is interesting. In the first stanza, line 1 and 3 have eleven syllables while lines 2 and 4 have six each. In the second stanza, lines 5 and 8 have three syllables, while lines 6 and 7 have eleven each. In the third stanza, lines 9 and 11 each have eleven syllables, while line 10 has six and line 12 has five.
The changing meter, and the comma pauses, create a cadence fitting the poem’s subject matter, akin to an unevenly blowing wind, or a person’s weeping. By contrast, the unevenly back and forth rhyme scheme, and repetition of the text might mimic the sounds of falling rain.
“Rahoon” refers to Rahoon Cemetery (officially known as Mount St. Joseph Cemetery) in Galway, Ireland. Why is it that she weeps over Rahoon and not specifically her lover? The choice makes her grief seem wider, deeper, and a bit like there might be a mystery beneath the surface of her tears.
The story behind the poem is a personal one for Joyce. From thewildgeese.irish:
Typically, anyone who is familiar with Irish literature is acquainted with James Joyce. Most have read Dubliners and some brave souls have even managed to plow though Finnegans Wake and actually got something out of it. He, like most well-known writers, are known primarily for what they have given us in the form of their poetry, novels, short stories, etc., but not so much for their personal life. Most are not aware of the presence of love within his life, in the form of a young girl from Galway, named Nora Barnacle.
Nora was born in Galway City, Ireland in March of 1884, to Thomas Barnacle and Annie Honoria Healy. She was sent to live with her grandmother somewhere between 1886 and 1889, where she attended a convent school and eventually graduated from national school in 1891. It was at this time that Nora began to work as a laundress.
In 1896, Nora fell in love with Michael Feeney, who died soon after of typhoid, and then she fell in love with another Michael (this time Michael Bodkin), who also met with an untimely death in 1900. These two affairs are important, because later, Joyce would base his famous story, “The Dead,” on these morbid events in Nora’s life.
The poem above is written concerning Nora’s grief over Michael Feeney.
It must have struck Joyce as odd, even painful, that Norah’s tragedies at such a young age so directly benefited him. But, aren’t we all shaped and molded by out pasts, and the pasts of our loved ones even more so?
Well said. And perhaps she appreciated him honoring her tragedies in writing.
Is it not she whose “Yes’s” end Ulysses?
I believe so, though it’s been a while since I struggled through that book.
I didn’t ~ but heard that ending at a reading.
I’m impressed either way. However… now I am wrestling with the idea of actually rereading Ulysses. Since I’ve been forced into the audiobook route by my failing vision, I’ve found that several difficult reads are much improved with a professional narrator. I’m curious if Ulysses will be another one.
That actually sounds like a workable way to get through it ~ you can take naps in all the most scrambled spots!
Lol. That more or less describes how I got through my “The Sound and the Fury” read and review.
There ya GO! If it works, don’ FIX it! 🤭