Galway Scenery and Culture

Being in Ireland was by far my favorite part of the trip and Galway was one of the most beautiful places I have ever experienced. The people, the scenery, the music and the brogue brought a constant, prideful, Irish smile to my face. I was amazed at the resemblance I felt towards the Galway locals, and the comfort I felt surrounded by Irish strangers. I don't think its possible to explain the excitement I experienced when our plain touched down in Ireland, or even when we got on Air Lingus to travel to and from Ireland. I have never been so giddy about a day in my entire life, and the excitement I experience the first day in Ireland lasted the rest of my time there, and makes me want to go back now that I am home in the states.

 Above is the scene from the shoreline in Galway. I fell in love with the colors both natural and man made here. The rich blue of the water and green of the grass, along with the vibrant colors used to paint the homes along the water. In my mind, the colors in Ireland created an overall much happier and friendlier atmosphere than Paris could create with its bland colors and fancy architecture. Here is the scene farther along the water. The wind nearly took us away by the edge of the water, but the sky was lovely and the crisp air along the water was refreshing compared to the city air of Paris.
  In the poem, shown below, Yeats describes the wild swans at Coole Park. The same swans exist throughout Galway, as they do in the above two pictures. Taken from my journal on day two in Galway, "We walked down the main street, passed the Wild Swans, which Yeats describes in his poem The Wild Swans at Coole. I don't think I have ever seen so many swans in my life! They are truly magnificent birds."
The Wilde Swans at Coole
The trees are in their autumn beauty,
The woodland paths are dry,
Under the October twilight the water
Mirrors a still sky;
Upon the brimming water among the stones
Are nine-and-fifty swans.

The nineteenth autumn had some upon me
Since I first made my count;
I saw, before I had well finished,
All suddenly mount
And scatter wheeling in great broken rings
Upon their clamorous wings.

I have looked upon those brilliant creature,
And now my heart is sore.
All's changed since I, hearing at twilight,
The first time on this shore,
The bell-beat of their wings above my head,
Trod with a light tread.

Unwearied still, lover by lover,
They paddle in the cold
Companionable streams or climb the air;
Their hearts have not grown old;
Passion or conquest, wander where they will,
Attend upon them still.

But now they drift on the still water,
Mysterious, beautiful;
Among what rushes will they build,
By what lake's edge or pool
Delight men's eye when I awake some day
To find they have flown away? (1917)
 The Pity of Love
A PITY beyond all telling
Is hid in the heart of love:
The folk who are buying and selling,
The clouds on their journey above,
The cole wet winds ever blowing,
And the Shadowy hazel grove
Where mouse-grey waters are flowing,
Threaten the head that I love. (1892)

The poem The Pity of Love is one of my favorite poems by Yeats, (To A Child Dancing in the Wind is my ultimate favorite, even though it does not fall directly in our course of study, but I will discuss that on the Sligo page.) The Pity of Love describes to me the worries and concerns that love, an ultimately joyous emotion, can create. Love is a most precious thing, but the emotions that it can create are not always the most straight forward. I see this poem as one that Yeats wrote about a specific love, his feelings of concern and at the same time great love, for this person.

Within each country I found a way to connect the art of that specific town or city to the literature and language art of the Irish writers that we examined. In Galway, William Butler Yeats was the focus of our study. Travelling to Sligo and what is known as Yeats Country, was the most concentrated study of his poetry, but understanding the town where he grew up in, Galway, gave insight to his writing as well. Even though Yeats focused his writing on Sligo, he never lived there for an extended amount of time. He visited family, fairly regularly, and this gave him time to examine Sligo as a field for artistic expression. Later in his life, Yeats wrote more closely about Galway when he was living there and with Lady Gregory at Coole Park. Together with Lady Gregory, Yeats created a time line of writing called the Irish Revival, beginning at the end of the 19th century. After a period of writing on the observation of people, folklore and the Irish language, Yeats enjoyed creating poetry which described the land and mythic language of Ireland. After he and Lady Gregory met, they worked together to examine Irish nationalism and Lady Gregory translated some of the myth cycles and encouraged the people to learn Gaelic. Coole park became the home to the revival and our visit to the site was a very exciting literary day. The photos next to the poem are of the tree in Coole Park where Yeats, Lady Gregory, Synge and many other members of the Irish revival signed their names.

Taken from my journal on day two in Galway:
"Everyone here in Galway has been so amazingly friendly, kind and helpful already! I feel at home here, I wish I could stay or just move. [Looking back on the trip as a whole now, I still feel this way, Galway would be an amazing place to live, although I could see its size being a problem for jobs.] " It seems so easy to blend in here. I was even mistaken for a local last night by some other Americans we met from Syracuse University.
"Today's experience has taken my breath away. After a full and hardy breakfast we went for a walk down towards the bay, which was our first glimpse at the island, which is Ireland. It was sunny and windy, tremendously so on the water, but the view was splendid. We passed a café called Maggie May's on the way here yesterday and today I saw another one called Maggie's Café."		 I also bought a few books about Irish family names, clans, their shields and what part of Ireland each family comes from. I found out where both my mum and dad's families are from. Both the Dowds and the Bradys are from Northern Ireland. My mum's family from the East in County Mayo and parts of Sligo, although my Dowd relatives now live in Dublin. My father's family originally from County Cavan, Longford and Monaghan.

Entry 6: Saturday, May 18 2002 Today we left Paris and flew to Dublin and then took a bus to Galway. I am ecstatic to be in Ireland. Everything about being here has me excited. Galway is a lovely little city; our hotel is in a perfect location and of perfect size and comfort level. The Galway Imperial Hotel is right in the center of Eire square and within walking distance of absolutely everything we could want. I was tickled to be in Ireland, surrounded by people with the most fabulous brogue I have ever heard (I have since been informed that the Galway accent, is referred to as a brogue, not an accent.) The atmosphere, which surrounds us here, as American tourists, is much friendlier than anything we experienced in Paris was. Last night I got to see what all the different types of pubs and music scenes were like in Galway. As a small town it did not take very long to see everything, but much longer to take it all in. Each place we went was sociable, entertaining and comfortable. The pub in our hotel was a fairly busy atmosphere, filled mostly with people who came by after work, or so it seemed to us. The second place we went to was called The Keys which was a larger scene with a younger crowd, lots of music and lots of people filling the two floors. The third place we went to had a live band playing on a raised platform in the center of the main room, and dancing was encouraged on the floor in front of band. The music in Galway and the appreciation of music and dancing as a viable social atmosphere delighted me the entire time we were there. Every evening I went out I made a point to go to a new place and hear some more music.

The music which I heard in the pubs in 2002, is not far removed from some of the folk music which inspired many of Yeats' poetry. Just as the beauty from the landscape surrounding him, often inspired his words, the songs of the Irish oral tradition gave him some material to transcribe as well. The poem, Down By the Sally Gardens, (1889) was "an ' Old Country love song'" from the notes by Timothy Webb in W.B Yeats Selected Poems. Yeats heard the song and transcribed it into a poem. Music can be inspirational, and just as musicians express themselves within the writing of their music, poets such as Yeats expressed their own ideas within written language.

 Down By The Salley Gardens
Down by the salley gardens my love and I did meet;
She passed the salley gardens with little snow-white feet.
She bid me take love easy, as the leaves grow on the tree;
But I, being young and foolish, with her would not agree.
In a field by the river my love and I did stand,
And on my leaning shoulder she laid her snow-white hand.
She bid me take life easy, as the grass grows on the weirs;
But I was young and foolish, and now am full of tears.
(1889)

Some words &/or phrases I have picked up while in Galway:

William Butler Yeats Selected Poems and Four Plays, Fourth Edition. New York: Scribner Paperback Poetry, 1996. ed. by M.L. Rosenthal

Webb, Timothy,W.B. Yeats: Selected Poems.London: Penguin Books, 1991.

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