Sectarian Poetry

SECTARIAN POETRY

Ireland was torn between two sides fighting for decades: the Republicans, which were Catholics who wanted to unify with the Irish Republic, and the Loyalists, the Protestants, who preferred to remain part of the United Kingdom. The process of partition was supposed to put an end to the violence and hatred between the two sides but it got things much worse.

From a cultural point of view, each community was trapped by its religious beliefs and customs, its values and loyalty to traditions and thus the conflict got abnormal and extreme sizes. As most poets and writers were illustrating in their works the concern for past traditions and history, this history was also built on conflicts between two parts and stressed even more the extreme actions of the present. This religious division led as a consequence to the division in politics as well and also in the economical and social life. As the institution of the state was mostly Protestant, the Catholics remained somewhat isolated and notwithstanding the situation, they demanded their rights, keeping to their goal.

Because of their beliefs and condition, many intellectuals were imprisoned in Long Kesh during the period of Internment. The prisoners were starved and oppressed and this led to a unity amongst them. They got organized from a literary point of view in the need of a way to mirror their lack of a mean of expression and developed their own voice which could say their sufferings. In their literary gatherings they wrote about life in prison and about the situation in the country. The poems circulate inside the prison, their authors exchanging thoughts and ideas and thus The Captive Voice became the magazine which published the republican prisoners' poems. The creative energy of the prisoners focused on speaking for themselves and voice their fears, preoccupations, political debates and planning of protests. This kind of poetry is the poetry written by non-professionals, also because some of them were not educated and wrote from their hearts.

Laurence McKeown was part of the IRA during the Irish Hunger. He was arrested in August 1976 after a murder attempt and sentenced to a lifetime in prison. His poem "Hard Lines" best illustrates his hatred through the architecture of the prison. He describes the building as being very rigid, with lines that only meet in sharp angles, up, down, to the right and to the left. This spatial geometry of the cells and the prison's corridors is described in a monotonous tone, exasperated by the routine of everyday life which drains his energy out.

"Right angles and straight lines

they're everywhere

and I detest their rigidity.

Walls, ceilings, floor, straight, sharp, cold, clinically exact lines

meeting in right angles...

Robotic minds, administrators, bureaucrats

created this world of

geometric precision."

Such architecture and art leaves one the feeling of a mechanized space, robotic minds and cold feelings. Once closed in such a space, there is no life but the "geometric precision".

Taken to the other side, the poem "Dear Sniper" expresses some kind of superiority of the hunter, the oppressor who ironically mocks the "virile rat". The hint to "little food" evidently suggests the period of starvation. The tone is self confident and shows the Unionist's credo through violence and acts of sectarianism.

"But there's a little food for thought

That you might contemplate

Some vermin run before they're caught

But Orange Tom Cats fear for nought

And Rats exterminate."

The Ulster Defence Association (UDA) took actions against the IRA and the Catholics and their proud voices are heard through glorifying text about freedom and honour. The feeling of joining this military purpose is one driven by the need of liberty. Their belief in victory is great and the trust in men is strong. The lines praise the military forces and encourage them to fight harder and smash the enemy.

"This song is near and dear to me

A song of truth and liberty

Of the boys who will beat the IRA

Those loyal men of the UDA"

They guard their Ulster night and day for the "scums" attack only by night, like night predators. Their confidence in their strength is so big that they ask their enemy to surrender and a toast is friendly held "To the UDA and victory/ For they will surely win the day". These encouragements to fight and killings seem to have diminished their fever as some poems closer to the present signal tiredness and a need for peace. The meaning of such lines is less violent and destructive as it used to be. People still fight for their beliefs and are still engaged in a strong conflict where compromise has no place, but they do not involve innocent people anymore through their punishments and actions. "To see a baby blown to bits" is a violent image used by the author as to illustrate how inhumane anyone would think this action is.

"To see a baby blown to bits

Is not a pleasant thing

To be the cause of that is worse by far

To say it was for 'Ulster' or for 'Ireland'

Come to that

Is much akin to wishing on a star

We have no right to execute

Or silence or condemn

Those people unconnected to the fight

To kill and maim, assassinate

Polarises us

And that's not right."

After nationalists conquered Belfast and Derry the Catholics grew in numbers and the Protestants became more and more isolated. Thus, poets like Tom Paulin were writing about suffocated and infertile grounds and places. The poem "Desertmartin" states a forgotten, deserted, isolated and dried place. The poet illustrates an empty state of mind and spirit, with no hope of feelings. The feeling