Upcoming Events

Derry | Arts and Media

no events match your query!

New Events

Derry

no events posted in last week

Blog Feeds

Anti-Empire

Anti-Empire

offsite link North Korea Increases Aid to Russia, Mos... Tue Nov 19, 2024 12:29 | Marko Marjanovi?

offsite link Trump Assembles a War Cabinet Sat Nov 16, 2024 10:29 | Marko Marjanovi?

offsite link Slavgrinder Ramps Up Into Overdrive Tue Nov 12, 2024 10:29 | Marko Marjanovi?

offsite link ?Existential? Culling to Continue on Com... Mon Nov 11, 2024 10:28 | Marko Marjanovi?

offsite link US to Deploy Military Contractors to Ukr... Sun Nov 10, 2024 02:37 | Field Empty

Anti-Empire >>

Human Rights in Ireland
Indymedia Ireland is a volunteer-run non-commercial open publishing website for local and international news, opinion & analysis, press releases and events. Its main objective is to enable the public to participate in reporting and analysis of the news and other important events and aspects of our daily lives and thereby give a voice to people.

offsite link Top Scientists Confirm Covid Shots Cause Heart Attacks in Children Sun Oct 05, 2025 20:31 | imc

offsite link Fraud and mismanagement at University College Cork Thu Aug 28, 2025 18:30 | Calli Morganite

offsite link Deliberate Design Flaw In ChatGPT-5 Sun Aug 17, 2025 08:04 | Mind Agent

offsite link AI Reach: Gemini Reasoning Question of God Sat Aug 02, 2025 20:00 | Mind Agent

offsite link Israeli Human Rights Group B'Tselem finally Admits It is Genocide releasing Our Genocide report Fri Aug 01, 2025 23:54 | 1 of indy

Human Rights in Ireland >>

Lockdown Skeptics

The Daily Sceptic

offsite link NHS Nurses Who Refused to Share Changing Room With Man Now Face Misconduct Probe for Telling Story Mon Oct 13, 2025 15:44 | Will Jones
The four Darlington NHS nurses who refused to share a changing room with a male colleague now face a misconduct probe for telling their story and raising awareness of their treatment.
The post NHS Nurses Who Refused to Share Changing Room With Man Now Face Misconduct Probe for Telling Story appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Trump Should Win the Nobel Peace Prize ? But He Won?t Mon Oct 13, 2025 13:34 | Ramesh Thakur
Trump may have missed out on this year's Nobel Peace Prize, but his stunning success in ending the Gaza conflict should mean he bags it next year, says Ramesh Thakur. But he won't ? the Norwegians will never allow it.
The post Trump Should Win the Nobel Peace Prize ? But He Won’t appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link All 20 Israeli Hostages Released After 738 Days in Captivity in Gaza Mon Oct 13, 2025 11:10 | Will Jones
All 20 living hostages were released today after 738 days in captivity in Gaza following?a Donald Trump-brokered deal between Israel and Hamas that aims to bring an end to the war.
The post All 20 Israeli Hostages Released After 738 Days in Captivity in Gaza appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link One Daily Beef Chipolata and a Small Nibble of Cheese: Eco Nutters Reveal New Planetary Health Diet Mon Oct 13, 2025 09:00 | Chris Morrison
The new EAT-Lancet Planetary Health Diet is a meat-slashing, plant-pushing plan for elite policy makers, not the average Joe, says the Daily Sceptic's Environment Editor.
The post One Daily Beef Chipolata and a Small Nibble of Cheese: Eco Nutters Reveal New Planetary Health Diet appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link It is Understandable Why People Confuse Sectarian Muslim MPs Like Humza Yousaf and Anas Sarwar ? Bec... Mon Oct 13, 2025 07:00 | Steven Tucker
Humza Yousuf or Anas Sarwar ? who can tell? Either way, Scotland?s Pakistani MPs seem to read from the same playbook: identity first, party second, says Steven Tucker.
The post It is Understandable Why People Confuse Sectarian Muslim MPs Like Humza Yousaf and Anas Sarwar ? Because, Politically Speaking, They Really Are the Exact Same Person appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

Lockdown Skeptics >>

Voltaire Network
Voltaire, international edition

offsite link Will intergovernmental institutions withstand the end of the "American Empire"?,... Sat Apr 05, 2025 07:15 | en

offsite link Voltaire, International Newsletter N?127 Sat Apr 05, 2025 06:38 | en

offsite link Disintegration of Western democracy begins in France Sat Apr 05, 2025 06:00 | en

offsite link Voltaire, International Newsletter N?126 Fri Mar 28, 2025 11:39 | en

offsite link The International Conference on Combating Anti-Semitism by Amichai Chikli and Na... Fri Mar 28, 2025 11:31 | en

Voltaire Network >>

Poems of Bloody Sunday: Thomas Kinsella, Seamus Deane

category derry | arts and media | opinion/analysis author Saturday July 03, 2010 10:17author by John O'Leary in the grave Report this post to the editors

.... and Seamus Heaney's effort

Thomas Kinsella's Butcher's Dozen was written after the publication of the British Government's Widgery Tribunal Report in 1972. Here he is reading the poem and talking about it. The text of the poem is available here:

BUTCHER'S DOZEN:
A LESSON FOR THE OCTAVE OF WIDGERY
by Thomas Kinsella
http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/events/bsunday/kinsella.htm

Also, here is Seamus Deane's poem [click poem to read it or download], taken from his collection, Gradual Wars (IUP, 1972).
Cover of Thomas Kinsella's 1972 Peppercanister Press edition
Cover of Thomas Kinsella's 1972 Peppercanister Press edition

And, to round off, a well-crafted effort by Seamus Heaney, which indicates how Heaney became a favoured poet of the self-satisfied southern middle class, who ran scared from the north in the 1970s. The Heaney poem comes with explanatory context. Deane's poem does not seem to be otherwise available online.

Casualty
by Seamus Heaney
http://www.poetryfoundation.org/learning/poem-guide.htm...82158

And finally, a British Army attempt to render the artistic meaning of events, as they happened:

From a tape recording of snatches of conversation on Army radio during the shooting in Derry.

". . . You're mother's been killed by the Armee-e, Doo da, doo da" (voice singing). Static . . . "Return fire . . . Aim pistol lower regions . . Roger, Wilco. Out." . . . Static . . . (sound of shot) . . "Yoo-hoo! Well done! Keep it up." . . . more static . . . "I said shoot for lower regions . . . the balls" . . . "Over" . . .


http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/events/bsunday/mad.htm

Readers can judge whether Kinsella and Deane or Heaney's contribution will stand the test of time.....

Seamus Deane's poem on Bloody Sunday, After Derry, 30 January 1972
Seamus Deane's poem on Bloody Sunday, After Derry, 30 January 1972



Thomas Kinsell reads his Butcher's Dozen poem on Bloody Sunday
audio Thomas Kinsell reads his Butcher's Dozen poem on Bloody Sunday 3.4 Mb



Kinsell talks about his Butcher's Dozen poem - from Bowman Sunday, RTE Radio One, 20 June 2010
audio Kinsell talks about his Butcher's Dozen poem - from Bowman Sunday, RTE Radio One, 20 June 2010 1.24 Mb

author by Torrealbapublication date Sat Jul 03, 2010 14:16author address author phone Report this post to the editors

During the hunger strikes and the blanket protests, there was criticism of Heaney for not supporting the protesters, some of whom were from his own area. Heaney claims Sinn Fein put pressure on him, which they deny.

In an interview in the book ‘Stepping Stones – Interviews with Seamus Heaney’ by Dennis O’Driscoll, he says that that on the night when Francis Hughes's body was returned from the jail to his family, he was staying in Oxford University in rooms that belonged to a British Cabinet Minister in Margaret Thatcher's government.

In some ways, Heaney has always been an acceptable face of Irish culture for a British audience. His night between the sheets in Keith Joseph's well appointed rooms at Oxford, while Francis Hughes (who he still describes as a "hit man") was lying dead in his parent's front room is, he admits himself, emblematic.

author by Niall Meehanpublication date Sun Jul 04, 2010 10:26author address author phone Report this post to the editors

In its 15 June 2001 edition the Derry Journal published the attached article revealing that Seamus Heaney had written a poem at the request of Luke Kelly of the Dubliners in 1972. Heaney told the Derry Journal this in a letter in 1997.

The poem was written in 1972 on the day of the funerals of the Bloody Sunday victims. Heaney released half the poem in 1997 on the 25th anniversary of the massacres and, perhaps more significantly, three years after the IRA ceasefire. I wonder what is in the other half. Perhaps now, after the Saville Report has been released, Heaney might consider releasing the remainder for posterity.

The pages are from the Derry Journal's special edition on Bloody Sunday - it can be read in full here:
http://issuu.com/derryjournal/docs/savillereport/28?mod...e=a_p

Also attached, a page on Bloody Sunday in popular culture.

Half of Heaney's contemporary poem on Bloody Sunday - released 25 years later - click on the image to read it
Half of Heaney's contemporary poem on Bloody Sunday - released 25 years later - click on the image to read it

Derry Journal's 15 June 2010 page on Bloody Sunday in popular culture - click on the image to read it
Derry Journal's 15 June 2010 page on Bloody Sunday in popular culture - click on the image to read it

Page on which Derry Journal reported Heaney's half poem - click image to read it
Page on which Derry Journal reported Heaney's half poem - click image to read it

Related Link: http://www.derryjournal.com
author by Niall Meehanpublication date Sun Jul 04, 2010 11:33author address author phone Report this post to the editors

A video interpretation of Seamus Heaney's poem The Road to Derry. Produced for an interactive tourist guide for Derry City Council

Caption: Video Id: xLMlY56sahI Type: Youtube Video
Heaney


Related Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLMlY56sahI
 
© 2001-2025 Independent Media Centre Ireland. Unless otherwise stated by the author, all content is free for non-commercial reuse, reprint, and rebroadcast, on the net and elsewhere. Opinions are those of the contributors and are not necessarily endorsed by Independent Media Centre Ireland. Disclaimer | Privacy