The inglorious Twelfth

John Hewitt, Ulster poet, at a 12th July march

Seamus Heaney wrote a poem, 'Orange Drums, Tyrone, 1966', about his experience of the Twelfth July:

'The lambeg balloons at his belly, weighs
Him back on his haunches, lodging thunder
Grossly there between his chin and his knees.
He is raised up by what he buckles under.

Being of planter stock

British planter in Jamaica, by George Spratt

John Hewitt, of "planter stock", wrote he was 'As native in my thought as any here.' Belfast poet and son of a British soldier, Michael Longley said that Hewitt's verse taught people not to be embarrassed or ashamed of their connection to colonialism. It's not something I was conscious of growing up. I was always Irish and British, I watched the BBC and lived on the island of Ireland.

@TheJohnHewitt Exhibition - 'Troubled Into Utterance'

John Hewitt is the "conscience of the planter tradition". The "father figure" to a shelf of Irish poets that includes Seamus Heaney and Michael Longley. W.B. Yeats wrote, "I owe my soul to Shakespeare, to Spenser, and to Blake". Heaney can surely write that of Hewitt. By his own words Hewitt was "troubled into utterance". Troubled by the terror and tensions of his Northern Ireland.

He used the written word - an "incredible instrument, half wand, half weapon" (Martin Amis) - to address these troubles and to articulate a greater context and vision. In a verse portrait Robert Greacen said John Hewitt 'defined the issues of our time... [and] tried to break the mould of bigotry.' He flew "out and beyond those radar systems" of Protestant and Catholic. Offered a creative hand

Northern Ireland - A forever Groundhog Day

 

 

John Hewitt wrote of Northern Ireland in his 1970 poem, 'Conversations in Hungary':  

"Our friends in Budapest  

days later also, puzzled, queried why,  

when the time's vibrant with technology,  

Such violence should still be manifest.  

 

Between two factions, in religion's name.  

It is 300 years since, they declared,  

divergent sects put claim and 

counterclaim to arbitration of the torch  

and sword."

We can go back even further. A timeless observartion on the state of the Orange Order was made in 1925 by W.D. Allen MP, who wrote in an essay here:

"A remarkable feudal, patriarchal, tribal, historical anachronism in these days of moderation, toleration – whine, don't fight – enlightenment."

As James Joyce said, no longer is Ireland an "outcast from life's feast." When will the mindless swamp of backwardness end? Your country needs you - stop whining, fight back.