MYPNA_TE_G12_U3_web.pdf

POETRY

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NOTES

BACKGROUND

This selection is the titular poem of the collection Why Brownlee Left,

published in 1980. Critics applauded the technical skill, dry wit, and

careful use of language in his poetry. In this poem, Muldoon describes

the disappearance of an Irish farmer.

Why Brownlee left, and where he went,

Is a mystery even now.

For if a man should have been content

It was him; two acres of barley,

One of potatoes, four bullocks,^1

A milker, a slated^2 farmhouse.

He was last seen going out to plow

On a March morning, bright and early.

By noon Brownlee was famous;

They had found all abandoned, with

The last rig^3 unbroken, his pair of black

Horses, like man and wife,

Shifting their weight from foot to

Foot, and gazing into the future.

1. bullocks (BUL uhks) n. young bulls that cannot breed
   2.slated adj. roofed with slate.
   3.rig n. assembly of parts, in this case those tying the horses to the plow.

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Meet the Poet

Paul Muldoon (b. 1951) is an Irish poet, editor, critic,

translator, and professor of poetry. He has published 12

major poetry collections, as well as many smaller

collections, works of criticism, books for children, song

lyrics, and dramas for radio and television. Muldoon has

received many awards for his work, including the Pulitzer

Prize. His work has been translated into 20 languages.

Why

Brownlee

Left

Paul Muldoon

“Why Brownlee Left” from Poems: 1968-1998 by Paul Muldoon. Copyright © 2001 by Paul Muldoon. Reprinted by

permission of Farrar, Straus and Giroux, LLC.

IL7 UNIT 3 Independent Learning • Why Brownlee Left