Volume 10 127
rhythm of the speaker’s language. The adjective
“mountainy” in line 7 should not be taken to mean
that the server is huge in stature, in which case she
would be called “mountainous”: mountainous” im-
plies one large thing, “mountainy” gives the idea
of having many curves, in addition to giving the
idea of being a part of a larger landscape, as the
woman and her language is part of the larger Irish
culture. Watching the woman, the speaker follows
the rhythm of her work. Then, the vague musical
pattern of the language she is speaking becomes
more and more understandable, even though the
words themselves are not clear.
Lines 10-13:
In lines 10 and 11, tradition is represented as
a substance like dirt or sand that can be sifted
through to find buried objects. That symbolism re-
lates the traditions of culture to region. The poem’s
speaker, having had his interest in his own culture
awaked by the bartender and her flowing use of
Gaelic, becomes involved with the language, giv-
ing himself over to it by burying his hands in it, a
metaphor that connects dirt and sand and also al-
ludes to the act of writing. The break between lines
11 and 12 draws attention to the fact that the poem
is forcing two contrasting ideas together, “quiet”
and “excitement.” The feeling the speaker has
about hearing this language is one he experienced
before, but he does not know how to express it. It
is significant that at the same time he is excited
about recognizing the sound of Gaelic, he is dis-
covering that speaking English is insufficient to
capture the excitement he feels. He is driven to
form his ideas in Gaelic in response to a “chal-
lenge” from his emotions.
Lines 14-15:
Gaelic words that keep going through the
speaker’s mind head are identified by him as
“cliches,” as words that have lost their significance
by being used over and over, possibly in such sit-
uations as he is experiencing—the poetic moment
of describing an attractive woman in melodious
language. The very point of the poem is that the
Gaelic words do not have English equivalents; any
translation has to be recognized as very loose, not
even nearly able to capture the true sense of what
the Gaelic words mean to the poet. For example,
the meaning of “álainn” has to do with “beauty”
and “beautiful”; “dubhfholtach” refers to a person
with black hair; and “mánla” “séimh” and “caoin”
are all close to the meaning that the English lan-
guage gives to “graceful” and “gentle.” These
rough translations let readers know that he is think-
ing about the bartender, but it is almost impossible
for someone not familiar with the language to re-
late to the feeling the poem is trying to capture. In
this case, the words are not just tools to capture the
meaning of what he wants to express, they affect
what he is feeling. They are part of the emotional
experience.Lines 16-19:
The experience of hearing the Gaelic language
spoken so beautifully is one of liberation and of in-
evitability. The words liberate the mind of the
speaker of the poem, allowing it to fall free, like a
large slab of slate that breaks free of a quarry wall.
It is no coincidence that the stone mentioned is
slate, material used to make chalkboards that are
used in schools of formal teaching. The reference
contrasts the social acceptability of English with
the poem’s point, that Gaelic is innate to the Irish.
The “unused escarpments” in line 19 are the re-
cesses of the speaker’s natural mind, his instinctive
nature, which he has not had use while thinking in
English. These lines repeat the Gaelic words—
“mánla, séimh, dubhfholtach, álainn, caoin”—like
a mystical incantation, as if they can free his mind
if he keeps chanting them to himself.Lines 20-22:
Slate cracks into splinters when it breaks, and
Hartnett mixes the image of slate shattering with
an idea of a machine. Machine cogs are often re-
ferred to by poets when they want to point out
something that is a small part of a large man-made
scheme. In this case, the implication is that the
speaker, by speaking and writing in English, has
been part of an “intricate system,” a tool. Using the
Irish language, then, not only liberates him, but it
helps damage the machine that had used him.Lines 23-25:
In Greek mythology, Pegasus was a winged
horse. Bellerophon, the prince of Corinth, captured
Pegasus and tried to ride him to the top of Mount
Olympus, which was the home of the gods, but
Pegasus threw him off and he fell back to the
ground. The speaker of this poem feels that he is
just about to ascend to heaven via his experience
of hearing the Celtic language spoken so beauti-
fully. Abruptly, however, the spell is broken—the
“girth” that he refers to is the strap that goes around
a horse’s waist to hold its saddle on. He ends up
using plain, worldly English again, “the gravel of
Anglo-Saxon.”A Farewell to English