This is a picture of a horse-drawn milk cart in Adare, Ireland. I cannot tell what kind of building is in the background, but looks to be like some kind of church perhaps. This picture makes me wonder about how the man guiding the cart carries out his everyday life. What hardships has he gone through? Why does he still use a horse-drawn cart to carry out his work? Most of all, this picture makes me think of how cultures can differ from each other. To me, it would be rare to find something like this in the United States. Does this man preserve the traditions of the past and also find a way to embrace advancements? The man to the far left looks on the cart as if he had never seen one before. It’s almost as if he would feel more at home in a big city. How does technology mix with the customs of older cultures?


Part 2:

“The Lake Isle of Innisfree” by William Butler Yeats

I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree,And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made:Nine bean-rows will I have there, a hive for the honey-bee,And live alone in the bee-loud glade.And I shall have some peace there, for peace comes dropping slow,Dropping from the veils of the morning to where the cricket sings;There midnight's all a glimmer, and noon a purple glow,And evening full of the linnet's wings.I will arise and go now, for always night and dayI hear the lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore;While I stand on the roadway, or on the pavements grey,I hear it in the deep heart's core.

“The Lake Isle of Innisfree” was published in W.B. Yeats’s second collection of poems in 1893 called The Rose. In his autobiography Yeats identifies this poem as a significant one, his “first lyric with anything in its rhythm of [his] own music.” The poem is written largely in hexameters and has its own unique, tranquil rhythm.

I chose this poem largely because of the feelings that it evoked when I first read it. When the writer says that he will go to Innisfree, he implies that he wishes to go back to his home; he wants to return to simpler times. The images that come to me when I read this poem reinforce my current perceptions of Irish culture: a reverence for the simplicities in life itself and a deeper appreciation of existence. When I found the rhythm of the poem, it reminded me of water, or rather “water lapping with low sounds by the shore.”

Part 3:

I was greatly interested in joining this class from the very start. As a child, I would listen to a radio program called the “Thistle N’ Shamrock” with my father. I cannot remember if that is the correct name, but I was always fascinated by the music in this program. It sounded so different from the Beethoven, Bach, and Mozart that I was used to hearing. I believe the host of the program was Irish, and I would sit by the radio listen to her voice inflections and her unique accent. It was from this point that my fascination with Irish music began to grow. Although, it has always been one of my great interests, I have never really tried a focused study on the subject. When I learned about this class, I naturally jumped at the chance to learn more about Ireland and Irish music.

Over the years, my fascination with music from Ireland has expanded to include the culture as well. I have always had a dream of someday being able to travel to Ireland and observe the language, the people, and experience the culture firsthand. Now, I have a chance to fulfill that dream and make it into a reality.