Paul Muldoon’s Mules: Clearing Confusion in Confusing Ways

Here is my final paper on the Northern Irish poet Paul Muldoon's second collection, Mules.

Paul Muldoon’s Mules: Clearing Confusion in Confusing Ways

            When reading through Northern Irish poet Paul Muldoon’s second major poetry collection, Mules (1977), it is best to either have an encyclopedia in hand, or be Paul Muldoon yourself.  If the latter is not an option, then a bit of research and patience will suffice.  After deciphering Muldoon’s poetry, the reader is left to reflect on topics.  In Mules, Muldoon expands on topics such as politics, his native country of Northern Ireland, and religion that weren’t as prevalent in his first collection New Weather.  The poems in Mules aren’t grouped with an obvious order, but they are consistent in size and style.  The first, title, and last poems are perfect representations of Muldoon’s dealings with political, national, and spiritual questions, and his adept use of allusion respectively. Paul Muldoon’s second collection of poetry, Mules, is difficult to decipher, but ultimately provides a refreshing view of situations of political, religious, Irish cultural, and other types of turmoil.

            Mules’ first poem “Lunch with Pancho Villa” is written in a colloquial style typical of Muldoon, makes numerous allusions to religion and politics, and introduces a tension between politics and art that is present throughout the book.  Pancho Villa was a Mexican Revolutionary general who helped a Venustiano Carranza become President of Mexico, but later overthrew Carranza to put a different man in power.  Including Villa in the title is an example of how Muldoon uses historical references to add depth to his poetry.  Villa was himself a player of dual roles, first bringing power to a man, and then later removing that same man from power.  “Lunch with Pancho Villa” is written from two perspectives that change without notice to the reader.  The basic idea is that a young poet is visiting an older writer whom the younger one admires.  The older poet tells the younger one to stop writing about trivial matters such as “stars and horses, pigs and trees.” By opening his book with “Pancho Villa,” Muldoon immediately addresses questions all Irish poets had to face at the time he was writing Mules.  Northern Ireland was in the midst of a sort of civil war between British-supported Protestants and Irish Catholics informally called The Troubles, that was causing sharp divisions among the Northern Irish population.  The poem is full of allusions, a characteristic of Muldoon’s work that is apparent throughout the collection.  By illustrating the multiple sides of the political problems in Ireland, and giving the narrator multiple personas, Muldoon in “Lunch with Pancho Villa” is introducing the collection’s common theme of multiple meanings in single objects.

The collection’s title poem, “Mules,” is a good example of Muldoon exploring the combination of different concepts within one entity.  “Mules” is an extended metaphor that Muldoon uses to explore his fascination with multiple concepts and meanings in one creation.  In the case of this poem, Muldoon explores the combination of the earthly and the divine as represented by the conception of a mule: offspring of a horse and a donkey.  Because this poem has fewer allusions than usual, it makes it easier to grasp the purpose.  The simple biblical references to a star and a cross in the first stanza, “Her feet of clay gave the lie/ To the star burned in our mare’s brow/ Would Parsons’ jackass not rest more assured/ That cross wrenched from his shoulders?” introduce the religious duality in the poem.  By using a pair of barnyard animals, Muldoon suggests the infinite ways religion is combined with other subjects in the world.  The way Muldoon takes the reader from a simple question, “Should they not have the best of both worlds?”, through the conception and birth of a mule, while all the time really questioning how the earthly and the divine are combined in an everyday animal, is typical of Muldoon’s work.  Muldoon poses the question so that the reader is prompted to reflect on how the mule contains both world – the earthly and the divine.  Arriving at a deep question after working through what can seem like trivial details or informal style is Muldoon’s ultimate technique in the collection Mules.  Muldoon’s style itself reinforces the theme of multiple meanings in unexpected places; Muldoon’s writing can see plainly written, but he jams as much meaning into his poems as possible.

Unlike “Mules,” the collection’s seven-part final poem, “Armageddon, Armageddon,” is full of allusion, and yet it still brings the reader to a state of reflection. Almost as if he wants to remind the reader of how crafty he can be, Muldoon fills the final poem in Mules with allusion upon allusion, and does little to clue the reader into the subject matter of the poem.  In an interview at Washington University in St. Louis, Muldoon described “Armageddon, Armageddon” as a “nightmarish journey” set in Northern Ireland and a play of words on his home county, Armagh (“Paul Muldoon and the Multiverse” 2).  The poem draws the reader through a mass of allusions including those to British poets, Irish mythology, and Northern Irish politics and events, but as is the case with the other poems in Mules, ends up asking important questions.  As pointed out by Jonathan Hufstader in Tongue of Water, Teeth of Stones: Northern Irish Poetry and Social Violence, Muldoon “conjoins the cosmic and local” (143).  Muldoon references many constellations that relate back to Irish mythology (Hufstader, 1999).  A key strength of Muldoon is that he takes readerz to very esoteric places, but ultimately brings them back to a relevant question if the reader is willing to work along the way.  Muldoon does just this in the third part of “Armageddon, Armageddon.” Muldoon moves through a peaceful depiction of carefree Northern Ireland, “Follow the course of a pair of whippets,” to addressing the Orange political party, “And where the first Orange Lodge was founded.”  After highlighting the multiple facets that make up Northern Ireland, Muldoon points to what really matters in the combination of these parts, “We could always go closer if you wanted, … Then the scene of the Armagh Rail Disaster.  Why not brave the Planetarium.”  The Armagh Rail Disaster and Planetarium are both reminders of Ireland’s struggles and accomplishments.  The Rail Disaster was a freak accident where a railcar split from a train and crashed down the hill it was ascending.  The Armagh Planetarium was a technologically advanced result of many years of Irish struggling for funding and support.  By including reference to the Rail Disaster and Planetarium, Muldoon reminds the reader of what Ireland has been through, and what it can accomplish.  Muldoon acknowledges the political problems that divide Ireland, but ultimately stresses that Ireland is more than political struggles, and that the people of the country and the country’s accomplishments are more important than the political squabbles.

            In the end, Muldoon’s poetry is most satisfying after the reader has made the effort to understand the allusions and given the poems time to sink in.  As illustrated by Christina Mahony in Contemporary Irish Literature: Transforming Tradition, not all critics are favorable toward Muldoon’s constant allusions.  Hunt refers to some of the references to Irish mythology as “unproductive pairings” (Mahony 95).  Critics are right to ask whether Muldoon’s eclectic references are ultimately worth it, but in the end, his use of allusion is essential to the theme of Mules.  Muldoon is constantly looking at how different parts add up to make a whole piece, and he himself illustrates that idea in composing his poems by including numerous diverse allusions.  Muldoon takes the reader on an academic adventure in almost every one of his poems in Mules, but he never does so without good reason.  If the reader is willing to follow, Muldoon leads to a refreshing reflective state that encompasses all the stray components that make up a topic.

            Although its constant reference to outside sources can be daunting and even off putting at times, Paul Muldoon’s second collection of poetry, Mules, is an ultimately rewarding work.  As best illustrated in “Armageddon, Armageddon,” it is the path to a final revealing point of information that refreshes the reader’s view of poetry.  “Armageddon, Armageddon” is laden with obscure allusion, but eventually Muldoon reminds the reader of the merit of reflecting on topics that encourage unity and growth.  Muldoon’s poems help to readjust the reader’s view of politics, Northern Ireland, and religion, among other topics, by revealing the multitude of sides that make up a problem. Through his signature playful style and expansive encyclopedic knowledge, Muldoon’s Mules sheds light on topics that benefit from a fresh reflection.

Works Cited

Paul Muldoon and the Multiverse. Arch Literary Journal (2008). Web.

            13 Feb. 2011.

Hufstader, Jonathan. Tongue of Water, Teeth of Stones: Northern Irish Poetry and Social

Violence. Kentucky: University Press of Kentucky, 1999. Google Book Search. 

Web. 18 Feb. 2011.

Mahony, Christina Hunt. Contemporary Irish Literature: Transforming Tradition. New

York: St. Martin’s Press, 1998. Google Book Search.  Web. 24 Feb 2011.

"Armageddon, Armageddon"

This paper discusses the final and longest poem in Paul Muldoon's second collection of poetry, Mules.

Paul Muldoon’s “Armageddon, Armageddon”: Turbulent Travels Through Armageddon, Armagh

            Paul Muldoon’s “Armageddon, Armageddon” is a fittingly cryptic final poem to his second collection, Mules (1977).  The poem is the longest in the collection, and consists of seven sonnet-like poems titled only with roman numerals.  As stated by Muldoon in an interview with the Arch Literary Journal, the title is a play on the name of his hometown Armagh, and the poem is set in Northern Ireland.  Muldoon doesn’t seem to make much of an effort to clue his reader into what he may be getting at with “Armageddon, Armageddon,” but he hints at a theme that is common in his writing: the unlikely combination of simple and grand things in single objects or events.  Muldoon uses many allusions to relate back to his home of Northern Ireland.  Nearly every other line in “Armageddon, Armageddon” makes references ranging from Irish, Greek, and Roman mythology, obscure poets, and scripture.  While reading a poem so densely packed with allusions, the time it takes to investigate the references is worthwhile.

            Muldoon first makes a reference to Ireland in the title of the poem.  Armageddon is meant to be a play on the word Armagh, the county he was born in.  By referencing his homeland in the title of the poem, Muldoon sets up the rest of the poem to be about travels through a violence-stricken Northern Ireland.  Ireland was undergoing violent struggles over national unity and allegiance and Muldoon addresses the divisions with his allusions. The form of each poem is quite similar.  They are each sonnets and use the occasional rhyme.  Perhaps to fit into the mood suggested by the title of Armageddon, Muldoon never makes a rhyme scheme or rhythm last more than a few lines.

            The first poem recounts a trip to Larry Durrell’s “Snow-White Villa.”  The first eight lines of the poem all describe an actual Villa that the British poet Lawrence Durrell owned in Greece.  Dualities are introduced to the poem with the mention of Durrell.  He was an expatriate and was often divided between multiple homes.  The question of duality continues with the line describing the villa, “Wasn’t it dazzling? Well, it was rather white.”  The first half of the poem is seemingly cheerful, but the seventh line introduces doubt about the pleasant Grecian villa: “The orange and lemon groves, the olives, Are wicked for this purity of light.” The last half of the poem presents an unclear image with yet another allusion.  The line “Her little breasts are sour as Jeanne Duval’s” refers to the French-African muse of the French poet Charles Baudelaire, but it is unclear who the “Her” is in the poem.  The last sentence of the poem refers to the stars, which are of greater importance in the fifth poem where Muldoon references many different constellations.

            The second selection in “Armageddon, Armageddon” is a retelling of a tale from Irish mythology about an ancient poet, bard, and warrior named Oisin.  The myth says that Oisin returned to Ireland after three hundred years, and was told he would instantly become and old man and die if he dismounted his horse and stood on the earth.  In the title poem of Mules, Muldoon uses the phrase “feet of clay.”  This alludes to a hero ultimately being human and having their feet on the earth.  This same imagery works with Oisin.  He spent time with the Irish gods, but ultimately was human when his feet touched the earth.  Just as he did in the first sonnet with Lawrence Durrel, Muldoon inserts duality by referencing a character split between two worlds.  After describing Oisin’s death and return to the earth, the narrator says “And I know something of how he felt.”  This is the most intriguing line of this selection.  The narrator seems to be describing their connection to the earth that could be their ultimate downfall.  Just as the famous Northern Irish poet Seamus Heaney felt pressure to write about his homeland, Muldoon could be feeling pressure to address the problems in his homeland, or “earth.”  Neighbors were pit against each other based on which part, or “earth,” of Ireland they felt loyal to.  The third poem delivers Muldoon’s contemporary view of Northern Ireland.

            If we are to assume a connection between these poems, the third poem appears to be narrated by the same person as the first two. The narrator describe various activities in Northern Ireland starting with the mundane and moving to the more somber.  Although the poem starts reassuringly, “Not to worry,” the mention of the Lambeg Drum turns the poem in a political direction  “From where I lived / We might watch Long Bullets being played, / Follow the course of a pair of whippets, / Try to Keep in time with a Lambeg Drum.” The Lambeg Drum is associated with and used by the Irish Orange Order, and the next stanza describes how the Orange Order has taken up residence in the towns the narrator could visit.  The last five lines of the poem each make reference to some external event or myth.  The narrator says “We could always go closer if you wanted,” and then goes on to reference Macha (an Irish mythological figure that is associated with war and who raced a chariot), the intelligent horse creatures from Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels, Macha’s twins that she “whelped” after her chariot race, a train disaster in Armagh, and a planetarium in Armagh.  While it’s possible to get lost in the cluttering of allusions Muldoon supplies, he seems to be saying that the mythological figures and other references are closer to home in Ireland than the Orange Order and their beating drums.  The myths are the Irish heritage.  By mentioning an Irish train disaster and asking why one shouldn’t visit the new planetarium, Muldoon could be saying the Orange Order is trivial and the Irish should settle their differences and focus on bettering the country.

            The fourth poem is addressed to the narrator’s lover who has been sleeping.  The sleeping lover was hoping for the chance to dream “I woke you only to discover / How you might have dreamed / How you might have dreamed.”  The Armageddon is certainly a time when pleasant dreams would be hard to come by, and the sleeping lover experiences this.  The poem continues with a train inspector hinting about a blockade on the track because of fallen trees.  Muldoon again references the stars with the last two lines “And then hand back our tickets / Ratified by their constellations?” The tickets would be the passenger’s destinations, and if they’re ratified by their constellations, then their destinations are already decided.  This allusion to a set fate would fit into the approaching Armageddon.

            The fifth poem takes off where the fourth poem left off, “Now that I had some idea of our whereabouts / We could slow a little and not be afraid.”  This poem seems to be situated in an apocalyptic time.  Phrases such as “Why should those women be carrying water / If all the wells were poisoned, as they said,” and “Had the sheep been divided from the goats,” suggest the supplies have run out, and a final judgment is nearing.  The last stanza references two different constellations, Orion and Sagittarius, the Hunter and the Archer.  According to Greek Mythology Orion was made into a constellation upon his death, and the last lines seem to suggest even Orion and Sagittarius have left the earth, “Had Hunter and Archer got it into their heads / That they would take the stars in their strides?”  After dealing with the cosmic, Muldoon returns to his local home of Ireland in the sixth poem.

            The mood of the sixth poem is rather dismal.  The narrator’s brother lost his voice after their father lost his money at the racetracks.  Muldoon hints the problem is greater than merely losing money, “To be torn between his own two ponies / Their going their different ways.”  The father has two interests “investments, or focuses in his life” and the investments have gone different ways.  The mother is “bent-double” over the kitchen sink after breaking one of her best dishes and the narrator says “We would bury her when we were able.”  The home appears to be completely torn apart.  The fourth to last line, “Some violence had been done to Grace,” appears to have dual meaning.  Grace could be the name of the narrator’s sister because “She had left for our next-of-kin” in the next line, but Muldoon is never as simple as that.  A violence appears to have been done to the Grace of God.  God’s favor has been lost and the Armageddon approaches.  The last line has the brother “warning of bayonets fixed in the bushes.”  Surely the end approaches.

            The last poem is given a setting right from the start, “A summer night in Keenaghan.”  The end has arrived and the darkness is absolute, “So dark my light had lingered near its lamp For fear of it.”  The narrator takes a kettle to a stream, and breathes through a hollow reed.  “Armageddon, Armageddon” fittingly ends with one last allusion.  A black beetle crawls on the underside of the narrator’s hand, and he must turn it around “To have it walk in the paths of uprightness.”  This is a line from Proverbs 2, a passage that addresses eternal salvation and damnation, “For the upright live in the land And the blameless will remain in it; But the wicked will be cut off from the land And the treacherous will be uprooted from it.”  It seems Muldoon is making one last commentary on the affairs of Ireland.  He hopes that more people will “walk in the paths of uprightness” so that they aren’t “cut off from the land.”

            “Armageddon, Armageddon” is a puzzling adventure through Northern Ireland and ancient mythology.  In an arguably excessive way, Muldoon fills each of his lines with numerous obscure references and allusions.  After working through the many allusions, one can see that Muldoon is reflecting on the treacherous state of affairs in Ireland at the time he wrote his poem.  Muldoon highlights Ireland’s rich history and accomplishments in the face of the turmoil caused by the political divisions when he wrote his poem.  Northern Ireland’s factions and own dualities were well paralleled and illustrated by Muldoon’s extensive inclusion of dualities throughout “Armageddon, Armageddon,” and Mules as a whole.

Works Cited

Muldoon, Paul. “Paul Muldoon and the Multiverse.” Arch Literary Journal (2008). Web.

            13 Feb. 2011.

Paul Muldoon and Mules: A Brief Biography in Context

Paul Muldoon and Mules: A Brief Biography in Context

            Paul Muldoon was born in County Armagh in Northern Ireland in 1951.  His mother was a schoolteacher, and his father held various farming jobs.  His family wasn’t particularly well off, but were able to provide for Muldoon to have elocution lessons, and buy a piano for him and his siblings.  He wrote poetry from an early age, and was initially only influenced by American poets such as T. S. Eliot, and Robert Frost.  In an interview with the Guardian, Muldoon said he had a love for reading as an early child, but his family barely had any books in the house (Potts 1).  Muldoon secondary school education at St. Patrick’s College, Armagh included education in Gaelic as well as a background in Irish folk tales (Potts 2).  As a teenager Muldoon became exposed to Northern Irish poets such as Seamus Heaney, and his style changed to acknowledge his rural Irish upbringing.  In 1969 Muldoon went to Queen’s University, Belfast, Northern Ireland and studied under Heaney.  Heaney recognized Muldoon’s talent and arranged for his first full collection of poems, New Weather, to be published through the acclaimed British press Faber and Faber in 1973.

            Even though it was just his first work, New Weather features Muldoon’s unique, sly style of writing.  Critics of the collection felt the work was effective in shining new light on the world, while writing with multiple meanings and layers (Kendall, McDonald 1).  In a review for Eire-Ireland, Roger Conover proclaims that Muldoon’s poetry “sees into things, and speaks of the world in terms of its own internal designs and patterns.” (Conover 127).  As has become common with most of Muldoon’s work, New Weather was mostly well received, but some described its many intricacies and complex allusions as off-putting.  With his first publication, Muldoon was held in the same regard by his European readers as his mentor Seamus Heaney, and other Northern Irish poets including Michael Longley, and Derek Mahon (Kendall, McDonald 1).  Muldoon followed up New Weather with a second collection of poems in 1977 entitled Mules.

            Mules is also very characteristically Muldoon in that the poems have many layers of meanings, and many of the poems discuss the dual nature of different creations.  The title poem is a fine example of his exploration with dualities.  “Mules” ponders the possibilities of the divine being combined with the earthly, and it is a common theme throughout the collection.  While maintaining a similar style of writing to his previous work, Mules covers different topics ranging from politics, love, and death.  Mules had developed while a series of violent internal conflicts in North Ireland called the Troubles were escalating.  “The Narrow Road to the Deep North” is a good example of the mingling of Muldoon’s classic style of multiple layers of meaning with his new interest in political and social affairs.  It depicts a Japanese solider who has come out of hiding after World War II and finds he is in a different world.  There are subtle comparisons between the shell-shocked soldier and the state of the Irish citizens during the Troubles.  Mules helped to solidify Muldoon’s place among the group of Northern Irish poets who were growing ever more popular.  While Muldoon gained a following in Ireland and England with his initial works, it wasn’t until his eighth collection Quoof that he gained much attention in America (“Paul Muldoon” 2).

            As was the case with Mules after New Weather, most critics felt each new collection of Muldoon’s was an example of his increased sophistication as a writer.  He didn’t become any more structured by form, but he wrote with a greater sense of what his personal style was.  Roger Eder in a New York Times Book Review (June 10, 2001) felt "It is as if the universe were no longer there to be grasped. Some vast catastrophe has exploded it and Muldoon, from this side of the postmodern divide; sifts shards, sorts them, tries them out in pleasing patterns."  Muldoon’s works were trying to make sense of the world as a whole, and also of his homeland of Ireland.  Muldoon emigrated from Ireland to America in 1987, and has taught at Princeton University ever since.  Muldoon continues to write in his sly style that requires multiple readings and prompts readers to catch sometimes obscure allusions.  Muldoon won the Pulitzer Prize in 2003 for his collection Moy Sand and Gravel and continues to publish collections of poetry.

Bibliography of Paul Muldoon’s Individual Poetry Books

            • Knowing My Place. Belfast: Ulsterman Publications, 1971

            • New Weather. London: Faber and Faber, 1973

            • Spirit of Dawn. Belfast: Ulsterman Publications, 1975

            • Mules. London: Faber and Faber, 1977

            • Names and Addresses. Belfast: Ulsterman Publications, 1978

            • Immram. Loughcrew: Gallery Press, 1980

            • Why Brownlee Left. London: Faber and Faber, 1980

            • Out of Siberia. Loughcrew: Gallery Press, 1982

            • Quoof. London: Faber and Faber, 1983

            • The Wishbone. Loughcrew: Gallery Press, 1984

            • Meeting the British. London: Faber and Faber, 1987

            • Madoc: A Mystery. London: Faber and Faber, 1990

            • The Prince of the Quotidian. Loughcrew: Gallery Press, 1994

            • The Annals of Chile. London: Faber and Faber, 1994

            • Kerry Slides. Loughcrew: Gallery Press, 1996

            • Hay. London: Faber and Faber, 1998

            • Moy Sand And Gravel. London: Faber and Faber, 2002

            • Horse Latitudes. London: Faber and Faber, 2006

            • Plan B. London: Enitharmon, 2009

            • Wayside Shrines. Loughcrew: Gallery Press, 2009

            • Maggot. London: Faber and Faber, 2010

           

Works Cited

Conover, Roger. Review of New Weather. Eire-Ireland, summer, 1975 p. 127

Eder, Roger. “To Understand Is to Be Perplexed.” New York Times Book Review, June

10, 2001.

Kendall, Tim, and Peter McDonald. Paul Muldoon: Critical Essays. Liverpool: Liverpool

UP, 2003. Google Books. Web. 26 Mar. 2011.

"Paul Muldoon." Contemporary Authors Online. Detroit: Gale, 2008. Gale

Biography In Context. Web. 6 Feb. 2011.

“Paul Muldoon.” The Poetry Archive. Web. 6 Feb 2011.

Potts, Robert. “The Poet at Play.” The Guardian, May 12, 2001

The Duality of Heaven and Earth Hidden In Mules - Revised

The Duality of Heaven and Earth Hidden In Mules

Paul Muldoon is very adept at hiding different layers of meaning and imagery in his poetry.  A tennis match can be two boys exploring each other’s physical prowess, while also being a simple game of tennis.  “Mules” can also be read on multiple levels.  The most basic level of the poem is a child’s recounting of the conception and birth of a mule.  The form of the poem works well to take the reader full circle from asking a question, to explaining a position, and finally pondering an answer.  The poem is an extended metaphor that compares lowly barnyard animals to biblical figures.  The poem poses a question about duality of the worldly and divine in the first line, and then illustrates the narrator’s opinion through the depiction of a mule’s conception and birth.  Muldoon’s simple form succinctly contains a great deal to reflect on.

            Muldoon begins by posing a question.  The rest of the poem is organized in four quatrains.  The stanzas have line counts of four, four, three, and four.  Most sentences in the poem use enjambment.  Enjambment is used to keep the stanzas evenly spaced, and subtly indicate the comparison between the earthly and divine.  The two sentences of the first stanza both use enjambment, and are split between the parts of the sentence that depicts earthly things, and the part that depicts divine.  “Her feet of clay gave the lie/To the star burned in our mare’s brow,” and “Would Parsons’ jackass not rest more assured/That cross wrenched from his shoulders?”  The order of events in the poem is also of note.  The poem moves linearly in time after the question is asked, and Muldoon makes a point of changing tenses as the poem progresses.  The poem begins in the past tense, “We had loosed them…” “They had shuddered…” and ends in the present, “dropped tonight in the cowshed.”  By first posing the question and then ending with the narrator pointing out the farmers’ reflection on the mule’s origins, Muldoon makes the reader reflect on the events in the same order they happened for the narrator.  Each line of the poem has a meaning that relates to the theme of duality between the divine and the earthly.

            Starting with the question asked in the first line, Muldoon introduces his technique of using common phrases to get at meanings of greater importance than initially expected.  While phrases such as “best of both worlds,”  “below their belts,” and “dropped tonight” can just be thought of as their everyday meanings, Muldoon is using them for more than expected.  By asking “Should they not have the best of both worlds?” Muldoon could really be saying “why shouldn’t a mule be of both God and the earth?”  A mule is a combination of two completely different species, and the result is a creature both like and unlike both.  The horse in the story has “feet of clay,” which is an allusion to when a hero appears almost god-like, but ultimately ends up being human.  Continuing the theme of combining the earthly with the heavenly, Muldoon marks the horse in a way that evokes the Virgin Mary.  Both the horse and the Virgin have a “star burned” overhead.  A similar allusion can be made for the donkey that bears the mark of God on his back.  The metaphor of the mule as a combination of earth and heaven is continued in the final stanza. “We might yet claim that it sprang from earth…” “That we would know from what heights it fell.”  Muldoon has the farmers contemplate the mule’s origins so that the duality is highlighted to the reader.

            In the same way Modernists were making the old new, Muldoon takes the simple, everyday mule, and gives it new meaning.  While one could take his rough writing at face value as plain, he always hides much greater meaning beneath the surface.  The mule could be thought of as simply a combination of donkey and horse, but Muldoon makes it out to be much more by referencing the earthly and divine in the first stanza.  Concluding his extended metaphor in the final quatrain, Muldoon provides one last image of the combination of Heaven and Earth, “We might yet claim that it sprang from earth / Were it not for the afterbirth / Trailed like some fine, silk parachute, / That we would know from what heights it fell.”  The mule is birthed like a normal barnyard creature, and yet Muldoon points out that trailing the earthly mule is its “fine, silk parachute.”  The mule is an earthly creature that’s descent is aided by a heaven-sent provision.  In his characteristic style and reminiscent of the Modernists making the old new, Muldoon fills his poem with much more than the birth of a mule.

            Muldoon’s “Mules” is a simple narrative that works as a large metaphor for the duality of earth and the heavens.  He introduces the theme by stating a question at the beginning of the poem that asks about having the best of both worlds.  The two worlds are then implied to be the earth and the heavens.  The poem is organized to take the reader through a reflective process on the conception and birth of a mule.  Muldoon includes allusions to the worldly and divine in almost every line of the poem. The poem introduces a question about duality of the worldly and divine in the first line, and then illustrates the narrator’s opinion through the depiction of a mule’s conception and birth.

On the "Recordings" section of his website, Paul Muldoon has a reading of "Mules."
Paul Muldoon reading "Mules"


http://www.paulmuldoon.net

New Posts!

Hello all,


I will be posting revised versions of some of the papers I've written for English so far.  I thought Daniel over at Too New to Handle? explained the assignment well, so I decided to quote him.


- John

From "Individual Poetry Project: Intro" on Too New to Handle?:

Over the past month or so, our class has been working on a variety of poetry-themed projects. One of these      
was the Individual Poet Project, in which each of us as students selected a contemporary American poet 
and basically immersed ourselves in his/her life and work, focusing specifically on one (non-
compilation/"selected works"-type) book by that author.
The project evolved in its details as we progressed, and ended up consisting of four papers:
1. An analysis of a shorter poem from the selected volume of poetry
2. A biography of our chosen author.
3. Another poem analysis, this time focusing on the poem relates to the overall book and its themes.
4. A final, more detailed review of the volume.

To fulfill the details of this assignment, I'll be posting slightly revised versions of all four papers on this blog        
for your reading pleasure. Enjoy! (Driver 1)

Works Cited

Driver, Daniel. "Individual Poetry Project: Intro." Too New to Handle?. 1. Blogger. Web. 24 Mar. 2011.