{"id":9355,"date":"2018-06-10T21:49:53","date_gmt":"2018-06-10T20:49:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=9355"},"modified":"2018-06-10T21:50:23","modified_gmt":"2018-06-10T20:50:23","slug":"michael-oneill-return-of-the-gift-reviewed-by-ian-pople","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=9355","title":{"rendered":"Michael O’Neill, Return of the Gift<\/em>, reviewed by Ian Pople"},"content":{"rendered":"

Michael O\u2019Neill Return of the Gift<\/em> Arc Publications \u00a39.99<\/strong> <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

In Sources of the Self<\/em>, Charles Taylor comments that, for the Romantics, \u2018The artist doesn\u2019t imitate nature so much as he imitates the author of nature.\u2019 Perhaps it is because Michael O\u2019Neill has studied the Romantic poets for most of his academic career, that his own poetry seems to go out of its way to avoid such a stance. If Wordsworth\u2019s \u2018The Solitary Reaper\u2019 seems possessed by the poet, O\u2019Neill\u2019s poetry seems like an attempt to always to allow the Other to drive the poems, to, almost, form O\u2019Neill\u2019s poems after their own kind. At the same time, it is clear that O\u2019Neill is what he, himself, has called the \u2018authorising consciousness\u2019 of the poem. The \u2018I\u2019 in these poems is clearly the empirical O\u2019Neill. O\u2019Neill\u2019s new book contains its fair share of elegies, and O\u2019Neill has always been a fine elegist. <\/p>\n

In Wheel<\/em>, published in 2008, O\u2019Neill\u2019s first book after a considerable time, he published elegies for Alan Ross and Roy Fuller. This new book contains elegies for Dennis Kay and Jonathon Wordsworth; and beautiful, powerful poems in memory of his mother. One of these is the wonderful, \u2018To Do List\u2019, which is exactly that; the \u2018to-do-list\u2019 for his mother\u2019s funeral. That is to make the assumption that the list is written by O\u2019Neill for the funeral for his mother. But O\u2019Neill\u2019s tactic is not only to list the practicalities, with their consequent banality but to intersperse those practicalities with adroitly placed emotional correlatives, as in this passage from the middle of the poem, \u2018contact \/ pension providers; cut out the top \/\/ right-hand corner of the passport; \/ ask for it to be returned; dream \/ of her return as a young woman; live \/ with the images; dream \/\/ the windswept, out-of-body dreams; \/ scrape words together for the tribute;\u2019 Not only does O\u2019Neill seem more organised than most; who would think about sending a passport to be cancelled? But, if O\u2019Neill, who has lived with words more than most, feels that he has to \u2018scrape words together for the tribute\u2019, then we can all heave a sigh of relief. But also that lovely sense of \u2018windswept, out-of-body dreams\u2019; an image which at the same time as it deepens and loads the emotions of the poems, seems to lighten the poem in the same moment. <\/p>\n

O\u2019Neill\u2019s imagination often spools into an imagined past. There is a kind of \u2018pre-imagining\u2019, in particular, when writing about his parents, where O\u2019Neill often \u2018sees\u2019 them before he, himself, was born. This reimagining is always very carefully as it could come across as a kind of self-exculpation, in the way that children will blame themselves for the ills of their parent. In \u2018Calling\u2019, this \u2018re-collection\u2019 turns around the large sense of \u2018the meaning of being born,\u2019 where O\u2019Neill seeks to look to the deeper truths of the parent\/child relationship. This spooling into imagined alternatives is part of the force of O\u2019Neill\u2019s wry and deeply moving sequence, \u2018From the Cancer Diary\u2019. Perhaps, as our poets get older, and bodies let them, and us, down, such sequences become more prevalent: Jo Shapcott, Julia Darling and Carol Rumens have written about this from the female point of view. O\u2019Neill, always conscious of his context within a family, writes with the sensitivity we\u2019ve come to expect from him about the effect his own cancer diagnosis has on, not only him, but on those closest to him. <\/p>\n

There are number of very fine translations in this book, of a section of the Purgatorio<\/em>, which concludes with a wry nod to what poets really want, not a place where \u2018human innocence took root, \/ [w]here spring is lasting and each kind of fruit;\u2019. Turning to \u2018my poets\u2019, the narrator notes \u2018with a grin\u2019 that \u2018they\u2019d heard this last proposal; \/\/ then turned my face back to that courteous woman.\u2019 So, Dante, and possibly the translator, have more earthy pursuits than rather paradisal notions of innocence. There is a lovely translation from Leopardi, \u2018To the Moon\u2019, which ends with an acute sense of the force of memory in later years, <\/p>\n

In youth, when hope has a long trek
\nahead and memory\u2019s road is short,
\nthere\u2019s a grace in past events, though they
\nwere unhappy and pain persists. <\/p>\n

This is a warm, consoling book, entirely lacking in sentimentality, fully deserving of its Poetry Book Society award. <\/p>\n

Ian Pople<\/strong> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Michael O\u2019Neill Return of the Gift Arc Publications \u00a39.99 In Sources of the Self, Charles Taylor comments that, for the Romantics, \u2018The artist doesn\u2019t imitate nature so much as he imitates the author of nature.\u2019 Perhaps it is because Michael O\u2019Neill has studied the Romantic poets for most of his academic career, that his own […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":[]},"categories":[13,283],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\nMichael O'Neill, Return of the Gift, reviewed by Ian Pople - The Manchester Review<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=9355\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Michael O'Neill, Return of the Gift, reviewed by Ian Pople - The Manchester Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Michael O\u2019Neill Return of the Gift Arc Publications \u00a39.99 In Sources of the Self, Charles Taylor comments that, for the Romantics, \u2018The artist doesn\u2019t imitate nature so much as he imitates the author of nature.\u2019 Perhaps it is because Michael O\u2019Neill has studied the Romantic poets for most of his academic career, that his own […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=9355\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Manchester Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-06-10T20:49:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-06-10T20:50:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/i64.tinypic.com\/72u1rp.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Ian Pople\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Ian Pople\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=9355\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=9355\",\"name\":\"Michael O'Neill, Return of the Gift, reviewed by Ian Pople - The Manchester Review\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2018-06-10T20:49:53+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-06-10T20:50:23+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/1e4c20066db3d71097155619e6d443a9\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=9355#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=9355\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=9355#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Michael O’Neill, Return of the Gift, reviewed by Ian Pople\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/#website\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/\",\"name\":\"The Manchester Review\",\"description\":\"The Manchester Review\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/1e4c20066db3d71097155619e6d443a9\",\"name\":\"Ian Pople\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/wp-includes\/images\/blank.gif\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/wp-includes\/images\/blank.gif\",\"caption\":\"Ian Pople\"},\"description\":\"Ian Pople's Spillway is published by Anstruther Press.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?author=21\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Michael O'Neill, Return of the Gift, reviewed by Ian Pople - The Manchester Review","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=9355","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Michael O'Neill, Return of the Gift, reviewed by Ian Pople - The Manchester Review","og_description":"Michael O\u2019Neill Return of the Gift Arc Publications \u00a39.99 In Sources of the Self, Charles Taylor comments that, for the Romantics, \u2018The artist doesn\u2019t imitate nature so much as he imitates the author of nature.\u2019 Perhaps it is because Michael O\u2019Neill has studied the Romantic poets for most of his academic career, that his own […]","og_url":"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=9355","og_site_name":"The Manchester Review","article_published_time":"2018-06-10T20:49:53+00:00","article_modified_time":"2018-06-10T20:50:23+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/i64.tinypic.com\/72u1rp.jpg"}],"author":"Ian Pople","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Ian Pople","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=9355","url":"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=9355","name":"Michael O'Neill, Return of the Gift, reviewed by Ian Pople - The Manchester Review","isPartOf":{"@id":"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/#website"},"datePublished":"2018-06-10T20:49:53+00:00","dateModified":"2018-06-10T20:50:23+00:00","author":{"@id":"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/1e4c20066db3d71097155619e6d443a9"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=9355#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=9355"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=9355#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Michael O’Neill, Return of the Gift, reviewed by Ian Pople"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/#website","url":"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/","name":"The Manchester Review","description":"The Manchester Review","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/1e4c20066db3d71097155619e6d443a9","name":"Ian Pople","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/wp-includes\/images\/blank.gif","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/wp-includes\/images\/blank.gif","caption":"Ian Pople"},"description":"Ian Pople's Spillway is published by Anstruther Press.","url":"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?author=21"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2PuXo-2qT","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9355"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9355"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9355\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9740,"href":"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9355\/revisions\/9740"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9355"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9355"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9355"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}