The Dubliners – Raglan Road

 

‘Raglan Road’ was first written as a poem by Patrick Kavanagh in 1946. He dedicated it to Hilda Moriarty, a university student Kavanagh met, and pursued a brief affair with, on Raglan Road in Dublin. After she criticised his poetic skills for their dreary subject matter, Kavanagh promised he would immortalise her in his poems.

Luke Kelly of the Irish folk group The Dubliners put Kavanagh’s poem to music and in 1986. It has since become a well-known addition to the Irish folk tradition. I love the mournful tune and how Kelly delivers. Frances Black sang it at the funeral of IRA leader cum North Irish first minister Martin McGuinness in 2017.  It also features on Martin McDonagh’s ‘In Bruges’ (2008) – one of my favourite films.

The lyrics tell the tale of a man who falls in love with a woman on Raglan Road. He knows the relationship will hurt him, but goes in anyway. Man, I can relate.

Lyrics:

On Raglan Road on an autumn day,
I saw her first and knew
That her dark hair would weave a snare
That I might one day rue
I saw the danger, and I passed
Along the enchanted way
And I said let grief be a fallen leaf
At the dawning of the day.

On Grafton Street in November,
We tripped lightly along the ledge
Of a deep ravine where can be seen
The worth of passions pledged.
The Queen of Hearts still making tarts
And I not making hay,
Oh I loved too much and by such by such
Is happiness thrown away.

I gave her gifts of the mind
I gave her the secret sign
That’s known to the artists who have known
The true gods of sound and stone
And word and tint without stint
I gave her poems to say
With her own name there and her own dark hair
Like clouds over fields of May.

On a quiet street where old ghosts meet,
I see her walking now
Away from me so hurriedly,
My reason must allow
That I have loved, not as I should
A creature made of clay
When the angel woos the clay, he’ll lose
His wings at the dawn of day.

Spartacus

Spartacus (1960) is a swords and sandals epic starring Kirk Douglas and Laurence Olivier. Action, adventure, romance and intrigue abound.  The film follows the rise of a Roman gladiator from the lowest rung of society to public enemy number one.

Last week my local cinema was showing classics on the big screen. I’d seen Spartacus only once, when I was a boy. This was back before I could tell when a film was dated. Back when I enjoyed every movie I saw. I remembered the battles and the “I am Spartacus” scene but little else. Naturally the senatorial politics and Crassus’s monologue on liking both ‘snails’ and ‘oysters’ flew over my head. I also didn’t appreciate just how well written and acted this masterpiece was.

Spartacus is the story of a man who challenges the might of Rome. He is born a slave in the end days of the Roman Republic and forced to fight his fellow men as entertainment.  But Spartacus has other ideas. During a dispute in the kitchens, he kills his trainer and inspires the gladiators to revolt.  They escape and roam the Italian countryside, ravaging Roman estates and freeing slaves as they go. Using the techniques he learnt as a gladiator, Spartacus builds a formidable army and humbles the legions sent his way.

That much is true. Spartacus was a Thracian gladiator who instigated the ‘Third Servile War’ of 73-70 BC, the largest slave rebellion of the ancient world.  When Crassus eventually crushed it, he crucified 6,000 rebels along the Appian Way.

Spartacus’s director, lead actors and screenwriter were among the best in history. They made the film at the tail end of Hollywood’s Golden Age, when technicolor was new and exciting but before television diminished the movie-going audience.

Kirk Douglas plays Spartacus. Well-built and charismatic, he fits the role well.  At 45, Douglas was conscious of being upstaged and used his position as executive producer to insist no one younger be cast as a gladiator. His performance makes up for this nonetheless.

Stanley Kubrick was chosen to direct two weeks into filming.  As much Douglas’s vision as his own, Spartacus is the only Kubrick film in which he did not have total creative control. With CGI not yet invented, Kubrick used 10,000 extras from the Spanish infantry for the final battle scene, filmed on a plain outside Madrid.

Dalton Trumbo wrote the screenplay from behind the Hollywood blacklist. Once Hollywood’s best paid writer, he fell victim to the Red Scare after refusing to ‘name names’ of other Hollywood communists.

Howard Fast, who wrote the book, was also under blacklist. It was only by chance that his self-published work found itself in Kirk Douglas’s hands and was consequently adapted for the big screen.

Though Trumbo wrote Spartacus in exile under a pseudonym, Douglas insisted he take full credit for his work and personally accept its awards. Trumbo did so at risk of arrest and was exonerated only after a newly-elected John F Kennedy defied a conservative embargo to see the film. His endorsement broke the Hollywood blacklist. “Thanks Kirk,” Trumbo said, “for giving me back my name.”

Oscars:

• Best Supporting Actor (Peter Ustinov)
• Best Art Direction
• Best Cinemotography
• Best Costume Design
• Best Film Editing (nominated)
• Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture (nominated)

Pictured right: Peter Ustinov as the slave trader Bataiutus

Good quotes:

“You don’t want to know mine. I don’t want to know your name….. Gladiators don’t make friends. If we’re ever matched in the arena together, I have to kill you.” – Draba

“When a free man dies, he loses the pleasure of life. A slave loses his pain. Death is the only freedom a slave knows. That’s why he’s not afraid of it. That’s why we’ll win.” – Spartacus

“I’m not after glory, I’m after Spartacus!” – Crassus

Part of Spartacus’s draw is the universal appeal of his struggle. He is fighting for freedom. Not freedom in a nationalistic, Braveheart sense, but literal emancipation. His army juxtaposes beautifully with the Romans. While they are scheming and factional, his people are fiercely united. While the Romans buy their love with money and force, Spartacus and Varinia are mutual and pure. While the Romans hold the material advantage, Spartacus holds the moral.

Despite being old, Spartacus is still worth a watch.

Update 05/02/2020: Kirk Douglas, who played Spartacus has died, age 103.

From the Parapet Turns One

I started this blog one year ago. This unfortunate date, I must add, was not by design but an unobserved coincidence – shame on me! I shan’t venture into cliché territory and say I’m honored or amazed at how far I’ve come, but I will settle on happily chuffed.

When it comes to creative projects, I rarely finish anything. A weekly blog however, provides enough gratification to keep me going, so for that I’m glad. One post a week is not a lofty goal, but it sure adds up over a year.

I don’t blog to make money. Sure, a little revenue would be nice, but if that were my aim, I would have given up long ago. For me, this blog serves as a way to write regularly and record topics of interest. Hence I avoid clickbait or a specific ‘niche’. Developing a skill takes work. 10,000 hours and all that. This blog ensures my writing is held accountable.

My audience isn’t big, but grows every month. I still use the free version of WordPress which, though not allowing in depth analytics or SEO, will tell you your number of readers and where from where in the world they come.

WordPress ‘likes’ are a bad gauge of interest. They only tell you what WordPress users like and most of my views come from Google, not the WordPress Reader. My most ‘liked’ post, for example – ‘2018 Blogging Goals’ – is not even in the top ten for most viewed. It’s only liked most because it’s about blogging – a topic WordPress users are interested in by default.

Most of my readers are from the United States, followed by the UK and Australia. I also get a fair smattering of views from around the world, as you can see from the map above. This month I’ve had 77 from Ecuador alone!

My most popular posts:

1. The Caliphate of Cordoba
2. Clairvius Narcisse and the Zombies of Haiti
3. The Moor’s Last Sigh
4. The Historical Babylon
5. Green Eyed Devils

Originally I assumed my political posts would be the most popular. My real life circles prefer such discussions to history, after all, and political commentary on WordPress and Youtube is thriving . For this blog it’s not the case. My history posts get far more hits.

Maybe the market is saturated; maybe my political views are too vanilla. Successful youtubers and bloggers present controversial and/or nuanced opinions – that’s what makes them interesting. Now I understand  regurgitating news reports without a clear bias lacks appeal. If people want a pseudo objective  take on current events, they will read the news.

Political posts aren’t evergreen, historical ones are. My post on the Battle for Idlib, for example, will only be relevant for a couple of weeks at most. After this the news report will be dated and irrelevant. Posts on the past, however, stay the same, and are far more likely to be searched on Google months later.

Blogging is a fulfilling hobby and I would urge anyone who is interested to give it a go. I’ve still got a lot to learn, but am happy with my progress so far. Hopefully I’ll still be posting one year from now!

See Also:

• My first post
• My 2018 Blogging Goals

Stormclouds over Idlib

 Bashar Al-Assad and his Russian allies have begun their assault on Idlib, Syria’s last rebel stronghold. The days ahead are going to be bloody; likely the final chapter in a war that’s raged for 7 years.

Tahrir Al-Sham, an Al Qaeda affiliated coalition, is the dominant force in Idlib. Then known as the Al-Nusra Front, the jihadist group seized the province from government forces in March 2015.  They imposed Sharia law and, in response to Assad’s growing power, united Idlib’s jihadists under a common banner. Tahrir Al-Sham has 3,000 fighters and controls 60% of the province, including the city of Idlib itself. Since 2016 they have been the Assad regime’s toughest and best-organised opponent.

The Turkish backed ‘National Front for Liberation’ control the rest of the province. Both Jihadist and ‘moderate’ factions number in their ranks.

Assad has been winning since 2016. While his myriad opponents, which once included pro-democracy forces, ISIS and other jihadists, bicker amongst themselves, Assad reasserts his rule province by province.

Assad’s strategy is simple. First, his regime sets its sight on a defiant city or neighbourhood and besieges it, cutting inhabitants off from outside aid. Then Russian jets bomb it to oblivion. When the enemy’s back is broken and its citizenry is starving, regime forces and Iranian militias march in and crush any remaining opposition. One by one the rebel strongholds of Aleppo (2016), Eastern Ghouta and Daraa (2018) fell this way. The strategy is effective, but leaves of thousands of dead citizens every time.

Idlib is home to 3 million people. A third is children and more than half are refugees from elsewhere in Syria.

Turkey has closed its borders. Syria’s northern neighbour already houses 3.5 million refugees and the fears the destabilization a further influx would bring. When the battle for Idlib starts its people will have nowhere to run.  Given the regime and its allies’ tendency for war crimes, a humanitarian catastrophe of potentially unprecedented scale now looms.

On Monday President Trump warned Assad “hundreds of thousands of people could be killed” if he attacks Idlib. He’s right, but a tweet won’t deter Bashar Al-Assad or Vladimir Putin. Turkey and the UN issued similar statements to little avail. Assad, Putin and Turkish president Tayyip Erdogan will meet in Iran on Friday to discuss the issue.

If Idlib falls, as it likely will, the Syrian Civil War will be over.  While the northwest belongs to the Kurdish ‘Republic of Rojava’, they have maintained an uneasy truce with Damascus throughout the war, and will hopefully reach a peaceful settlement.

For now, Russian planes are already taking the first casualties.

Sources: Al Jazeera, BBC, Foreign Policy, Gulf News, IRIN News, New York Times 

See Also:

• 2018: Western Powers Bomb Syria
• Rojava