Distance in Irish Romanticism

Distance, whether it is cultural, emotional, physical, or spiritual, is a constant theme of romance in literature, film and music. It is the distance lovers feel and overcome that allows the audience to sympathize or reject as they continue with the work. By placing characters in idealized, tension filled situations and loveless occasions, the author elicits the same feelings of abandonment and struggle from their audience. This cathartic stream permits the audience to agonize along with the characters.

With Irish literature and film, there is a cultural distance that is unfamiliar to the American audience, in particular, the film The Quiet Man. American Sean Thornton is unaccustomed to the ways of Irish Catholic courting, and is forced to abide by certain rules if he is to marry Mary Kate Danaher. It is this cultural difference that keeps their love for each other at a distance. Their loves wins out, but not before the cultural norms are tested and respected.

Their disparity can be theorized as director John Ford's idealized view of Old Ireland versus the new. With Mary Kate's firm belief in the old ways, Ford challenges those ideas with a highly Americanized Sean Thornton, whose unyielding western ways brings dissonance to the relationship. He doesn't believe in dowry, or fortunes, but in the American ideal of true love will win out. However, in a devoutly Catholic Ireland, courting, dowries and permission are the necessary means to marriage.

There is also a power struggle with in the confines of the relationship between Mary Kate and Sean. Both are stubborn in their ways, and seek to have control over the other. Sean is challenging and cowboy in his love, ideals that are closely associated with American men. Mary Kate is fiery and passionate, hiding her desires behind the thin veil of catholic cultures. When both concede to the others beliefs, the distance between them is diminished, which could be Ford's way of demonstrating a hopeful compromise of both the traditions of old and new Ireland. Nevertheless, The Quiet Man is an excellent exhibition of the cultural differences which can keep lovers apart, and in some cases, bring them together.

In earlier times, often relationships are formed without an element of love in them, and marriages were set by financial and egotistical means, rather than love. In "The Weaver's Grave," the young widow, who is the fourth wife of an old man because of an assumed no other choice by the widow, finds her own true love at the very site of his grave. "She had no bitter and no sweet memories of the weaver...He had not come to her in any fiery love impulse." (O'Kelly, p. 135) Despite being in the unpopular position of having been the fourth wife to an elderly man, the widow accepts the proposal as a means to an end. She is the fourth wife, and though relatively young, still old enough to have been considered a spinster, has she not married. The societal pressure of marriage tends to lend itself to unions that lack true love, and in a moment that should bind two people together, it can actually create distance between husband and wife.

While the widow is waiting to bury her husband, she discovers a romantic connection between her and one of the gravediggers. Many years her husband's junior, the gravedigger is more appropriate for her and is a kinder soul than the man she had to marry. "She looked back at him and suddenly the silence became full of unspoken words, of flying, ringing emotions." (O'Kelly, p. 166) With this sudden attraction, the idea of a true and passionate love is introduced, but with simplicity and subtly. In pages that speak about the comical burial of the weaver, the emotional distance the widow feels towards her departed husband seems like a crevasse compared the minute space between her and the gravedigger.

However, the new found love can be speculated as another attempt to symbolize the passage of Old Ireland to New Ireland. As the grave is being dug, the widow swoons. The enamored gravedigger leaps over the grave of the old weaver, to catch the young widow in his arms. This small gesture could be viewed as the replacing of old Irish ways with new ones, as the old husband is replaced with the new.

In "The Dead," Joyce explores the notion of how emotional distance can keep people from knowing true love. Throughout the story, Gabriel exhibits his controlling personality in his thoughts and words. Despite his education and his hidden lack of emotional closeness, it isn't until Gretta hears the song The Lass of Aughrim and remembers her long lost love that Gabriel realizes his faults. She tells Gabriel about Michael Furey, the boy she lost in Galway. "He had never felt like that himself towards any woman but he knew that such a feeling must be love." (Joyce, p. 223)

Gabriel knew that his emotional distance had kept him from experiencing true love. There is no doubt that he cared for his wife, and he passionately lusted for her, but his desire to control her kept him distant from true love.

Distance that causes tension in romantic relationships are often best described in song. Ballads tell tales of lost and betrayed love, of the distance that keeps loves apart. Such is the case with the songs Boots of Spanish Leather, For Ireland, I won't tell her name, and Fair Haired Boy.

The distance of a heart longing to roam and not settle is described in the song Boots of Spanish Leather. "That I might be gone a long time/and it's only that I'm asking/is there something I can send you to remember me by/to make your time more easy passing?" (Dylan, 1968) In the lyrics of For Ireland, I won't tell her name, financial distance keeps a man from marrying the woman he loves. Famine and immigration keeps lovers apart in the Fair Haired Boy. Each of these songs discusses the distances that lovers go through for their love.

Themes of distances thwarting romance are commonplace in literature and film. Whether it is due to emotional detachment, poverty, or cultural diversity, distance can be a driving force for love, hindering relationships and causing tension that which an audience can both appreciate and sympathize.

The Quiet Man, John Ford, Director

The Weaver's Grave, Seumas O'Kelly

The Dead, James Joyce

Fair Haired Boy, Brendan Graham

Boots of Spanish Leather, Bob Dylan

For Ireland, I won't tell her name, Traditional Irish Song