The Poetry of Paul Muldoon

"Our Lady of Ardboe"

Our Lady of Ardboe by Paul Muldoon is a poem about man questioning our relationship as humans with God and also wondering if God exists at all. He uses the alliteration, "knows what's knowable" and repeats "Virgin" and "Mother" through out two of the stanzas. He uses the assonance of "farmer's youngest daughter," and "amiable" and "admirable" in line twenty two. Muldoon uses different rhyme schemes in each stanza and twenty six lines.

The stanzas each consist of two, three, or four lines, almost like Muldoon kept changing his mind about writing down his spirituality, with the changes of stanzas and rhyming in the poem. The stanzas with three lines seem to ask the most questions, which could be a reference to the Holy Trinity.

Muldoon wants to know how humans could be so close to spirit, without being perfect or some of the world's most sophisticated, when he says, we are unraveling "the road to Christ's navel." He makes two references to feeding, such as "Milk from the Virgin Mother's breast" and "The winding road to Christ's navel," to reference the nourishment we receive from his faith of them.

He describes the setting of a stable as a humble yet holy place, because it is the birthplace of Jesus. In its presence, the girl had to "kneel" in prayer, because of the symbolism, which most Christians would think of when they saw one. Muldoon seems to be questioning the humble beginnings of the savior, but also seems to say it could have been any stable in the world that Jesus could have born in.

Muldoon seems to be questioning if we made up God as a "simple wish for there being more to life," as way to deal with stress that comes from "a job, a car, a house, a wife," having to earn money so we can have "running water." He names several objects such as colorful flowers and weeds found in nature, and "arms as long as the other," as his biology, to make it seem like he doesn't believe these things are just coincidences or just science, but they are made from God.

"Anonymous: Myself and Prague"

Muldoon's poem, Anonymous: Myself and Prague, is about the working relationship of a man and his cat. Muldoon uses an AABB rhyme pattern and all of the stanzas have four lines. He uses enjambment by separating full sentences into two different stanzas, dragging out his points, trying to really make us pause to see the connections between the cat and the man. He uses alliterations such as, "lose its luster" and "while away our whiles." He uses the assonance of "snagging" and "naggingly" in middle of lines fifteen and sixteen.

He tells he and his cat are the "same," even if they are not even from the same species. While Muldoon's goal is to get "lost to fame", he wonders if he would be content living a cat's life, as his cat seems "perfectly content" with hunting and sleeping all day. He compares his writing to his cat's catching of a mouse, saying they both require "skill" to hunt their preys, whether it be a mouse or a piece of paper. He believes animals and man can live in harmony together, "never cramping each other's styles," because we recognize we have similar interests and respect for each other's craft.