Escape Artists
PseudoPod => Episode Comments => Topic started by: Bdoomed on March 19, 2012, 12:40:18 AM
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Pseudopod 273: The Crucifixion of the Outcast (http://pseudopod.org/2012/03/16/pseudopod-273-the-crucifixion-of-the-outcast/)
By William Butler Yeats (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Butler_Yeats).
This story was originally published in 1897 in THE SECRET ROSE. It is available to read online in a number of spots including here (http://www.americanliterature.com/WilliamButlerYeats/SS/TheCrucifixionOfTheOutcast.html)
Yeats (1865-1939) was winner of the Nobel Prize and Ireland’s greatest poet and dramatist. The son of a renowned Dublin artist, he was educated partly in Ireland and partly in London and during this time formed an interest in occultism. Later, drawing on his experiences with his relatives in Sligo, he began to write on folklore, the first results being published in 1893 as THE CELTIC TWILIGHT. This title was subsequently used to label a school of writing that attempted a renaissance of ancient Irish culture. Yeats’ style in prose - like in his poetry - is gloriously varied: from light, beautiful tales of unworldly fantasy to grim and horrifying parables of death and cruelty.
Read for us by the redoubtable Wilson Fowlie (http://www.maple-leaf-singers.com/) (begorra!)
“His eyes strayed from the Abbey tower of the White Friars and the town battlements to a row of crosses which stood out against the sky upon a hill a little to the eastward of the town, and he clenched his fist, and shook it at the crosses. He knew they were not empty, for the birds were fluttering about them; and he thought how, as like as not, just such another vagabond as himself was hanged on one of them; and he muttered: ‘If it were hanging or bowstringing, or stoning or beheading, it would be bad enough. But to have the birds pecking your eyes and the wolves eating your feet! I would that the red wind of the Druids had withered in his cradle the soldier of Dathi, who brought the tree of death out of barbarous lands, or that the lightning, when it smote Dathi at the foot of the mountain, had smitten him also, or that his grave had been dug by the green-haired and green-toothed merrows deep at the roots of the deep sea.’”
(http://pseudopod.org/wp-content/plugins/podpress/images/audio_mp3_button.png)
Listen to this week's Pseudopod. (http://media.libsyn.com/media/pseudopod/Pseudo273_TheCrucifixionOfTheOutcast.mp3)
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Hi from under the mountain, and so on and so on.
I have to say, I really didn't like the last historical story but this one was great. Great pairing of narrator and story. I liked how the head (friar? Monk? sorry forgot) asked if the bard was cursing _in rhyme_. Also liked the bit about 'white-breasted Mary'. And also liked the three stops made on the way up the hill in the effort to save his skin. It's justice, New Testament style.
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Hi from under the mountain, and so on and so on.
I have to say, I really didn't like the last historical story but this one was great. Great pairing of narrator and story. I liked how the head (friar? Monk? sorry forgot) asked if the bard was cursing _in rhyme_. Also liked the bit about 'white-breasted Mary'. And also liked the three stops made on the way up the hill in the effort to save his skin. It's justice, New Testament style.
Wasn't it "white-breasted Deirdre"? :)
I don't think I really got the story. Not that it was incomprehensible by any means. I always understood what was happening at any given time, but at the end I was just confused as to what it was supposed to be about. There were some good moments, particularly (like yaksox said) when they asked if teh bard was cursing in rhyme.
Also, I hadn't realized that gleeman was an actual historical occupation.
But overall, I'm really not sure that I got it. I'm not sure if I missed some of the meaning behind the actions. And why did they give him such subpar accomodations in the first place, that's where it all started?
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Hi from under the mountain, and so on and so on.
I have to say, I really didn't like the last historical story but this one was great. Great pairing of narrator and story. I liked how the head (friar? Monk? sorry forgot) asked if the bard was cursing _in rhyme_. Also liked the bit about 'white-breasted Mary'. And also liked the three stops made on the way up the hill in the effort to save his skin. It's justice, New Testament style.
Wasn't it "white-breasted Deirdre"? :)
I don't think I really got the story. Not that it was incomprehensible by any means. I always understood what was happening at any given time, but at the end I was just confused as to what it was supposed to be about. There were some good moments, particularly (like Swamp said) when they asked if teh bard was cursing in rhyme.
Also, I hadn't realized that gleeman was an actual historical occupation.
But overall, I'm really not sure that I got it. I'm not sure if I missed some of the meaning behind the actions. And why did they give him such subpar accomodations in the first place, that's where it all started?
I actually haven't listened to this story yet, but these comments make me want to.
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I actually haven't listened to this story yet, but these comments make me want to.
Oops, for some reason I typed in "Swamp" instead of "yaksox". Attribution fixed now in the original post. :P
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Their avatars are quite simliar
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Their avatars are quite simliar
Yeah I think that's what it was, I glanced at the avatar, thought I knew what it was, and typed the name without looking more closely.
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Could not get into this at all :(
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This is why TripAdvisor provides such an important service.
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This is why TripAdvisor provides such an important service.
?
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This is why TripAdvisor provides such an important service.
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Well, if all the reviews of the abbey are "the mattress was full of lice and the water was dirty, and when the guy in the next room complained they crucified him", then you might want to think again about going.
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Well, if all the reviews of the abbey are "the mattress was full of lice and the water was dirty, and when the guy in the next room complained they crucified him", then you might want to think again about going.
Ahhhh... thanks! :D
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This is why TripAdvisor provides such an important service.
?
Well, if all the reviews of the abbey are "the mattress was full of lice and the water was dirty, and when the guy in the next room complained they crucified him", then you might want to think again about going.
This whole conversation makes me want to figure out roughly where this place is supposed to be so that I can make a fake Yelp review.
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This whole conversation makes me want to figure out roughly where this place is supposed to be so that I can make a fake Yelp review.
Well the story says the Abbey is in Sligo, because that was where the road was going, and it mentions the town battlements next to the abbey tower. There was an abbey in Silgo (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sligo_Abbey), currently in ruins. The only problem is it was a Dominican friary, while the "White Friars" in the story are Carmelites.
I'm choosing to believe this is just artistic license as Yeats' inspiration (Aislinge Meic Conglinne, The Vision of MacConglinne: A Middle-Irish Wonder Tale) had the abbey set in Cork, and he moved it to Sligo so it would fit in and link with the other stories in The Secret Rose, the collection in which "Crucifixion of the Outcast" was originally published.
FUN FACT IRONY FANS:
Benignus, the patron saint of the abbey in the story was probably St. Benignus of Armagh (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Benignus_of_Armagh), also known as "Patrick's psalm-singer". Their patron was known for his musical talents!
If you can't tell, I liked this story, and wish I'd commented on it sooner. It isn't my favorite of the year or anything, but I love seeing these historical stories on Pseudopod and I really enjoy them. It's nice to increase exposure to weird old horror stories. I like the liberal approach to what counts as horror. Wilson's reading was pretty good too!