An Advancement of Learning The poem was written in early 1963 and first published in The Irish Times. It sets out a welling-up of courage that occurred when an instinctively timid person, finding himself with no options, had to combat his natural impulse to run away. The speaker sets out on a familiar river walk. His aside confirms its habitual nature: As always, deferring/ The bridge. His initial focus, whilst standing Hunched over the railing, rests on the river’s textures and the reflections cast upon it: pliable, oil-skinned, wearing/ A transfer of gables and sky. His attention to [...]