Moyulla

Heaney referred to ‘Moyulla’ as ‘a praise poem but it’s keenly aware of ‘green’ issues; and to a degree, its drift is also political’.  ‘Moyulla is about a polluted river, but there’s a river nymph on the scene too aswim in the words and the water. There’s erotic glee as well as ecological gloom’… ‘I wanted to darken the vowel from “oya” to  “ulla “ to suggest a darkening of the ecological climate’. The river had become polluted from the ‘release of poisoned water from the flax dams years ago’ along with ‘agricultural waste’ (DOD 406) The 4-poem sequence contrasts ecological decline with primordial purity, provides evidence of pollution and offers a host of female symbols … its final images […]