Wikipedia:Peer review/Louis MacNeice/archive1

Louis MacNeice

I've made a lot of changes to this article in the last couple of months, hoping that it might encourage others to join in, but as can be seen from the edit history, that hasn't happened. MacNeice is an important poet with a growing reputation, and I'd really like some input - one of Wikipedia's strengths is collaboration and a multitude of perspectives, which the article's currently lacking. --  ajn (talk) 08:48, 1 September 2005 (UTC)

I know the situation you're in; my articles tend to be on obscure historical figures and in common with MacNeice, not too much information seems to be available on them. I'll try and give you a hand if you like. Do you know much about his west of Ireland ancestry? Fergananim 16:01, 3 September 2005 (UTC)

His grandfather alleged the family was descended from Conchubar MacNessa. Sticking to historical fact, according to Stallworthy the MacNeice family were a Protestant family originally from Stonehall near Ballysodare in County Sligo. MacNeice's paternal grandfather William was a schoolmaster who worked for the Irish Church Mission to Roman Catholics, married Alice Howell the daughter of a Welsh coastguard, and ended up on the island of Omey in Co. Galway, then Athlone and Dublin. His maternal grandfather Martin Clesham was from Killymangan near Clifden in Co. Galway, descended from early 18th century immigrants probably from the Hebrides, and converted to the C of I from Catholicism when he married Christina Bush, an immigrant from London. MacNeice's parents met in Dublin. So in fact his Irish roots mainly didn't go back very far and he had a fair number of non-Irish ancestors. I don't know a great deal about Irish history (I have a grandmother from Antrim but I'm English), and that's one of the areas that could do with filling in. John MacNeice is worth an article of his own - he was a very controversial figure as a Protestant bishop who supported home rule, he thought the Easter Rising and civil war were disastrous because of the violence, and he buried Edward Carson and was involved in a huge row about Carson's funeral and tomb. --  ajn (talk) 19:15, 3 September 2005 (UTC)

Very well done -- however, I feel the article is missing information on the poetry itself. In particular, it would be nice if there was a section (or perhaps something interwoven) that briefly discussed contemporary critical responses to the work. Right now when I finish the article I am still pretty uncertain what the poetry is like. For example, Berryman seems a central figure -- but does MacNeice sound like Berryman (I don't think so!) There is some stuff, mostly on the subject of his poems, but not enough on just things like, e.g., was he working in a Modernist aesthetic? Or something else? Sdedeo 20:07, 12 September 2005 (UTC)

That's the sort of area where I was hoping for outside input - I'm a scientist by education, I just don't have the ability to write easily about literature, though I have access to critical works. I'm not sure Berryman was a central figure - they had a personal relationship (though perhaps not as close as Berryman thought, he had a flair for exaggeration), but I can't see many poetic similarities. --  ajn (talk) 08:45, 13 September 2005 (UTC)

I don't have the time right now, but why not start by quoting a few lines from some of his major works in the article? This would at least give a sense of what was going on, and might encourage others to take a look and pitch in. Sdedeo 18:52, 13 September 2005 (UTC)