Drawing Ballerinas

Publication Instance Details #3365

Publication Overview

Translation	Is Multilingual	Explicit Irish Context?	Ekphrasis	Has Paratext?	Reference to News, Media or Technology
No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No

Details

Human Rights Issues	War
War / Genocide Referenced	War: Second World War
Irish Context	The Troubles/Sectarian Tensions (Ireland)
Languages	English
Genre	Short Lyric
Medium	Print Collection
Paratext Text	'This poem was written to commemorate Ann Frances Owens, schoolfellow and neighbour, who lost her life in the Abercorn Café explosion, 1972. The painter, Matisse, when asked how he managed to survive the war artistically, replied that he spent the worst years 'drawing ballerinas'.
Notes	As is evident from the paratext, this poem is a response to a specific act of violence in the North of Ireland during the 'Troubles'. The paratext also indicates, however, that another context is also being evoked, namely, the violence of World War II. The reference in the paratext to French visual artist, Henri Matisse, is central to the theme of the poem, which alludes to Matisse's painting of ballerinas in order to explore the larger question of the role of aesthetics in times of violence. An important intertext identified by Shane Alcobia-Murphy is 'The Drawings of Henri Matisse'.