His poetry takes place both against the backdrop of Irish sectarian violence and in the glare of "that cold intense/English light"; his feeling of displacement between the two places described in lean, simple phrases".Love's Bonfire", his latest collection, is no less stark.
(Anita Gates) * 'BREAKFAST ON PLUTO' (R, 129 minutes) "Candide" meets "Tom Jones" in drag heaven might describe Neil Jordan's picaresque fairy tale about a foundling who becomes a transvestite in 1970's and 80's London against the backdrop of the Irish troubles.
BOOKS lead about the historical novels, "A Star Called Henry" (Viking; $24.95) by Roddy Doyle and Hitlerr's Niece" (HarperCollins; $25) by Ron Hansen... Billed as the first volume of another trilogy, entitled "The Last Roundup," Doyle's new novel takes place against the large and bloody backdrop of the Irish struggle for independence at the beginning of the century.
It isn't just the chronicle of a poetic chap who fancied a pretty girl and wrote some romantic verses to her; their tormented relationship was conducted against the backdrop of the Irish Rising a century ago, and Yeats's love for Maud became inextricably bound up in his admiration of radicalised nationalism.
Two Czech pilots who barely speak English (the popular Czech star Ondrej Vetchy and a teenage newcomer, Krystof Hadek) escape from Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia and fall in love with the same beautiful British war widow, played by the Irish actress Tara Fitzgerald, against the backdrop of spectacularly staged dogfights in the skies above Britain.
O. Scott) * 'BREAKFAST ON PLUTO' (R, 129 minutes) "Candide" meets "Tom Jones" in drag heaven might describe Neil Jordan's picaresque fairy tale about a foundling who becomes a transvestite in 1970's and 80's London, against the backdrop of the Irish troubles.
(Manohla Dargis) * 'BREAKFAST ON PLUTO' (R, 129 minutes) "Candide" meets "Tom Jones" in drag heaven might describe Neil Jordan's picaresque fairy tale about a foundling who becomes a transvestite in 1970's and 80's London, against the backdrop of the Irish troubles.
Although influenced at different junctures by the course of events at a national level, this Belfast republicanism, which drew on United Irish antecedents, manifested against a backdrop of elite control, antidemocratic practices, and strategic conventionalism practiced by the Repeal leadership clique based around Daniel O'Connell, and his son John O'Connell, in Conciliation Hall, Dublin.
With 3,171km of crenulated coastline, plenty of reef, beach and point breaks fringing the coast and opportunities for beginners and seasoned pros alike, the sport is riding a wave of recent popularity – all set against a backdrop of spectacular Irish scenery.
In 1916 Australia was riven by Christian sectarianism: the Easter Rising took place in Ireland the same weekend as the commemoration of the first Anzac Day, against the backdrop of an Irish-Catholic led opposition to conscription.
