** For my Irish Literature class, spring 2026

A natural thematic continuation of Yeats' poems. You could say that the antagonist itself is the Yeatsian gyre, in the literal sense of a great churning ocean current that loops eternally to the rhythm of life-death-life-death. The ocean as destruction and as a life-force, et cetera. The prose imparts a visceral claustrophobia: on this tiny middle island of the Arans (Inishaan), the sea is this deadly chasm closing in on you from all sides.

Also of interest to me is its typical Greek tragic arc--the fear and tension building into a catharsis (Bartley's death). The tragic elements are scarcely described in the text itself, so Nora/Cathleen act as a sort of chorus for the reader. It liked it. Perhaps I'll have to revisit some classical tragedies in the near future.