Happy St. Patrick’s Day (fun fact: Patrick was actually from England and converting the Irish)
On this St. Patrick’s Day, a brief poem by W.B. Yeats. When I was an “angry young man,” I resented the association of this holiday with alcohol and debauchery.
But Yeats was not a drunkard (may have been obsessed a bit with a few women). I think he was just being honest in this poem.
“A Drinking Song”
Wine comes in at the mouth
And love comes in at the eye;
That’s all we shall know for truth
Before we grow old and die.
I lift the glass to my mouth,
I look at you, and I sigh.
Yeats made an interesting analytical distinction once to the effect that rhetoric is about debates with others, while poetry is mainly about debate with ourselves.
Some might find it offensive, but there is a very funny series of skits by the Irish comedic group The Savage Eye called Why Do the Irish Drink So Much? but it is hard to find now, maybe for legal reasons or because people found it offensive.