Long Finish by Paul Muldoon (AQA A-Level English Literature A): Revision Notes

Long Finish by Paul Muldoon

Overview

Long Finish is a complex post-1900 poem by Paul Muldoon, an Irish poet born in 1951 in County Armagh. The poem weaves together love, conflict, and humour to create a rich exploration of enduring bonds within marriage. Written in a post-modernist style, it blends personal reflection with historical violence and cultural references, creating a multifaceted meditation on commitment and survival.

The poem centres on the speaker reflecting upon ten years of marriage to his wife, whilst also incorporating seemingly disparate narratives about political violence in Northern Ireland and a traditional Japanese Noh play. These threads are connected through recurring refrains and the symbol of pine, demonstrating how personal relationships endure amidst broader contexts of suffering and loss.

Form and structure

Muldoon employs a sophisticated and modified traditional form to create Long Finish. Understanding this structure is essential for appreciating how the poem's meaning develops.

Stanza form

The poem consists of ten stanzas, each containing eight lines (known as octaves). This regular structure provides a framework within which Muldoon explores irregular and fragmented thoughts.

Rhyme scheme

Each stanza follows a consistent rhyme scheme of ABABCDCD, creating a musical quality that echoes the poem's connections to song traditions. The alternating rhymes help to propel the reader through the narrative whilst also creating a sense of return and circularity.

Ballade tradition

Long Finish is described as a ballade, a medieval French poetic form traditionally used for songs. Ballades typically feature repeated refrains at the end of stanzas. However, Muldoon adapts this tradition innovatively by creating two distinct refrains rather than one:

• "and then some" concludes all odd-numbered stanzas
• "between longing and loss" concludes all even-numbered stanzas

Enjambment and line variation

The poem makes extensive use of enjambment, where lines run on without punctuation, often cutting off before natural stopping points. This technique reflects the stream of consciousness narrative style, mimicking how thoughts flow and interrupt one another in real time. Line lengths also vary, creating a conversational and informal tone despite the formal rhyme scheme.

Post-modernist characteristics

Long Finish exemplifies post-modernist poetry through several features:

• Fragmented narrative that jumps between different times, places, and stories
• Stream of consciousness technique showing the speaker's wandering thoughts
• Mix of high and low cultural references (wine tasting, Japanese theatre, political violence)
• Lack of a single, constant narrative voice
• Juxtaposition of seemingly unconnected images and ideas
• Self-conscious playfulness with language and form

Detailed analysis

Stanza one: Anniversary reflection

Ten years since we were married, since we stood / under a chuppah of pine boughs / in the middle of a little pinewood / and exchanged our wedding vows.

The opening stanza establishes the poem's central relationship. The speaker marks a decade of marriage, recalling the wedding ceremony that took place beneath a chuppah (a traditional Jewish wedding canopy) constructed from pine boughs. This natural, improvised setting in a pinewood suggests an informal, organic beginning to the marriage. The pine imagery will recur throughout the poem, connecting different narratives.

The speaker then addresses his wife directly: "Save me, good thou, / a piece of marchpane, while I fill your glass with Simi / Chardonnay as high as decency allows, / and then some." The archaic "good thou" creates a mock-ceremonial tone, whilst the details of marchpane (marzipan) and expensive Chardonnay paint a picture of celebratory abundance. The phrase "as high as decency allows, / and then some" introduces the first refrain whilst also establishing a theme of excess and going beyond conventional limits.

Stanza two: Desire and scrutiny

The second stanza marks a significant tonal shift. The speaker asks the reader to "Bear with me now as I myself must bear / the scrutiny of a bottle of wine." This request for patience signals a change in direction as the speaker becomes distracted by analysing the wine's characteristics: "hints of plum and pear, / its muscadine / tempered by an oak backbone."

This pretentious wine-tasting language creates a stark contrast with the genuine emotion of stanza one. The sophisticated, technical vocabulary seems affected and removed from authentic feeling. However, the speaker quickly returns to his wife, revealing that he has "designs / on the willow-boss / of your breast, on all your waist confines."

The physical desire expressed here is direct yet poetic. The speaker's attention to his wife's body—her breast, her waist—reveals continuing passion after ten years of marriage. The stanza concludes with the second refrain: "between longing and loss," introducing a phrase that captures the poem's central tension. Marriage exists in this liminal space, neither fully satisfied nor fully bereft, but somewhere in between.

Stanza three: Surviving the ups and downs

Stanza three reflects on the endurance of the marriage. The speaker expresses wonder: "The wonder is that we somehow have withstood / the soars and slumps in the Dow / of ten years of marriage and parenthood."

By comparing their relationship to the Dow Jones stock market index, Muldoon creates an unexpected and somewhat cynical metaphor. Just as the stock market experiences fluctuations, so too does marriage have "summits and its sloughs"—high points and low points. This economic language adds a contemporary, somewhat detached perspective on intimate relationships.

The speaker describes their married years as "almond-blossomy," connecting back to the wedding imagery (almond blossoms traditionally feature in bridal arrangements). He characterises the decade as "five years of bitter rapture, five of blissful rows," creating striking oxymorons through the pairing of contradictory adjectives with nouns. Bitter rapture and blissful rows suggest that both happiness and conflict have been intense and paradoxically pleasurable.

The stanza ends with "and then some," but this time the line is enjambed, trailing off into the next stanza without punctuation. This technical choice reinforces the sense of continuation and overflow.

Stanza four: The eczema patch and transitory places

The fourth stanza reveals that the "then some" includes "the one or two to spare / when we've been firmly on cloud nine"—the courtship period before marriage, when the couple were blissfully in love.

The following lines exemplify post-modernist stream of consciousness. The speaker's attention jumps to his wife in the present moment: "Even now, as you turn away from me with your one bare / shoulder, the veer of your neckline, / I glimpse the all-but-cleared-up eczema patch on your spine."

This intimate physical detail—the eczema patch on her spine—is both tender and unflinching. It represents the reality of long-term intimacy, where partners know each other's bodies in minute detail, including imperfections. The fact that it's "all-but-cleared-up" suggests healing and improvement.

This observation triggers a complex association: "and it brings to mind not the Schloss / that stands, transitory, tra la, Triestine, / between longing and loss." A Schloss is a castle or palace, and the reference to Trieste (a city in Italy) suggests the speaker is remembering a place he and his wife may have visited. The castle is described as "transitory," perhaps indicating it exists in memory or represents a temporary state. The casual "tra la" suggests the speaker is half-singing, adding a musical element. This place, like the marriage itself, exists "between longing and loss," never fully in one state or the other.

Stanza five: Violence in Northern Ireland

The speaker suddenly describes not a castle but "a crude / hip trench in a field, covered with pine boughs." The same pine boughs from the wedding now cover a makeshift military position.

The setting has moved to Northern Ireland during The Troubles (the violent sectarian conflict from the late 1960s to 1998). In this trench, "two men in masks and hoods" who have "taken vows" wait for "a farmer to break a bale for his cows." The vows here are ambiguous—they might be made to a paramilitary organisation or to God, but they are vows of violence.

When the farmer appears, these men plan to fire their "semi- / automatics, cutting him off slightly above the eyebrows, / and then some." The refrain "and then some" now takes on a horrifying meaning, referring not to abundance or excess in celebration, but to brutal murder. The casual, technical language describing where the bullets will strike is chilling in its detachment.

Stanza six: Another casualty

The sixth stanza presents another death in Northern Ireland. The farmer's murder "brings to mind another, driving out to care / for six white-faced kine." Kine is an archaic term for cattle, maintaining the agricultural setting. This second victim will soon discover "the precise / whereabouts of a land mine"—a deliberately flippant, understated way to describe someone stepping on a landmine.

The location is specified as "between Beragh and Sixmilecross," two actual towns in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. This geographical precision grounds the violence in reality, reminding readers of the actual human cost of The Troubles.

When dead, this man will have "breasted the line / between longing and loss." To "breast" something means to push through it, as a runner breasts the finishing tape. Here, death is imagined as crossing over this boundary from life (with its longings) into death (the ultimate loss).

Stanza seven: The salt-makers of Japan

The seventh stanza shifts continents and centuries, bringing readers to Japan and a traditional Noh play. The speaker mentions "Matsukaze (or Pining Wind) by Zeami," one of the most celebrated Noh plays. Noh is a form of classical Japanese musical theatre that has been performed since the 14th century, and Zeami was one of its principal developers.

In Matsukaze, "two sisters" spend their days "ladling brine to make salt." This explains the reference to "constant douse and souse / of salt water." The words "douse and souse" are onomatopoeic—they sound like water sloshing—creating an auditory image of the repetitive, monotonous work of boiling seawater to extract salt. The salt water splashes onto the sisters' sleeves as they work.

These sisters are experiencing "forbearance in the face of vicissitude"—patient endurance in the face of difficulty and change. Their grief relates to their romantic involvement with a courtier, and they comfort each other with phrases like "there, theres" and "now, nows"—soothing sounds that offer consolation without solving their problems.

The stanza ends at "the salt house through which the wind soughs and soughs, / and then some." To "sough" means to make a sighing or rustling sound (as wind does), creating another onomatopoeic effect. The wind's sound echoes the sisters' repetitive labour and their mutual comfort.

Stanza eight: Intertwining meanings

The eighth stanza draws explicit connections between the different narrative strands. The wind's comforting sounds "seem to intertwine" with the sisters' consoling words, and both are linked to the recurring concept of pine.

Muldoon highlights the "double mean of 'pine'"—in both English and Japanese, the word refers to the evergreen tree but also to the act of yearning or longing for someone. This linguistic coincidence creates a bridge between cultures and narratives. The speaker notes this word exists "both in the sense of 'tree' and the sense we assign / between 'longing' and 'loss'."

The sisters must continue their difficult labour, "boiling down brine," dealing with the "dolor" (sorrow) of their lives and moving forward. An interesting observation connects the salt on their sleeves (from their work) to the tears they must be crying (from their grief)—both are salty liquids associated with their suffering.

The wind provides the sisters with comfort similar to the comfort they give each other. They have no choice but to endure, to remain suspended in that state "between longing and loss."

Stanza nine: The ghostly courtier

The ninth stanza continues with the Noh play. The ghost of Yukihira, the poet-courtier who romantically pursued both sisters, appears to them "as a ghostly pine, pining among pine boughs." This image beautifully encapsulates the multiple meanings of pine: he appears as/among pine trees whilst pining (yearning) for the sisters.

At this moment, the speaker connects "all the different vows" explored throughout the poem:

• The vow of "Autumn Rain and Pining Wind" (the two sisters in the Noh play)
• The marriage vows between the speaker and his wife
• The vows taken by the paramilitaries in Northern Ireland

All these promises—romantic, matrimonial, and militant—share a quality of commitment, even unto death.

As these vows are being "made/renewed," the speaker's attention returns to his wife in the present. Her blouse has slipped, revealing that "the eczema patch is 'all-but-cleared-up.'" This moment of revelation coincides with the renewal of vows, suggesting that healing (of skin, of relationship) is an ongoing process.

The stanza concludes with the courtier's ghost falling "as low as decency allows, / and then some," echoing the first stanza's phrase about filling the wine glass. Here it might refer to how low the courtier will stoop in his attempts to woo the sisters, or perhaps to his ghostly descent.

Stanza ten: Commitment to the future

The final stanza addresses the speaker's wife directly as "Princess of Accutane." This playful title has multiple meanings:

• Accutane is a medication used to treat severe eczema and acne, connecting to the eczema patch mentioned earlier
• It sounds similar to "Aquitaine," as in Eleanor of Aquitaine, a powerful medieval queen, thus honouring the wife with a regal title

The speaker urges: "let's no more try to refine / the pure drop from the dross." This alchemical language suggests they should stop trying to separate or purify their relationship, stop distinguishing between what's valuable and what's worthless. The attempt to separate "Mine and thine" (what belongs to each individual) is pointless.

Instead, they should "rouse" themselves each morning (connecting to "souse," the sloshing sound of the sea from earlier stanzas) "with such force and fervor as spouses may yet espouse, / and then some." The speaker makes a pun on "espouse" (to marry/to adopt as one's own) and "spouses" (married partners).

Major themes

Love and endurance in marriage

The poem's central theme is the survival and continuation of marital love over time. The speaker marvels at having "withstood" ten years of ups and downs, comparing the relationship's volatility to stock market fluctuations. This endurance is not idealised—it includes "bitter rapture" and "blissful rows," acknowledging that both conflict and joy have been intense.

The speaker's continuing physical desire for his wife is evident throughout, from his attention to her "breast" and "waist" to his intimate knowledge of her eczema patch. This combination of desire and mundane bodily reality represents mature love that encompasses both passion and everyday familiarity.

The space "between longing and loss"

This recurring refrain captures a liminal state where most of human experience occurs. We are rarely entirely satisfied (fulfilled longing) or entirely bereft (complete loss). Instead, we live in the in-between space:

• The sisters in the Noh play long for the courtier who has left them
• The speaker longs for his wife even whilst with her
• The victims in Northern Ireland exist between the longing for peace and the loss of life
• Marriage itself exists between the longing for complete union and the loss of individual identity

This phrase suggests that existence is fundamentally characterised by incompleteness and tension.

Violence and The Troubles

Muldoon, as a Northern Irish poet, incorporates the sectarian violence of The Troubles into his meditation on marriage. The jarring shift from intimate domesticity to brutal murder serves several purposes:

• It contextualises personal relationships within broader historical trauma
• It shows how violence invades even private moments through memory and association
• It demonstrates the speaker's perhaps necessary detachment from horrific events
• It uses the same language (vows, pine boughs) to connect love and death

Cross-cultural connections

By incorporating the Japanese Noh play Matsukaze, Muldoon creates unexpected connections across cultures. The sisters making salt by the sea mirror the speaker's own experience of endurance and grief. The double meaning of "pine" in both English and Japanese suggests universal patterns in human experience—we all long, we all grieve, we all associate natural imagery with emotional states.

This cross-cultural reference also demonstrates post-modernist characteristics: the mixing of high and low culture, the fragmented narrative structure, and the suggestion that all human stories are interconnected.

Vows and commitment

Different kinds of vows appear throughout the poem:

• Marriage vows exchanged under the chuppah
• The sisters' implied vows of devotion to their work and each other
• The paramilitaries' vows to their cause
• The courtier's romantic vows

All represent commitments that bind people to courses of action, for better or worse. The poem explores how we live out these commitments over time, how they shape and constrain us.

Key language techniques and effects

Refrains and repetition

The two refrains—"and then some" and "between longing and loss"—function as anchors throughout the poem. Their meaning shifts depending on context:

"And then some" moves from describing celebratory excess (wine poured too high) to violent excess (murder) to optimistic excess (loving "and then some" beyond what's expected). This versatility demonstrates how the same words carry different weights in different contexts.

"Between longing and loss" appears with increasing resonance as the poem develops. By the end, it encompasses romantic yearning, grief, death, and the fundamental human condition.

The repetition creates a musical quality, echoing the ballade form's origins in song. It also provides structural cohesion to an otherwise fragmented narrative.

Imagery and symbolism

Pine: The most important symbol, appearing in multiple contexts:

• Pine boughs forming the wedding chuppah (natural, romantic)
• Pine boughs covering the military trench (camouflage, death)
• Pine trees in the Noh play (endurance, constancy)
• Pining as yearning (emotional longing)

This multiplicity shows how symbols accumulate meaning throughout a text.

Wine: Functions as both celebration and pretentious analysis. The speaker's detailed wine-tasting language contrasts with genuine emotion, perhaps suggesting how we sometimes hide behind sophisticated talk rather than expressing real feelings.

The eczema patch: Represents both imperfection and healing. It's an unglamorous, real bodily detail that the speaker notices tenderly, showing how true intimacy involves accepting and even cherishing imperfections.

Salt and tears: The salt made by the Japanese sisters connects to tears—both are salty liquids associated with labour and sorrow. This linkage creates a subtle connection between physical work and emotional suffering.

Tone shifts

The poem's tone varies dramatically between stanzas:

• Warm and nostalgic (stanza one)
• Pretentious and then desirous (stanza two)
• Reflective and philosophical (stanza three)
• Tender and contemplative (stanza four)
• Cool and detached when describing violence (stanzas five and six)
• Descriptive and explanatory about the Noh play (stanzas seven, eight, nine)
• Playful and committed (stanza ten)

These shifts mirror the post-modernist fragmentation and stream of consciousness technique. The speaker's mind wanders, and his emotional register changes accordingly. This creates a realistic portrayal of how thought actually works—not in a linear, consistent fashion, but jumping between associations and moods.

Allusion and intertextuality

Muldoon enriches the poem through multiple references:

• Jewish wedding traditions (chuppah)
• Wine culture (Simi Chardonnay, wine-tasting vocabulary)
• Financial markets (the Dow Jones index)
• Irish history (The Troubles, specific locations in Northern Ireland)
• Japanese theatre (Noh plays, specifically Matsukaze by Zeami)
• Medieval literature (Eleanor of Aquitaine, ballade form)

These allusions create layers of meaning and demonstrate the speaker's cultural knowledge. They also exemplify post-modernism's tendency to mix high and low culture, past and present, personal and political.

Sound devices

Beyond the ABABCDCD rhyme scheme, Muldoon employs various sound devices:

Onomatopoeia: "douse and souse," "soughs and soughs" create auditory imagery of water and wind sounds.

Alliteration: "bitter" and "blissful," "longing" and "loss" create connections through sound.

Assonance: The long vowel sounds in "high as decency allows" slow the line down, creating a sense of liquid being poured.

Enjambment: Contributes to the flowing, conversational tone whilst also creating emphasis through line breaks. For example, "one bare / shoulder" draws attention to the word "bare" by placing it at the line end.

Context

Paul Muldoon

Born in County Armagh, Northern Ireland, in 1951, Muldoon grew up during the early years of The Troubles. His work frequently addresses Irish history and politics obliquely rather than directly. He is known for his formal experimentation, wordplay, and cultural range. Long Finish exemplifies his characteristic style: combining traditional forms with contemporary concerns, mixing serious subjects with humour, and creating unexpected connections between disparate elements.

The Troubles

The sectarian conflict in Northern Ireland (roughly 1968-1998) involved violent disputes between primarily Catholic Irish nationalists (who wanted Northern Ireland to join the Republic of Ireland) and primarily Protestant unionists (who wanted to remain part of the United Kingdom). The conflict resulted in over 3,500 deaths, many from paramilitary violence and some from British military actions. Farmers and other civilians were often caught in the crossfire or targeted deliberately.

Muldoon's treatment of this violence is notably detached. By including these deaths within a poem primarily about marriage, he suggests how violence becomes normalised for those living through extended conflict. The cool tone may also represent a coping mechanism—emotional distance as a way to deal with horror.

Post-modernism

Post-modernist literature, prominent from the mid-20th century onward, is characterised by:

• Fragmentation and non-linear narratives
• Mixing of genres, styles, and cultural references
• Self-conscious playfulness with form and language
• Questioning of grand narratives and absolute truths
• Emphasis on uncertainty, ambiguity, and multiple perspectives

Long Finish exhibits many of these features, particularly its fragmented structure, cultural mixing, and formal experimentation with the ballade tradition.

Exam focus

When analysing Long Finish, consider: