Talk:Louis MacNeice

Unbalanced
This is unbalanced at the moment - I'm reading Stallworthy's biography, and I'll flesh out MacNeice's life as I go along over the next few weeks. I think for clarity's sake it's better to refer to him as Louis in childhood (although he was actually known by his first name then), and MacNeice from his time at Sherborne onwards when there were fewer other MacNeices around. Stallworthy refers to him as Louis throughout. --Andrew Norman 05:18, 27 May 2005 (UTC)

Image
If anyone knows of a source for a public domain image of MacNeice, that would be better than a fair use copy of a book cover. --Andrew Norman 10:11, 16 Jun 2005 (UTC)

British?
He may have been born in Belfast but when he was born there was no border in Ireland and people in the north thought of themselves as Irish. His family were from Connamara, which makes it highly unlikely that he would have thought of himself as 'British' but rather would have thought of himself as 'Irish'. Being Irish does not preclude someone having British nationality, just as being Welsh does not mean that someone is not a British citizen. On sources that I have seen make it clear that he thought of himself as Irish and that should be recognised. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.129.198.186 (talk) 20:16, 6 December 2019 (UTC)


 * He was British all his life, even after Irish independence he chose to remain a British national and even spent his last days living in England.
 * Your logic is so wrong and what you are saying is akin to claiming that every person from New Mexico or Texas is a Mexican. 87.122.27.28 (talk) 15:12, 3 September 2023 (UTC)

The Dark Tower
The parenthetical:

"the BBC radio premiere of MacNeice's The Dark Tower in 1947, was preceded by the poet's ten-minute introduction in his distinctive Northern Irish accent."

is not supported by a citation. I have changed the date of the premier to 21 January 1946 per &, but there is no mention there of such an introduction. The programme was scheduled from 9:15 to 10pm, and the version online ( is 1h13min, so there is not a ten-minute gap there, either. Andy Mabbett ( Pigsonthewing ); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 18:45, 27 October 2021 (UTC))


 * Also the May 2020 perfmorance to which the associated footnote refers was recoded in 2017, not 1946: . Andy Mabbett ( Pigsonthewing ); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 21:01, 27 October 2021 (UTC)

Irish?
As the recent IP edit summary said here, "MacNeice's birth predated Northern Ireland by nearly two decades." But for 42 years he was "from Northern Ireland"? From 1917 he was at Sherborne Preparatory School in Dorset anyway, and all notability as a published poet arose after the partition. Geographically speaking, he was very much "from Northern Ireland". Martinevans123 (talk) 12:57, 29 March 2022 (UTC)