Patrick getting ready for the ball

Publication Instance Details #1243

Publication Overview

Translation	Is Multilingual	Explicit Irish Context?	Ekphrasis	Has Paratext?	Reference to News, Media or Technology
Yes	No	Yes	No	No	No

Details

Human Rights Issues	War HR & Colonisation/Colonial Legacies
Irish Context	Other
Languages	English
Original Language	Irish
Original Poem	Pádraig roimh an mBál
Original Author	Máire Mhac an tSaoi
Genre	Short Lyric
Medium	Print Collection
Notes	Speaker of the poem watches her own son getting ready for the ball, and simultaneously thinks of his counterpart in Nicaragua, who is fighting in the Contra War on behalf of the poor and his country. The speaker is preoccupied with these thoughts as she watches her own child become a man. She identifies herself with her 'counterpart' mother in Nicaragua, who feels similar trepidation and fear at her son's entry into manhood, but for very different reasons - Pádraig is going to the ball, but the Nicaraguan boy is going to war. The mention of the 'soldier's boots' sent by the Ambassador uncle could be a significant allusion to the American interference in Nicaragua. The boy's 'side' in the war is never explicitly mentioned and so it could be that he is a Contra himself, fighting against the Marxist Junta that came to power after the Nicaraguan Revolution of 1979. Note: Douglas Sealy is also a translator on this poem.