Dóchas Beag na hEagla

Publication Instance Details #1287

Publication Overview

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

Details

Human Rights Issues	State Violence
Irish Context	Civil War (Ireland) Specific Irish place or place-name mentioned
Languages	Irish
Genre	Short Lyric
Medium	Print Anthology
Paratext Text	Do Bhob Welch Meán Fómhair 1973
Notes	The speaker of the poem describes his fear and trepidation throughout the poem: his fear of other, their fear of him. As the poem progresses, the reason for this fear becomes clear: the socialist leadership of Chile has been overthrown by General Augusto Pinochet in a coup d'état, and now oppression and fear reign in Chile. The paratext of the poem, September 1973, is the date of the coup, which makes it likely that the poem is directly referring to these events. The speaker describes his own loss of personal freedoms, the force used by police, and the continuing increase of fear in the country. There is also a reference to 'béal na mbláth' in the poem, which is the location of Michael Collin's assassination during the Irish Civil War. This may be an oblique connection made by the poet between the death of Collins and the death of Richard Allende, socialist president of Chile, who took his own life as the presidential residence of Chile was surrounded by opposition forces.