Ré an Mharmair

Publication Instance Details #2189

Publication Overview

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

Details

Human Rights Issues	Death Penalty/Unlawful Detention/Incarceration Poverty/Deprivation/Lack of Sustenance State Violence HR & Natural Disasters
Languages	Irish
Genre	Short Lyric
Medium	Print Collection
Notes	This poem describes the end of the so-called 'Age of Marble', which may refer to a change in Christian burial practices. Contextualizing the end of this era, however, the speaker of the poem highlights the suffering of two characters: a woman whose child has died of hunger in India, and an incarcerated man in South America, who has been imprisoned due to demanding his right to practice Christianity. India did experience a famine in 1980, which is likely what is referred to here. The South American reference isn't fully explained in the poem, but may refer to Christian Liberation Theology priests being oppressed and killed in El Salvador.