Texas Longhorn

Publication Instance Details #104

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	War
Languages	Irish
Genre	Short Lyric
Medium	Print Collection
Notes	This poem refers to Texas Longhorn cattle, which were wild cattle introduced during the conquests and remained wild for much of American history. This poem may be using this to refer to modern-day colonization. The 'iolar bhradach' or 'traitorous eagle' is likely to symbolize America, and its foreign policy. The poem is centred around a dance between a fair maiden and handsome youth, which happens at the edge of Europe. Could this refer to Ireland? The speaker describes the dancing couple as being tethered by an elf or fairy, and as servants to the musicians of the traitorous eagle. This poem is not explicit, but likely refers to America's influence over the world. War and destruction, particularly 'unfair' war, is noted in the poem as well. This could be a reference to America's superior war machine, in comparison to many countries that it comes into conflict with.