Éigeandáil

Publication Instance Details #2393

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
War / Genocide Referenced	War: First World War War: Second World War
Languages	Irish
Genre	Short Lyric
Medium	Print Collection
Notes	The title alludes to the 'Emergency', the euphemistic term used to describe World War II in Ireland. The speaker of the poem mentions the changing face of warfare from World War I to World War II: the trenches in France, Ypres, Passchendaele, Blitzkrieg, panzer, Stuka, and Rommel. The speaker of the poem appears disgusted by the 'culture of Europe' and vows to abandon it. What follows appears to allude to aspects of wartime or post-wartime Russia, with references to the Ural Mountains, the Azov Sea, and 'General Winter', who is the personification of the Russian winters that usually win their wars. There is a reference to Saint Peter in the poem, and a possible reference to Ireland in the final verse. Does the 20 million referenced in the poem refer to the 20 million killed in battle in World War II?