The Isle of the Dead

Publication Instance Details #2971

Publication Overview

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

Details

Human Rights Issues	HR & Colonisation/Colonial Legacies Death Penalty/Unlawful Detention/Incarceration Torture
Irish Context	Colonization and Colonial Legacy (Ireland) Specific Irish place or place-name mentioned
Languages	English
Original Language	Irish
Original Poem	Oileán na Marbh
Original Author	Louis de Paor
Genre	Other
Medium	Print Collection
Paratext Text	In the spacious bay, on the verge of which the settlement is situated, at the distance of a mile, stands a lovely little island, about half a mile in circumference at the water's edge. This, it appeared to me would be a secure and undisturbed resting-place where the departed prisoners might lie together until the morning of the resurrection. It was accordingly fixed upon, and called, 'The Isle of the Dead'. Rev John Allen Manton (c. 1845) But of all the men the most singular in his fate was another Irishman, one Barron, who lived in a little island all alone; and of all the modes of life into which such a man might fall, surely his was the most wonderful. To the extent of the island he was no prisoner at all, but might wander whither he liked, might go to bed when he pleased, might bathe and catch fish or cultivate his little garden - and was in very truth monarch of all he surveyed. Anthony Trollope (1873)
Notes	Four translators: de Paor, Anderson, O'Donoghue, Jenkinson. Account of the first-person speaker's visit to the Isle of the Dead, the resting place for those who died at a close-by Australian penal colony of Port Arthur. Over 1,000 people are buried here but only a few of the graves have been marked - those being the graves of personnel and prison guards. The speaker here imagines the life of these penal prisoners, some of whom he notes were Irish - Christian re-education, torture, flaying, and punishment. The speaker expresses disgust at the treatment of these colonial prisoners and the removal of their human dignity. This is a documentary poem as it aims to capture a historical moment using both the poet's poem and a combination of other sources and references.