Báisteach

Publication Instance Details #3071

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 HR & Weapons of Mass Destruction (incl. nuclear)
Languages	Irish
Genre	Short Lyric
Medium	Print Collection
Notes	The speaker of the poem describes the coming of rain, welcome after a period of drought and mugginess. The speaker welcomes the rain as he would welcome détente - this is a reference to the time between 1967-79 in the Cold War, when relations between the US and Russia improved. This poem was published in 1982, after détente had ended, and the poem shows the anxiety of the speaker - his nightmares now include the coming of black rain (which could be a reference to Hiroshima), peeling, flayed skin, and a 'cat mara', a catastrophe, unleashed on humanity by accident. This is clearly a reference to nuclear war and bombings, and with the end of détente, this seems all the more likely to the speaker of the poem.