Banc na nImirceoirí

Publication Instance Details #235

Publication Overview

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

Details

Human Rights Issues	Displacement/Forced Migration Indigenous Rights (incl. culture & language) Genocide
War / Genocide Referenced	Genocide: Genocide of indigenous people in USA (pre 20th century)
Irish Context	Emigration (from Ireland) Specific Irish place or place-name mentioned
Languages	Irish
Genre	Short Lyric
Medium	Print Collection
Paratext Text	Aibreán 1987
Notes	This poem is referring to the Emigrant Bank, which was founded in the 19th Century by Irish immigrants to America. The speaker of the poem makes the point that if all the bank's assets could be retroactively used to help all the Irish people in Ireland, then the Irish people would be as sparse on the island of Ireland as the Native Americans in Manhattan - implying that most people would have chosen to leave Ireland. This is a reference to the famous but misleading quote: ‘Soon, a Celtic Irishman will be as rare in Connemara as is the Red Indian on the shores of Manhattan.’ The speaker of the poem also mentions the scarcity of Native Americans in Manhattan by referencing an 'Indian-Oisín' he sees in Inwood Park. This is connected to the myth of 'Oisín after the Fianna', when an aged Oisín returns to Ireland to find his brethren dead and gone.