cat (béarla)

Publication Instance Details #397

Publication Overview

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

Details

Human Rights Issues	HR & Colonisation/Colonial Legacies State Violence
Irish Context	Other
Languages	English
Original Language	Irish
Original Poem	cat
Original Author	Celia de Fréine
Genre	Short Lyric
Medium	Print Collection
Notes	This collection of poetry is set mainly in Slovenia. This poem refers to the speaker's arrival to an unspecified place - although it refers to an Eastern European area that was ruled by empires, and later, Communism. The poet-speaker describes her interactions with the ghosts of the area, who tell her of the seven hundred years of empires and kingdoms before the coming of Communism (in the wake of World War II). The poet-speaker attempts to write some of this history but the ghosts' stories don't come easily from her pen. There is reference to Pangúr Bán, the famous cat companion of the monk in the 9th Century Irish poem. Interestingly, the speaker mentions that Pangúr died close by - a reference to Reicheneau Abbey, in Germany. The poem, therefore, could refer to East Germany under Communism.