Lá na bPoipíní

Publication Instance Details #501

Publication Overview

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

Details

Human Rights Issues	War
War / Genocide Referenced	War: First World War
Languages	Irish
Genre	Short Lyric
Medium	Print Collection
Notes	In this poem, the speaker appears to be a multitude of the dead soldiers of World War I. Out of their blood grow the poppies of Flanders. The dead soldiers appear to speak to those who now wear the poppies, calling the badges, 'póipíní bréagacha', or 'false poppies'. This anger is directed at the folly and pointlessness of their deaths - for what did they die? The question is asked directly in the poem - 'Qui Bono'? A camera and a presenter also appear in the poem, perhaps telling the stories of World War I. The soldiers in the poem have uneasy eternal rests, questioning still the reasons for their unnecessary deaths.