Ceathrar Guildford

Publication Instance Details #550

Publication Overview

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

Details

Human Rights Issues	Death Penalty/Unlawful Detention/Incarceration State Violence
Irish Context	The Troubles/Sectarian Tensions (Ireland)
Languages	Irish
Genre	Short Lyric
Medium	Print Collection
Notes	This poem reflects on the fate of the Guildford Four, including their unlawful interviews by police and their incarceration. After being arrested for the Guildford pub bombing, forced confessions were extracted from the four accused by police using a mixture of coercion, threats, and torture. In the New Testament Book of Revelation, an angel called Abaddon is described as the king of an army of locusts. This 'Abadon' in this poem quite likely refers to John Donaldson, Baron Donaldson of Lymington, who was a senior British Judge who served as Master of the Rolls from '82-'92. According to Wikipedia, 'he is best known in some circles for his role as presiding judge in the infamous Guildford Four miscarriage of justice, especially his closing remarks where he regretted his inability to hang those wrongly convicted.' It is likely, based on the descriptions in the poem that the Abadon refers to Donaldson. The speaker of the poem is deeply affected by the events of the court case and the incarceration of the Guildford Four, and describes justice itself as polluted and rotting.