Poem

Iarlais

Title Iarlais
Author Louis de Paor

Instances of Publication

A published appearance of this poem.

Collection/Anthology Year of Publication Medium View Details
Seo. Siúd. Agus Uile 1996 Print Collection View Details
Gobán Cré is Cloch: Sentences of Earth and Stone 1996 Print Collection View Details
Ag Greadadh Bas sa Reilig: Clapping in the Cemetery 2005 Print Collection View Details
Louis de Paor: Rogha Dánta 2012 Print Collection View Details
Gaolta Gairide: Rogha dánta comhaimseartha ar théamaí óige agus caidrimh teaghlaigh 2010 Print Anthology View Details
The Brindled Cat and the Nightingale's Tongue: Selected Poems 2014 Print Collection View Details

Translations

Connected translations of this poem.

Title Author Collection/Anthology Year View Details
Past Master Kevin Anderson Agus Rud Eile De: And Another Thing 2010 View Details
Publication Instance Details #1192
Collection/Anthology Details
Collection/Anthology Gaolta Gairide: Rogha dánta comhaimseartha ar théamaí óige agus caidrimh teaghlaigh
Date of Publication 2010
Publisher Cois Life (Ireland)
Page Number(s) 147-148
Publication Overview
Translation Is Multilingual Explicit Irish Context? Ekphrasis Has Paratext? Reference to News, Media or Technology
No
No
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
Details
Human Rights Issues
War / Genocide Referenced
Irish Context
Languages
Genre Short Lyric
Medium Print Anthology
Notes This poem combines concepts of modern-day photography with changeling and evil eye mythology. The speaker's daughter is portrayed as Kim Phuc, the young girl in the infamous Vietnam photograph showing children running from a misdirected South Vietnamese napalm strike. Napalm is a mixture of petrol and aluminium salts, which clings to human skin and causes horrific burns. The homely, domestic context of the poem - bath time for the speaker's child before bed - is rendered as part of the brutal scene in Vietnam. The speaker of the poem envisions his daughter's discomfort at the too-hot bath water as Kim Phuc's horrendous napalm burns in the photograph, and describes the screaming child as an 'Iarlais' or 'Changeling'. The speaker of the poem also links the idea of the 'evil eye' with war photography itself - implying something of the voyeuristic nature of capturing someone's suffering for perpetuity.
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