Poem

Poltergeist

Title Poltergeist
Author Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill

Instances of Publication

A published appearance of this poem.

Collection/Anthology Year of Publication Medium View Details
Cead Aighnis 1998 Print Collection View Details
Feis agus Cead Aighnis 2015 Print Collection View Details
The Fifty Minute Mermaid 2007 Print Collection View Details
Publication Instance Details #734
Collection/Anthology Details
Collection/Anthology Cead Aighnis
Date of Publication 1998
Publisher An Sagart (Ireland)
Page Number(s) 122
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
Irish Context
Languages
Genre Part Of Lyric Sequence
Medium Print Collection
Notes This sequence of poems, 'Na Murúcha a Thriomnaigh', makes use of the international folk tale of the mermaid to construct an allegorical world in which the merpeople have left the water and now live uneasily among humankind on earth. The speaker of the poem describes an experience she had, staying with a mermaid in a lodging house. The speaker states that there is always a sense of neurosis and upset surrounding the merpeople, causing an effect similar to a poltergeist (a spirit which throws items about and generally causes destruction). This neurosis, described by the speaker of the poem, could refer to the trauma of the mermaid's displacement from their underwater life. The Great Famine and Irish cultural loss is understood to be implicit in this sequence of poems.
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