The Mermaid and Her Daughter

Publication Instance Details #801

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	Displacement/Forced Migration Gender-based violence
Irish Context	Emigration (from Ireland) Irish Language/Culture Great Famine (Ireland)
Languages	English
Original Language	Irish
Original Poem	An Mhurúch is a hIníon
Original Author	Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill
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 the fraught relationship between the mermaid and her daughter, expressed through the mermaid attempting to obsessively control her daughter's appearance and prevent her from going out with boys. The mermaid, on her deathbed, claims that the only thing that saved her was her fear of men. The speaker of the poem isn't sure about this, even stating that it's likely it is the other way around. The Great Famine and Irish cultural loss is understood to be implicit in this sequence of poems.