Poem
The Mermaid Returns to Land-Under-Wave
Title | The Mermaid Returns to Land-Under-Wave |
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Author | Paul Muldoon |
Instances of Publication
A published appearance of this poem.
Collection/Anthology | Year of Publication | Medium | View Details |
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The Fifty Minute Mermaid | 2007 | Print Collection | View Details |
Publication Instance Details #804
Collection/Anthology Details
Collection/Anthology | The Fifty Minute Mermaid |
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Date of Publication | 2007 |
Publisher | The Gallery Press (Ireland) |
Page Number(s) | 143, 145 |
Publication Overview
Translation | Is Multilingual | Explicit Irish Context? | Ekphrasis | Has Paratext? | Reference to News, Media or Technology |
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Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
Details
Human Rights Issues | |
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Irish Context | |
Languages | |
Original Language | |
Original Poem | |
Original Author | |
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. In this poem, the speaker of the poem appears as a more engaged, personalized character, who is engaging with the mermaid in a hospital. The mermaid, the reader is told, has returned to the 'Land Under Wave', at least in her own mind. This appears to be an allegory for dementia, since the mermaid appears to have forgotten much of her present-day life, and instead is back in a world to which no one can follow her. The Great Famine and Irish cultural loss is understood to be implicit in this sequence of poems. |
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