Dustin Breitner
In the poem, Requiem for the Croppies, Seamus Heaney, the author, describes the brutal conditions endured by the Irish soldiers during the war of independence. The mention of Vinegar Hill leads us to believe that this was the Battle of Vinegar Hill in which 15,000 British soldiers launched an attack killing about 1,000 Irish Croonies. Heaney’s reference towards the brutal conditions can be summed up in the title of the poem, Requiem for the Croppies. Requiem, referring to a mass funeral and Croppies, the common nickname given to the Irish rebels during the Irish rebellion, symbolizes the mass death endured by the Irish Rebels.
Heaney tells the story of the 1798 Rebellion through a rebel’s point of view in a very gloomy and somber tone as he describes the horrors that he and his fellow rebels endured. The rebel is telling this story in a way in which one would think the speaker knows he is going to die and is speaking his last words about the horrible conditions which plagued the last months of his life. This idea can be connected to the title in that this writing is essentially a eulogy for the requiem of he and his fellow soldiers. Heaney’s use of many monosyllabic words creates a sharp diction putting more meaning into every word having a larger affect on the reader about the seriousness and brutality which was brought along during the war. Heaney uses mainly old fashioned and specific words in order to create a clearer image for the reader. He focuses on the specific old-fashioned weapons the rebel’s used- pike and scythes, as well as the describing of new tactics they learned each day, such as unleashing the cattle to distract and slow down the British soldiers.
In this poem Heaney shows the universal suffering when he states, “The priest lay behind ditches with the tramp.” This quote creates a disturbing image with the dominant impression stating that the Irish Rebels included everyone from a religious Priest to a homeless tramp symbolizing that this war affected everyone in society. The mention of Vinegar Hill leads us to believe that this specific battle was the Battle of Vinegar Hill, which was lead by a priest, Father John Murphy. Heaney uses these descriptive images in order to show how the severity of how truly awful this war was in the mind of the rebel. The most vivid image in this poem comes in the last stanza, “The hillside blushed, soaked in our broken wave.” By describing the hillside as “blushing”, Heaney personifies the hills expressing the immense amount of bloodshed which splattered amongst the hills making them as red as a blushed pair of cheeks. This vibrant image creates a strong feeling of sympathy in the reader feeling sorry for the horrors this rebel is undergoing. Heaney also uses irony in starting the poem with “The pockets of our greatcoats full of barley-“ and ending the poem with “And in August the barley grew up out of the grave.” This is ironic because the food which the soldiers packed their pockets with is the same thing growing out of their graves as they are buried in the cold ground “..without a shroud or coffin” as if they are animals or objects, truly showing the objective nature a human life has during war. The new grown barley is a metaphor for the new Irish society that they are hoping to achieve once all the pain and suffering stops.
dustinbreitner 