Requiem for the Croppies

Themes
1. remembrance
2. death
3. commemoration
Context
1. by Seamus Heaney
  1. Irish poet
2. 'Croppies'
  1. Irish rebels
  2. late 18th Century
Techniques
1. Punctuation
  1. ellipsis
    1. creates pauses
    2. encourages/infers reflection
    3. throughout the poem
      1. "on the hike..."
    4. slows pace of poem
    5. links to themes of commemoration and remembrance
2. Imagery
  1. "The hillside bushed"
    1. literal origin
      1. red with embarassment
    2. metaphorical meaning
      1. hillside is red with blood
    3. metaphor creates a more delicate phrase
      1. refrains from using negative words such as 'blood' or 'death
      2. links to theme of remembrance
  2. "soaked in our broken wave"
    1. "broken wave"
      1. failure
      2. defeat
      3. destroyed
      4. decimation
    2. "soaked"
3. Symbolism
  1. "And in August...the barley grew up out of our grave"
    1. their bodies fertilise the land
      1. the land they fought to protect
      2. new life
        resurrection
        eternal life
    2. croppies memory lives on
      1. memory is immortal
      2. they will not be forgotten
        remembered for their bravery and suffering
Narrative
1. Hardship and Strife
  1. "A people hardly marching..."
    1. they are untrained and unmotivated
      1. not a proper army
    2. no uniformity
    3. fatigue
  2. "No kitchens on the run, no striking camp..."
    1. life is simple, basic and unglamourous
      1. no luxuries
    2. repetition of "no"
      1. emphasises lack of luxuries/necessities and bareness of their life
  3. "We moved quick and sudden in our own country"
    1. trespassers in their own home land
    2. constant fear and terror
    3. fighting for freedom
2. Tactics
  1. "We found new tactics happening each day"
    1. unorganised
    2. no sense of unity
    3. no plan
  2. "shaking scyths at cannon"
    1. contrast of weaponry
      1. croppies are unmatched against enemy
      2. they are unadvanced and naive
    2. "scyths"
      1. unadvanced
      2. primitive
      3. farming tool
        croppies are normal people
        using what weapons they can find
  3. "pike"
    1. simple
    2. non-advanced

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Requiem for the Croppies

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