‘Requiem For The Croppies’ Seamus Heaney

361 Words2 Pages
In his poem ‘Requiem for the Croppies’ Heaney persuades the reader to sympathise with the cause of the Irish rebels by representing the Battle of Vinegar Hill as a crusade when his people were the heroic underdogs, and martyrs for their cause. Narrated by a croppie from the grave, the poem represents the croppies as a unified people who were fiercely patriotic to their homeland and their cause, despite being faced with unbeatable adversity. The implication is that an injustice has taken place, and that the courage, determination and commitment shown by the Irish rebels to their cause, warrants the readers admiration and respect. Heaney’s emotional imagery of their ‘hike,’ their ‘tactics,’ their life ‘on the run’ portrays the desperation of the Croppies, the hardship they endured, and their inadequacy against the British as they fight with their farm tools, ‘the pike,’ and ‘shake scythes at cannon.’ The implication is that the Irish were courageous and solid in their love of their country and their faith, leading the reader to feel great admiration for the bravery shown by the Irish, and anger at the British that they are having to fight to keep possession of their ‘own country.’ Heaney’s use of the first person plural, ‘we’d found,’ ‘we’d cut, together with inclusive language, ‘our own,’ ‘our broken wave,’ and ‘our grave,’ is clearly designed to reflect the unity of the Croppies, as they speak with one voice from their grave, but also brings the reader closer to their experience than a third person account would have. By doing this, Heaney shows the reader which side they should identify with and support. The image Heaney creates in the last line, of the barley that grows from the seeds of the buried soldiers pockets, clearly shows his support for the nationalist cause, and is almost a call for action not only to the people of Ireland, but to the wider audience as
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