EILEAN NI CHUILLEANAIN

6th YEAR POETRY

Street

This short poem tells the story of a man who “fell in love” with a girl when he saw her passing in the street. On one occasion he follows the girl home.

The girl in question is a butcher’s daughter and the man would see her walking from the shop along the street.

She wore a butcher’s knife on her belt: “Dangling a knife on a ring on her belt”. The knife would be bloodied from her work and drops of blood would fall on the pavement.

Street

One day he decided to follow her as she made her way to the “shambles” or slaughterhouse.

The door at the back “stood half-open” and inside the girl’s shoes were placed neatly at the foot of the stairs.

Red moon-shaped marks were visible on each of the steps, darkest at the bottom and fading as they reached the top.

It seems the girl’s feet were bloodied as she climbed the stairs and every step she took left a red outline of her heel.

THEME: A strong, assertive woman The girl in the poem is an

interesting character. She is doing a job that would normally be associated with a man – slaughtering and butchering animals.

The knife that hangs from her belt dripping blood upon the pavement is a very masculine symbol, something that represented power and strength.

In what seems to be an otherwise very normal street, this girl is a striking character.

THEME: A strong, assertive woman

When the man follows her back home we see another side to this strong, assertive woman.

He sees her shoes neatly arranged at the bottom of the steps that are immaculately clean. It is an image of domesticity, something more traditionally feminine.

However, the bloodied footprints on the step are a reminder of the work she has been doing.

That they fade towards the top suggests that she is leaving behind one world that she inhabits – the masculine world of the butchers – and entering the more feminine.

THEME: Love

The poem suggests that love is something that often happens locally. We fall in love with people we see in our daily lives.

We might imagine that the man has watched this girl passing by on many occasions. Perhaps he lives or works on the same street as her.

To him she appears a fascinating character, the knife hanging from her waist, dripping blood on to the ground.

Perhaps he is too shy to speak to her, intimidated by the power she displays striding past in her butcher’s gear.

THEME: Love

Some readers feel that the poem hints at the darker side of love and attraction.

The images of the knife and blood in the poem hint at violence and the fact that the man follows the girl, seemingly silently, back home down a winding path behind the slaughter house is quite unsettling.

We never quite know what his intentions are and we never find out if the man followed her into the house or left.

LANGUAGE

Imagery:There is something cinematic about the story of the poem. The poet focuses on the girl’s trousers and her belt and then zooms into the drops of blood on the pavement. We are then following the path down to the back of the shambles where we are brought to a “door half-open”. We move inside the door and are presented with an image of the stairs with the shoes neatly arranged and the blood marks on the steps. The images are intriguing and suggest much about the girl and the world she inhabits.

The Bend in the Road

The poem describes a spot along a road where the poet once stopped when her child felt sick.

There was a bend in the road where they stopped and a tall house cast a shadow over the car. There was also a tree shaped like a “cat’s tail”.

Twelve years have passed since this occurred. Since that day, however, this particular spot on the road has been remembered as the place where their child felt sick “on the way to the lake”

The Bend in the Road

Though the road is still “as silent as ever it was on that day” some things have change since then.

The child has grown taller than the poet and her husband. The strange looking tree has also grown and the house is covered with “green creeper”

This causes the poet to think about the passage of time and all that has happened since they first stopped at this particular spot.

The Bend in the Road

She thinks about “all that went on in those years” and about the people who have since passed away, their “absences”

She remembers how some of these people suffered long illnesses before they died. Their sickness seemed to wrap itself around their bodies: “we saw them wrapped and sealed by sickness”

These people looked so fragile when ill, and the space they occupied seemed hollow and insubstantial: “the airy space they took up”

The Bend in the Road

They were so weak that their sleep seemed too heavy a burden for them. Rather than revitalising them, sleep stole the energy of these fragile beings: “the piled weight of sleep/We knew they could not carry too long”

The poet suggests that all that happened over the twelve years and those who have passed away since then are somehow present in this particular place along the road.

She imagines these events and people to be “Piled high” here, “softly packed” together “like the air” or a single cloud floating in a “perfect sky”. The poet can sense their “presence” in this particular place.

THEME: Nature

The natural world features as a friendly and gentle presence in this poem.

The tree near the house seems to wait with the family as they wait for their child to feel better. Over the years the poet has noticed how this tree has grown taller just as her child has.

The image of the cloud floating in “a perfect sky” is similarly caring and peaceful. The poet imagines that the collected events of the past twelve years and all those who have departed are gathered together “like one cumulus cloud/ in a perfect sky”

THEME: Memory

The poem highlights how certain places and events remain with us and take on an importance over time.

The rather unremarkable place along the road where they stopped that day has always been remembered by the family as “the place” where their child was sick. Each time the poet passes it she thinks of all that has happened since that day and all those who have since died.

The poem also describes how the faces of those we know and love remain with us after they have passes away. Though they are physically absent from our lives they are “never long absent from thought”

LANGUAGE

Atmosphere/Mood:The atmosphere of the poem is very tranquil and peaceful. We know this because the road is described as “silent” and “nothing” moved. The description of the cloud in the “perfect sky” and the “green creeper” covering the house adds to this sleepy atmosphere.

Metaphor and Simile:The poet uses a simile when she likens the shape of the tree to a “cat’s tail”.She also uses a simile to describe the way the events of the past and all those who have died are present in this particular place. They are “wrapped lightly, like one cumulus cloud/ In a perfect sky”.

Questions

1. Describe the place where the family stopped on the way to the lake.

2. How has the place been remembered by the family since that day?

3. What has changed and what has remained the same since they first stopped there?

4. What impression of the natural world does the poem offer?

To Niall Woods and Xenya …

The poet addresses her son and his Russian wife on the day of their wedding. The poem features many references to traditional stories, especially fairy tales: There is a reference to a story in which a poor mother

sends her eldest son off to seek his fortune and offers him a full loaf with her curse or half a loaf and her blessing. He takes the full loaf and receives his mother’s curse. Later, the youngest son sets out after him to assist him and he leaves home with half a loaf and his mother’s blessing. The tale ends with the youngest son marrying a beautiful princess.

The poet mentions the story of Sleeping Beauty.

To Niall Woods and Xenya …

She refers to a Russian fairy tale about an emperor whose apple trees bear golden apples. Every night one apple is stolen from the tree by the Firebird, a magical glowing bird. The emperor’s son Ivan begs to be allowed catch the bird and is finally given permission. The story ends with Ivan catching the bird and falling in love with a beautiful princess.

The “King of Ireland’s Son and the Enchanter’s Daughter” concerns an Irish folk tale about a Prince who meets an enchanter. The enchanter tells the prince that he must accept a challenge or else suffer great misfortune. Whilst performing the challenge the prince falls in love with the enchanter’s daughter. He successfully completes the tasks set and marries the daughter.

What is it about?

The poet associates the couple’s marriage with these stories. She suggests that marriage is the beginning of an adventure or an exciting journey together.

In keeping with these tales she says that a signal will appear in the sky to tell them when to set out on their journey: “When … you both see the same star/Pitching its tent on the point of the steeple – / That is the time”.

She also tells them they will have her support when they do get married: “With half a loaf and your mother’s blessing”

What is it about?

The poet tells the couple to be adventurous and not be afraid to journey away from what is familiar: “Leave behind the places that you knew”.

Anything they leave behind will be rediscovered, particularly in the stories she references. These are the tales they will encounter again, possibly when they have children and tell them bedtime stories.

The poet imagines that a character from the fairy tales assist them in their task, coming to them when they need him and telling the stories associated with their different traditions: “When the cat wakes up he will speak in Irish and Russian/ And every night he will tell you a different tale”

What is it about?

This cat is familiar with many tales but the poet says it won’t know of a story from the Bible that she feels is relevant to the couple.

The poet does not have time to tell them exactly what happens to Ruth, however, she does tell them that Ruth was brave, honest and willing to place her trust in strangers. This is another story with a “happily ever after” ending.

As such, the story has a lot in common with the other fairy tales mentioned in the poem, only the protagonist is female.

The poet is probably drawing a link between Ruth who travelled far from her home to find love and her son’s wife who has also found her home in a very different culture.

THEME: Love

There is a sense throughout the poem that love is something fantastical and magical. The poet uses the world of fairy tales to show this wonder and magic.

The different stories the poet mentions suggest a number of things about love. Each story involves a character journeying far from home and overcoming ordeals. Love is seen as a reward for their noble efforts.

Love is shown to come to those who adventure and persevere.

THEME: Love

The stories are also a celebration of the romantic notion that love is forever. Each story ends with a marriage and a promise that they couple “lived happily ever after”

The different stories also involve characters leaving their parents and embarking on their own independent lives.

In this way the poem is also a celebration of the poet’s love for her son and her hope that his new life will bring him joy.

LANGUAGE

Imagery:The poem contains a number of fantastical images that lend the poem a magical feel.

There is the image of the “star/ pitching its tent on the point of the steeple”.

There is also the image of the cat telling the couple different stories each night.

Questions

1. How does the poem give a sense that marriage is an adventure?

2. Why do you think the poet urges the couple to “Leave behind the places” that they knew?

3. What values does the poem celebrate?