“Art is the desire of a man to express himself, to record the reactions of his personality to the world he lives in.” With those words, acclaimed poet and author Amy Lowell struck true. Expression is the simplest base upon which the creation of art is built. It is what at heart drives every artist. Sure, artists create things to showcase the natural beauty inherent in them or to communicate an idea to an audience, but at the root of any motivation a artist may have is the desire for expression.
Seamus Heaney's Requiem for the Croppies is a perfect example of this idea. The poem is about a group of Irish revolutionaries known as "Croppies" (due to the fact that they cropped their hair) who attempted to rise up and gain independence from the English during the revolutionary period of the late 18th century. Riding on the coat tails of the successful revolutions in America and France, these mostly poor farmers launched a campaign of their own against their imperialist oppressors. Armed almost entirely with farm implements, the Croppies were eventually massacred by British artillery at the Battle of Vinegar Hill. Heaney's poem details this short lived revolution beautifully. But his poem does more than that. It also expresses his pride in his Irish origins and in the revolutionary spirit the Irish have sown throughout history, be it in 1798, 1916, or 1966. The poem is all about expression, and it reflects this in its verse.
Quite thorough analysis of the poem and of the quote. Great job taking the poem deeper in meaning that just what it means to the reader but where it comes from, beyond just the author but from his roots as well. Also, nice job explaining the "croppies".
ReplyDelete