Meehan's Poem Summary

Similarly, Meehan’s poem ‘The Sycamores Contract with the Citizens’ confronts this aspect of linking memory with nature. The narrator is reminiscing of a previous time ‘When you were a child’ (line 5) It’s interesting to see how the subject matter of this poem is so similar to Heaney’s ‘Canopy’ but also contrasts in many ways. The reference to 'common tools ' (line 9) in Meehan’s poem, she suggests how they are living in the past, ‘nobody fool enough / to try and improve’ (lines 11-12). These old tools are contrasting with Heaney’s new technology of the ‘voice-boxes in the branches’ (line 5). The narrator is experiencing nostalgia for the past in Meehan 's poem, compared to Heaney more forward looking with new technology. We see a different

The harsh reality of the world hits the child as they realise the elephants ‘are not blue’ (line 4) like she had been lead to believe. In a similar way to Heaney’s poem, the narrator is looking at how we transition from a secure, knowing environment to the unknown. The harsh realities of adulthood, where everything we thought we knew, isn’t true. The child walks into the zoo thinking she is aware of everything, but stepping out she realises that isn’t true. The trip to the can also evoke memories of past childhood times in many of us, of carefree memories. As a first year university student away from home, we all start to feel nostalgic for the innocence and lack of responsibility of our years past. This poem shows the genius of Meehan, of how she can evoke such a response and make a statement with just a 4 line

Meehan’s poem ‘Them Ducks Died for Ireland’ looks at the interesting way human beings remember historical events. The poem is looking back at the events of the Easter Rising 1916 and how Stephens Green was damaged. It is a poem that looks at the harsh reality of war and violence, the ‘bloodprice’ (line 7) this sacrifice of life during a time of rebellion. These memories of war are always painful to recall and look back on, but Meehan addresses this past in a different way. She looks at the controversy of how the past is narrated, ‘licking the wounds of history’ (line 8). It is still difficult for us to remember even 100 hundreds years later, but Meehan is hoping once we’ve recovered from the loss, we will start to remember the forgotten ones, ‘ the nurse in white, / the ones who pick up the pieces’. (lines