Paula Meehan (All Quotes)

“They call me Mary- Blessed, Holy, Virgin. They fit me to a myth of a man crucified”

(The Statue of the Virgin at Granard Speaks)

• The statue introduced herself with what others call her. The repetition of ‘they’ and ‘me’ implies that she doesn’t believe the labels herself.

• Her skepticism of Catholicism is insinuated in the word ‘myth’, showing that she may not believe these stories herself.

• The vagueness of ‘a man crucified’ rather than the real name adds to this lack of belief.

“They name me mother of all grief, though mated to no mortal man”

(The Statue of the Virgin at Granard Speaks)

• Paradox is seen in this statement as the Virgin is called ‘mother’ even though they can’t be both true.

• Flaws of their belief is shown here as it can be contradictory.

“It can be lovely here at springtime, early summer. Girls in communion frocks pale rivals to the riot in the head grows of cow parsley and haw blossom”

(The Statue of the Virgin at Granard Speaks)

• The poem has a more positive shift now as the description of spring is named.

• Girls make their communion in white dresses though not as beautiful as the white in nature from haw blossom.

• A soothing, natural image is conveyed and nature is celebrated here.

“Or the grace of a midsummer wedding when the earth herself calls out for coupling”

(The Statue of the Virgin at Granard Speaks)

• Weddings are the next religious sacrament seen in the poem. It seems that the seasons connote a part of life and nature reflects it (pathetic fallacy).

• The earth is personified into a woman who desires sex herself.

“Even an autumn burial can work its own pagentry. The hedges heavy with the burden of fruiting crab, sloe, berry, hip”

(The Statue of the Virgin at Granard Speaks)

• Nature follows after the summer. Nature is ripe with lots of sweetening fruit such as ‘crab’ and ‘sloe’.

• ‘Even’ indicates that whilst the old are buried in this time (completing this circle of life), there’s still beauty in the nature.

• The personification of the ‘autumn burial work’ enables us to see her point clearer.

“When she laid down alone at my feet without midwife or doctor or friend to hold her hand”

(The Statue of the Virgin at Granard Speaks)

• The scene is of a miserably cold November night, when a girl laid down before her to give birth alone.

• The repetition of ‘or’ speeds up the line, increasing the shock factor as it goes on.

• The loneliness of the girl but also the town’s iniquities are shown in this line too.

“She pushed her secret out into the night far from the town tucked up in little scandals”

(The Statue of the Virgin at Granard Speaks)

• The metaphor of ‘secret’ makes the scene more disturbing as it shows how fearful the girl was of the ostracism that she kept her pregnancy a secret.

• ‘Tucked up in little scandals’ insinuate the rest of the town sleeping peacefully.

• ‘Little scandals’ shows the town’s prejudices and how they’re seemingly comfortable with it.

“I’m net, umpire, and court; most balls are lobbed over my head”

(Hearth Lesson)

• Young Meehan feels to be caught in the middle of the battlefield. She uses the metaphor of a tennis match to show her situation.

• The metaphor helps us highlight her confusion as most points the parents made go over her head.

“Even then I can tell it was money, the lack of it day after day,”

(Hearth Lesson)

• Shows that even the child could easily tell that money was the root of the arguments.

• ‘Day after day’ underscores the impoverishment as it’s a regular thing, and so are the fights.

“The flames were blue and green and pink, a marvellous sight, an alchemical scene”

(Hearth Lesson)

• Young Meehan is spellbound to the beautiful scene of the flames; it’s as if the money’s been transformed to magic.

• The repetition but also inconsistency of ‘and’ and ‘a’ helps to imagine the shock of the child, so much that the coherence is hindered.

“Like trapped exotic birds”

(Hearth Lesson)

• The simile helps us imagine the vibrant scene in the room as the flame’s colours spread around.

• This scene shows the child’s imagination to turn what was meant to be a shockingly grim moment into a magical memory.

“‘It’s not enough’ she stated simply. And we all knew it wasn’t”

(Hearth Lesson)

• The brutal truth is unravelled in this scene.

• The use of ‘simply’ and ‘we all knew’ shows that it hadn’t been a secret yet went unaddressed.

• It was especially shocking as ‘Hera’ had had the final blow against ‘Zeus’.

“Those words ‘end up’ robbed the labour of its dignity”

(The Exact Moment I Became a Poet)

• The young Meehan wasn’t offended by the fact that she knew people who worked at these last resort places that much.

• The phrasing ‘end up’ was what offended her as she felt it took away any dignity in the work.

• The hard work of the women felt like it was suppressed as a ‘last resort’ option that no one wanted.

“The teacher was right, and no one knows it like myself”

(The Exact Moment I Became a Poet)

• Meehan feels that she was most offended by the statement, partially because she knew the teacher was right.

“Grant us the clarity of ice the comfort of snow the cool memory of trees”

(Prayer for the Children of Longing)

• The images of ‘calm’, ‘comfort’ and ‘cool memory’ give the impression that nature would provide peace.

• The request for serenity is encapsulated in this line eloquently and nature is used to augment it.

“The scream the siren the knock on the door the needle in its track the knife in the back”

(Prayer for the Children of Longing)

• The reason for the desperate request for peace is exposed brutally.

• The enjambment used in the line alongside repetition of ‘the’ offers as a sharp contrast to the previous stanza.

• Alliteration of ‘th’ and ‘ck’ make the scene more jarring for the reader.

“The streets that defeated them that thought them to their knees”

(Prayer for the Children of Longing)

• The street’s cruel nature is displayed in this stanza.

• The use of ‘them’ makes the scene even more jarring as Meehan frames herself as a ‘survivor’.

• Also shows the tragic vulnerability of the people allowing us to see them as the victims.

“The streets that gave them visions and dreams that promised them everything that delivered nothing”

(Prayer for the Children of Longing)

• The streets are personified and antagonised further.

• The direct contrast between how the streets were meant to be a place to grow yet were a place to be destroyed.

• Alliteration of ‘th’ in ‘the’ and ‘that’ speeds up the stanza, making the scene more shocking.

“Let their names be the song of the river let their names be the holiest prayers”

(Prayer for the Children of Longing)

• Repetition of ‘let’ gives the stanza a prayer-like theme yet again.

• Speaker is determined to keep the memory of these children alive.

• Nature is connoted with memory and reflection as it’s asked to be an avenue to remember these kids from.

“But even in rain I was happy”

(Buying Winkles)

• A positive tone with vivid imagery.

• She’s seen enjoying the adventure and the responsibility.

• She enjoys these regularly occurring adventures, potentially as a break from the brutal tenements.

“I envied each soul in the hot interior”

(Buying Winkles)

• The usage of adjectives (hot) immerses us into the bar clearly.

• Glimpse of financial struggle as we see Paula Meehan envying those who seemed to have “basic” amenities like heating.

“The sweetest extra wrinkle that brought the sea to me”

(Buying Winkles)

• The hyperbole shows the child’s gratitude towards the extra winkle; further showing the struggle but also the gratitude that comes with it.

• “Sweetest” insinuates that the element of surprise made the winkle extra sweet, that good things are often by surprise.

“I’d bear the newspaper twists bulging fat with winkles proudly home, like torches”

(Buying Winkles)

• The gamification of the errand is shown again as the child feels they’ve completed their mission.

• “Like torches”, the simile demonstrates that the tenements are the darkness that needs to be lit up by the torches