Paula Meehan

Cora, Auntie themes

Strength of human spirit, female relationships, grief

Detailed imagery of the progression of Cora’s disease (Cora, Auntie)

“As her body withered” “Old skin, bag of bones”

Cora’s resilience (Cora, Auntie)

“Laughing at death” “Grinning back at the rictus of death”

Female relationships (Cora, Auntie)

“The light of those stars only reaching me now”

Grief (Cora, Auntie)

“All that year I hunted sequins” “I gathered them into a tin box which I open now in memory”

The Statue of the Virgin at Granard speaks themes

Irish society, Condemning of a woman’s sexuality, religion, community

Irish society (TSotVaGs)

“Where men hunt each other and invoke the various names of God as blessing on their death tactics” - Troubles “The whole town tucked up safe and dreaming”

Religion (TSotVaGs)

“Their prayers fly up like sparks of a bonfire that blaze a moment, then wink out” “I didn’t lift a finger to help her”

Community (TSotVaGs)

“Release from being the conscience of the town”

Condemning of a woman’s sexuality (TSotVaGs)

“Maculate and tousled in a honeyed bed” “She pushed her secret out into the night”

The Pattern themes

Relationship with mother, poverty, regret

Relationship with mother (The Pattern)

“The sting of her hand across my face” “It’ll be over my dead body anyone harms a hair of your head” “She favoured sensible shades… I dreamt a robe of colour so pure it became a word”

Regret (The Pattern)

“We might have made a new start” “I’ve never gone back to visit her grave”

Poverty (The Pattern)

“History has brought her to her knees” “To me it spelt poverty, the stigma of the second hand” “I was sizing up the world beyond our flat patch by patch”

The Exact Moment I Became a Poet themes

Social class, Power of words

Social class (TEMIBaP)

“Those words ‘end up’ robbed the labour of its dignity” “No one knows it like I do myself”

Power of words

“Attend to your books, girls, or mark my words, you’ll end up in the sewing factory” “Words could pluck you, leave you naked”

Sample essay intro

Paula Meehan employs vibrant and forceful imagery to…

While Paula Meehan is often humorous and lighthearted in her poetry, I would have to agree with the statement that a very deep sadness can often be found in her wonderfully expressive and compelling poems.

The melancholic aspect of her poems can be attributed to her empathetic response to…