Overview
A first personThe 'I' or 'we' used by a narrator who is a participant in a narrative, in contrast to the third person - 'he', 'she' or 'they' - of a narrator who is not directly involved. voice representing someone taking part in the The Irish RebellionAlso known as the United Irishmen Rebellion - was an uprising against British rule in Ireland lasting from May to September 1798. describes the events leading up to the Battle of Vinegar Hill on 21 June 1798.
The speaker shows how ill-equipped the rebels - or CroppiesThe term 鈥楥roppy鈥 was used in Ireland in the 1790s. Croppies - men with cropped hair - were suspected of being members of the Society of United Irishmen, an organisation opposed to British rule in Ireland. - were. The British military were powerful in comparison.
The fear of the Irish citizens - everyone from the priest to the tramp - is portrayed. Thereby demonstrating how no one was safe from British violence.
The rebels were mostly farmers, described as having nothing but barley in their pockets to eat and inadequate farming implements to fight with. The poem shows how vulnerable they were against the well-armed ranks of the British forces .
The brutal defeat of the rebels is shown in the personifiedA type of imagery in which non-human objects, animals or ideas are given human characteristics. "hillside" which "blushed" with the huge quantities of blood spilled.
The casual way the British bury the dead rebels "without shroud or coffin" highlights the lack of respect they had, even for the dead.
The poem ends with the barley sprouting from the grave of the dead men due to the buried barley they had in their coat pockets. The barley is a symbol of the rebel spirit that could not be killed, unlike the mortalBeing subject to death. bodies of the rebels themselves.