Requiem for the Croppies
The pockets of our greatcoats full of barley...
No kitchens on the run, no striking camp...
We moved quick and sudden in our own country.
The priest lay behind ditches with the tramp.
A people hardly marching... on the hike...
We found new tactics happening each day:
We'd cut through reins and rider with the pike
And stampede cattle into infantry,
Then retreat through hedges where cavalry must be thrown.
Until... on Vinegar Hill... the final conclave.
Terraced thousands died, shaking scythes at cannon.
The hillside blushed, soaked in our broken wave.
They buried us without shroud or coffin
And in August... the barley grew up out of our grave.
Seamus Heaney
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Requiem for the Croppies is a poem written by Seamus Heaney about the Irish Republican Army (IRA). In 1919 to 1921, the IRA began a campaign against British Rule in Ireland which was known as the Irish War of Independence.
This reason in which I have chosen this poem is because not only did I find it an interesting read, but also because it was about something I never knew before. It was nice to learn about a historical event while researching about the poem.
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