Four Green Fields: Difference between revisions
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{{About|the folk-song|the stained glass art work|My Four Green Fields}} |
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{{Short description|1967 Irish folk song by Tommy Makem}} |
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'''''Four Green Fields''''' is a 1967 [[folk song]] by [[Ireland|Irish]] musician [[Tommy Makem]], described in |
'''''Four Green Fields''''' is a 1967 [[folk song]] by [[Ireland|Irish]] musician [[Tommy Makem]], described in ''[[The New York Times]]'' as a "hallowed Irish leave-us-alone-with-our-beauty ballad."<ref>[http://www.makem.com/tommy/tmpress.html Tommy Makem press coverage] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050408030832/http://www.makem.com/tommy/tmpress.html |date=2005-04-08 }}</ref> Of Makem's many compositions, it has become the most familiar, and is part of the common repertoire of Irish folk musicians.<ref>[http://www.makem.com/tommy/ Makem.com - Bio]</ref> |
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==Content and meaning== |
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The song |
The song is about Ireland (personified as an “old woman”) and its four provinces (represented by “green fields”), one of which remains occupied (“taken”) by the British (the “strangers”) despite the best efforts of the Irish people (her “sons”), who died trying to defend them. Its middle stanza is a description of the violence and deprivation experienced by the Irish, including the people in Northern Ireland. At the end of the song, one of her fields still shows the promise of new growth: |
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:"But my sons have sons, as brave as were their fathers; |
:"But my sons have sons, as brave as were their fathers; |
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:My fourth green field will bloom once again," said she. |
:My fourth green field will bloom once again," said she. |
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The song is interpreted as |
The song is interpreted as an [[allegory|allegorical]] political statement regarding the constitutional status of [[Northern Ireland]]. The four fields are seen as the [[Provinces of Ireland]] with [[Ulster]] being the "field" that remained part of the [[United Kingdom]] after the [[Irish Free State]] separated. The old woman is seen as a traditional personification of Ireland herself (see [[Kathleen Ni Houlihan]]). The words spoken by the woman in Makem's song are taken directly from "Cathleen ni Houlihan", an early play by W. B. Yeats. |
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==Background== |
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The concept of Four Green Fields representing the four provinces of Ireland had been used before, having been previously used in the 1939 stained glass work [[My Four Green Fields]] by [[Evie Hone]].<ref>{{Cite web|last=Digital|first=Granite|title=Home|url=https://www.thehighkings.com/|access-date=2021-08-03|website=www.thehighkings.com}}</ref> |
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Makem frequently described the song as having been inspired by a drive through the "no man's land" adjoining Northern Ireland, where he saw an old woman tending livestock. She was oblivious to the political boundaries that loomed so large in the public's eye; the land was older than the argument, and she didn't care what was shown on the map. |
Makem frequently described the song as having been inspired by a drive through the "no man's land" adjoining Northern Ireland, where he saw an old woman tending livestock. She was oblivious to the political boundaries that loomed so large in the public's eye; the land was older than the argument, and she didn't care what was shown on the map. |
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The song's penultimate line ("But my sons have sons, as brave as were their fathers") is often interpreted, sometimes critically, as support for militant Irish nationalist groups like the [[Irish Republican Army]] (IRA). However, the song had been written prior to the outbreak of [[the Troubles]] in Northern Ireland, and decades after the [[Anglo Irish War]] and [[Irish Civil War]]. The song was (arguably) mirroring what some might believe to be a romanticised view that many Northern Irish people had of militant republicanism at the time, and perhaps still do today. It also reflected the tension of daily life in the face of a military occupation, where one was advised, regardless of politics: "Whatever you say, say nothing", to quote a popular song in Makem's repertoire. On emigrating to the U.S., Makem was astonished to find a cordial relationship between the public and its police force, something he had not experienced in Armagh.{{Fact|date=February 2008}} This penultimate line is sometimes sung as, "But peace will come, my lands will be united". |
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==See also== |
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* [[Kathleen Ni Houlihan]] |
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* [[Mise Éire]] |
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* [[Róisín Dubh (song)]] |
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* [[The Sean-Bhean bhocht]] |
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* [[Hibernia (personification)]] |
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==References== |
==References== |
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{{Reflist}} |
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{{National personifications}} |
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{{authority control}} |
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[[Category:1967 songs]] |
[[Category:1967 songs]] |
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[[Category:Irish folk songs]] |
[[Category:Irish folk songs]] |
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[[Category:Personifications of Ireland]] |
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[[Category:National personifications]] |
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[[nl:Four Green Fields]] |
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Latest revision as of 00:36, 15 August 2024
Four Green Fields is a 1967 folk song by Irish musician Tommy Makem, described in The New York Times as a "hallowed Irish leave-us-alone-with-our-beauty ballad."[1] Of Makem's many compositions, it has become the most familiar, and is part of the common repertoire of Irish folk musicians.[2]
Content and meaning
[edit]The song is about Ireland (personified as an “old woman”) and its four provinces (represented by “green fields”), one of which remains occupied (“taken”) by the British (the “strangers”) despite the best efforts of the Irish people (her “sons”), who died trying to defend them. Its middle stanza is a description of the violence and deprivation experienced by the Irish, including the people in Northern Ireland. At the end of the song, one of her fields still shows the promise of new growth:
- "But my sons have sons, as brave as were their fathers;
- My fourth green field will bloom once again," said she.
The song is interpreted as an allegorical political statement regarding the constitutional status of Northern Ireland. The four fields are seen as the Provinces of Ireland with Ulster being the "field" that remained part of the United Kingdom after the Irish Free State separated. The old woman is seen as a traditional personification of Ireland herself (see Kathleen Ni Houlihan). The words spoken by the woman in Makem's song are taken directly from "Cathleen ni Houlihan", an early play by W. B. Yeats.
Background
[edit]The concept of Four Green Fields representing the four provinces of Ireland had been used before, having been previously used in the 1939 stained glass work My Four Green Fields by Evie Hone.[3]
Makem frequently described the song as having been inspired by a drive through the "no man's land" adjoining Northern Ireland, where he saw an old woman tending livestock. She was oblivious to the political boundaries that loomed so large in the public's eye; the land was older than the argument, and she didn't care what was shown on the map.
Makem commonly sang the song as an encore.
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ Tommy Makem press coverage Archived 2005-04-08 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Makem.com - Bio
- ^ Digital, Granite. "Home". www.thehighkings.com. Retrieved 2021-08-03.
