Leaving Certificate Ordinary Level – Excellence in English Language and Literature


Overview


Ní Chuilleanáin wrote this poem for the occasion of her son’s marriage to Xenya Ostrovskaia. The couple had chosen to have a civil ceremony rather than a religious one and both parents were asked to write a short speech to be read during the ceremony. Ní Chuilleanáin decided to write this poem, dedicated to the couple, rather than a more traditional speech.


The poem is addressed to the poet’s son and his new wife as they start out on their life as a married couple. This journey seems to be fated and the omens are in their favour. They see the same star ‘Pitching its tent on the point of the steeple’, which tells them it is time to go. The symbol of the star is a positive one (think of ‘reaching for the stars’) and Ní Chuilleanáin is acknowledging the rightness of a union between two people who share the same vision at the same time. The poet loves her son but knows that it is time for him to seek his own path in life with his wife by his side.


The poet refers to a fairy tale in which three sons are given the choice of setting out on a journey with a full loaf of bread and their mother’s curse, or half a loaf and her blessing. The youngest son chooses the half loaf and the blessing, and his journey ends with the traditional ‘happily ever after’.


In the second stanza, the poet tells the couple that it is time to leave behind their past lives and begin a new life together. They will make their own traditions but it is likely that they will return to the same stories and values that they grew up with themselves. Ní Chuilleanáin refers to the story of The Sleeping Beauty and also mentions a ‘talking cat’ – another popular fi gure in fairy tales. There is a blend of the negative and the positive here. The story of Sleeping Beauty tells of hardship and diffi culty but there is a happy ending because the prince who saves the beautiful princess is determined to battle his way through the forest of thorns to reach her. The talking cat is ‘asleep/Solid beside her feet’, which is a comforting image and stresses the importance of dependability and consistency. The repetition in ‘you will fi nd once more’ and ‘you will see her again’ makes the idea in this stanza ultimately reassuring and optimistic.


In the third stanza, Ní Chuilleanáin imagines the cat waking along with the princess and speaking ‘in Irish and Russian’. He will tell the couple ‘a different tale’ every night. This is a fantastical image but is in keeping with the celebration of the power of stories and folk tales from both the bride’s and groom’s cultures. The blend of stories from both traditions highlights the idea that love is a unifying force. The magic and wonder conjured up by this image evoke the magic and wonder of love and are entirely suitable for this poem.


This image also reminds that the young couple that all of the fairy tales and folk tales they heard when they were young ended with ‘happily ever after’ for those who were brave, loyal and loving. Although the couple are starting out on a new life, they will always have those stories to come back to and the image of the cat telling the tales every night is a reminder to them to keep the old stories alive. In time, perhaps, they will pass these folk tales with their messages of love and hope on to their own children.


Just as the couple are marrying, so two stories from each tradition are married in this stanza. The story of ‘the fi rebird that stole the golden apples’ is a Russian tale in which a tsar promises wealth and his daughter’s hand in marriage to anyone who can stop the fi rebird from stealing the apples from his orchard. After a diffi cult and dangerous mission, a young man called Ivan succeeds and gets his reward. The Irish story The King of Ireland’s Son has a slightly different message in that the young man fi rst wins but then loses a beautiful young woman, Fedelma. The message here might be that the couple must be attentive to one another and not take their love for granted. Each of the stories referenced in this poem focuses on love being a wonderful prize but also something that is not easily won.


348


Poetry


oetry ANALYSE


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