Requiem for the Croppies
Seamus Heaney * Track #5 On The Northern Muse
Download "Requiem for the Croppies"
Requiem for the Croppies by Seamus Heaney
Performed by
Seamus HeaneyAbout
The poem describes the experience of the rebels who took part in the Irish Rebellion, leading to the Battle of Vinegar Hill on 21 June 1798. The title is significant. A requiem' is a song or prayer for the dead. The ‘croppies’ are so called because they were imitating the French peasantry, who cut t...
Requiem for the Croppies Annotated
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.