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This poem, a replica of the lives of the people affected by the potato famine that took place in Ireland in 1847, written by Maura Dooley gives you an air of the suffering and torment the Irish went through. The potato famine began with a blight of the potato crop that left acre upon acre of Irish farmland covered with black rot. As harvests across Europe failed, the price of food soared. Irish farmers found their food stores rotting in their cellars, the crops they relied on to pay the rent to their British and Protestant landlords destroyed. Peasants who ate the rotten produce sickened and entire villages were consumed with cholera and typhus. Hundreds of thousands of Irish peasants were sent to America and other English-speaking countries. But even emigration was no panacea -- ship owners often crowded hundreds of desperate Irish onto rickety vessels labeled "coffin ships." In many cases, these ships reached port only after losing a third of their passengers to disease, hunger and other causes. This poem focuses on the peasants that were heaved onto these ships taking them away from the famine-struck land. The first three lines of the poem introduce us to the general state of the common people. “Ma’s face is black with hair/ her hands are paws.” The speaker here is talking about her mother and this evident from the way she calls her “Ma”. The effect of this word is heavily felt. The speaker calls her “Ma” because of the affection she has for her. But she goes on to say,” She does not know me anymore” in the third line of the poem. This reveals that her mother’s heart has become so rigid, and all her emotions have been consumed out of her, that she can no longer even recognize her own children. This is the mental affect the famine has had on her and probably all the people of Ireland.
Approximate Word count = 1220
Approximate Pages = 4.9
(250 words per page double spaced)
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