O Paddy dear, and did you hear the news that going round? Then since the colour we must wear is England's cruel red, But if at last our colour should be torn from Ireland's heart, |
COMMENTSDion Boucicault was, despite his French name, an Irishman born in Dublin, a playwright. At the time, inspired by America's successful revolution against British rule, many Irish thought the time was ripe for independence. The colour green became a symbol of sympathy for Irish independence, and the British actually began executing persons found wearing anything of the colour green.
The pen, however, is mightier than the sword, and this powerful poem was the response. Napper Tandy, mentioned in the poem, was in fact a shopkeeper in Dublin who, having been identified by the British as a freedom fighter, had to flee to France. And Boucicault himself fled the country, coming to America as the words of his poem itself echo prophetic.
Boucicault did not stop writing plays, poetry and music on his arrival in New York. One of his better-known works, written over a century ago, is the well-known song, Sidewalks of New York.
His The Wearing of the Green is the music and poetry of which revolution was born.
Copyright © 2007, M. Franks. All rights reserved.