Leaving Certificate 2015

Eilean Ni Chuilleanain

Higher Level

Eileann N Chuilleanin

Firemans Lift

The poem was written (1994) in response to the death of

her mother.
The poet recalls a visit she made to a cathedral in Parma
with her mother in 1963. Both N Chuilleanin and her
mother were fascinated by the dome in this cathedral
which features Correggios fresco of the Virgins
Assumption into heaven, lifted by the saints and angels.
Stanza one:
In a typical narrative style opening, the poet addresses her
mother as she recalls a shared memory.
The cupola (dome- like structure) appears to grow like a
tree splits wide open permitting the earthly to meet the
heavenly.
The natural light flooding through the circular windows
combined with the light beyond the clouds in the fresco,
helps to illuminate the scene the fall-out of brightness.
Stanza two:
Our attention is drawn to the Virgin rising into heaven. She
is being hauled at each stage of the ascension by the
team of angels.
A series of energetic verbs heaving, supporting,
crowding highlight the tremendous efforts the angels
were making in order to ensure a safe passage from this
life to the next. Collective efforts produce the desired end.
Stanza three:

Leaving Certificate 2015

Eilean Ni Chuilleanain

Higher Level

N Chuilleanin and her mother could step back and see

the work entire a vision of the work that the painter may
never have seen while he was painting it.
The painting never leaves the poet. Perhaps as she
watched her mother fading away she stepped back and
her mind flashed back to their shared experience in
Parma. This memory provided N Chuilleanin with a
creative outlet to express her sense of loss of her mother
after she died.
Stanza four:
N Chuilleanin describes the effect that the real and
depicted light has on the vortex of bodies, feet, elbows
and faces populated around the clouds clear and free as
weeds.
The painting does not contain many whole bodies, but
there are lots of body parts. These parts interact and
complement each other, giving the impression of weight,
power and stress.
The poet has noted that on seeing the fresco she could
only concentrate on one aspect, the way it shows bodily
effort and the bodys weight.
Stanzas five and six:
The poets point of view becomes more personal. Just like
the team of angels who pass the Virgin from one level to
the next, she too must pass her mother on to eternity.
The language and imagery capture the physicality of the
Virgins Assumption into heaven and also the struggle that
the nurses may have experienced when lifting her dying
mother.
Like Correggios painting, the body is divided into parts
and these parts become metaphors for structure and
support; the back is like an arched roof, the legs are a
bridge and the hands can be seen as a crane hauling
up the body while simultaneously acting as a cradle to
support it:
The back making itself a roof
The legs a bridge, the hands

Leaving Certificate 2015

Eilean Ni Chuilleanain

Higher Level

A crane and a cradle

The image of the tree bearing fruit could be symbolic of
her own bond with her mother. She was the fruit of her
mothers womb, as Jesus was the fruit of Marys womb:
the branch loaded with fruit.
The natural cycle involves birth, life and death and the
labour to bring a child into the world involves a separation
of sorts. In the same way death demands separation and
loss.
Stanza seven and eight:
The nurses who cared for her mother have become
synonymous with Correggios angels and saints. They are
attending to the poets mother just like the angels
attended to Mary.: she passed through their hands
While Correggios fresco is an artistic re-creation of the
Assumption of Mary, N Chuilleanins poem may be read
as a poetic re-creation of her mothers spiritual ascent to
the place beyond the clouds.
The run on lines of the opening stanza are replaced in the
final stanzas by a more disjointed rhythm as the efforts of
the angels are described.
Points to Note

Themes-loss, death, the afterlife, the relationship between

a mother and child.
Again the poet uses a real experience to help her reflect
on a deeper, more personal issue.
Use of comparison- between the painting and her mothers
final days and death
Beautiful, vivid, striking imagery
Use of religious imagery
Hopeful tone at the end of the poem.

Leaving Certificate 2015

Eilean Ni Chuilleanain

Higher Level

Street

This poem is based on a real girl who worked in a butchers shop that the poet
saw and never forgot. She was magnificently stunning and the image stirred the
poet to write this poem.
Stanza one:
The poem is written in the third-person narrative and this enables us to take a
voyeuristic look at the world of the characters in the poem. We are introduced to
a strange and unusual combination of themes: romance, butchery, beauty and
danger. We are transported to the moment when the man first saw the butchers
daughter. Butchery is a male dominated profession and the nature of the work is
not one readily associated with women.
The verb dangling could suggest the blade is uncontrolled and subsequently the
knife could be viewed as a threat. The knife also symbolises food death for the
animal but food for the townspeople. This duality may suggest the woman with
the blade enjoys a degree of power.
Her white trousers provide the perfect contrasting background to the bloody
knife, still dripping with blood. The male character is staring at the shining
drops as if entranced by what she does for a living. We get the sense that the
butchers daughter is not aware of his feelings or that she is the object of his
attention.
An air of mystery prevails and compels the reader to discover more.
Stanza two:
The mystery intensifies as the man follows her down a lane at the back of the
slaughter house. The half-open door may illustrate that the man is not a part of
her world, he can only glimpse into the unknown. The door is a form of a barrier.
The sight that he beholds is clean and brushed, which is not what we might
expect to see inside a slaughter house.
Having removed her shoes the women leaves the red crescent of her heel
marks on each step. She is standing in so much gore the blood seeps through
her shoes and stains her feet. As she rises up her physical trail vanishes, leaving
the man behind. A goddess perhaps? Leaving the physical world?

Leaving Certificate 2015

Eilean Ni Chuilleanain

Higher Level

The narrative ends abruptly; we never discover the identity of the man or
woman. We do not know if they met or if he continued to follow her. N
Chuilleanin dangles a story before the bewildered eyes of the reader and allows
them to ponder its mystery for themselves.