The Irish Poetry and Postcolonialism
Ireland was a British colony for more than seven centuries, for this time it was hidden their native identity, as well as their language. The British colonizers imposed not only their language but also their culture. In 1922, it was signed the Treaty in which Ireland was considered a free state. As and introduction to Heaney poems, I will use a poem of Yeats, who is the poet that starts to talk about postcolonial themes. Maybe Yeats was one the most important figures in the reconstruction of the Irish identity. He represents the relationship between Ireland and Britain in his poem "Leda and the Swan". The first publication of this poem was in the radical magazine "To-morrow" in 1923. Some years later it was republished in the newspaper "The Tower" in 1928. However, this second time the author made some changes in it . In this poem Leda represents to Ireland while Swam represents the British colonizers. In the line 4 we see a metaphor of situation of Ireland during the colonization, which is; "He holds her helpless breast upon his breast" Ireland could not do anything, it felt helpless, and it was ruled by the British. If we think about the text as a whole metaphor, we should come back to the Greek myth. In the mythology we can see as Clitemestra was born as a consequence of the rape. And later, she was who killed to Agamenon. In the poem line 11 "And Agamenon dead" means the retreat of England and as a result the Liberation of Ireland from the colonizers. From my point of view this is a quiet significant poem with a political meaning. However it reflects the oppression of Ireland in that moment, and also the desire of the Irish people of living in a country without the British domination, as in the social life like in the religious. In spite of this poem, not all the critics consider him as a postcolonial author. Seamus Deane defines his poetry as "a strong cultural nationalist, but just as often he accuses Yeats of