paula meehan sample essay answers

“Hearth Lesson” by Paula Meehan for Leaving Cert English

• Post author: Martina
• Post published: September 7, 2023
• Post category: English / Paula Meehan / Poetry

"Hearth Lesson" by Paula Meehan for Leaving Cert English You may also like: Complete Guide to Paula Meehan for Leaving Cert Introduction: The poet speaks about how she is often…

• Leaving Cert. English (Higher) 2023: Paper 2 Section III Poetry B
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I believe Meehan uses carefully crafted, vibrant and forceful language to accentuate the oppressive forces of her world, which are often clearly evident in her poetry. By addressing these forces, she challenges them.

The poem ‘Buying Winkles’ catalogues the young girl’s joy at the adventure of striking out on a journey to purchase winkles for the family. The language has a vibrant and forceful element. Simple words and phrases have the power to develop the narrative and the themes in her poem. The word ‘spare’ is significant as it suggests the mother did not have very much expendable income. Poverty is an oppressive force in her world and it is clear that this family often suffered. Words are skilfully crafted to draw us into her theme as our attention is drawn to the sibilant ‘s’ sounds in ‘spare’, ‘sixpence’ and ‘say’. It is evident that the child’s home is not very nice as she refers to the ‘ghosts/ on the stairs’ and a blown ‘bulb’. She leaves this rundown building and sets out on her quest with a sense of relief.

The whole event and even the winkles become heroic. This is illustrated in the description of the winkles as they ‘glisten blue like little/ night skies’. This is a vibrant and aesthetically pleasing simile as not only does it suggest a sense of colour, it also elevates the winkle to something grand and classical. The oppressive and dangerous forces of her world are evident even if she seems oblivious to them. Male characters ‘smell of men together with drink’ while the women ‘at sills or those/ lingering in doorways’ could suggest prostitution. Even the winkle vender seems vulnerable as she is sitting outside a pub and her customers are inevitably inebriated.

The excitement of the adventure for the child slightly masks the reality of poverty. This is an oppressive force that Meehan experienced in her life and it is well addressed with carefully crafted and powerful language. Her impoverished, tenement lifestyle is contrasted with the ‘light in golden mirrors’ and the ‘hot interior’, which was probably not a feature of her own home. Words like ‘golden’ and ‘hot’ are juxtaposed with the blown lightbulb of their tenement flat found in the opening of the poem.

The issue of money and the fact that it is an oppressive force in her formative life is well developed in the poem ‘Hearth Lesson’. Money that is wasted or squandered will rekindle a childhood memory when her mother finally made an impact on her father. Words like ‘crouched’ have a powerful impact as it suggests she is feeling small and insignificant or impotent while her parents fight it out. She seems nervous as she avoids getting caught in the crossfire. It could also suggest the oppressive poverty that they live in as she is huddled close to the fire trying to get warm.

Her language is vibrant and powerful as she describes the argument in classic and heroic terms. The father Zeus throws thunderbolts and the mother Hera ‘had the killing glance’. The lively and engaging imagery continues as the argument is described in a manner suggestive of a poker game or some other gamble. Gambling may have been a reason behind some of their financial argument as she refers to a horse with the term ‘neigh’. He, in turn, raises the stakes again by referring to the ‘mental state of her siblings’, suggesting that he found an issue with the intellect of some of her family. Her language has a life and vibrancy as the argument now becomes a tennis match where many of the shots were ‘lobbed’ over her head, suggesting the content and matter of their discussions were beyond the comprehension of the young poet.

Despite this lack of understanding, she is aware that the root cause of their issues was the oppressive factor of money. The lack of money is described as, ‘the root of bitter words’. Consequently, she is surprised when the father hands up his entire wages to the mother, but is even more surprised when the mother throws the wages in the fire. The language again takes on a vibrant and lively aspect as she uses slightly odd adjectives; ‘blue’, ‘pink’ and ‘green’, which we would not normally associate with a fire. The flames escape in an interesting zoomorphic simile, ‘like trapped exotic birds’, suggesting money was exotic and hard to find.

The poem, ‘Prayer for the Children of Longing’ is a provocative reflection on the oppressive forces acting on the city. The image of a winter tree brought from the North may symbolise Christmas, joy and hope to many, but not to those suffering from hardship and poverty. The opening line is powerful and dramatic as our attention is drawn in through the rhythmic beat of the alliterative ‘f’s found in ‘from’, ‘far’ and ‘forest’. In the second stanza she asks for the ‘clarity of ice’ so we can see the reality of what is happening. The city is oppressed by the drug trade, which also comes from far away, but does not bring anything other than a false hope to its victims. She brings the chill and cold of winter to life as the ‘snow’s breathless quiet’ freezes the world into quiet submission. We are left with the feeling that the children of longing give in to the ‘needle in its track’, a clear symbol of the marks left by a heroin addict’s addiction. The ‘comfort of snow’ could be the numbing comfort found in drugs, but there is a clear warning as it will knife you ‘in the back’.

The fifth stanza clearly accentuates the oppressive depravations suffered by the children of longing. The repetition of ‘th’ in ‘the’ and ‘that’ provides a sense of the list of hardships and danger. Their voices echo through the streets that have defeated them. The streets are personified as a tyrannical force that has ‘brought them to their knees’. These oppressive streets are filled with poverty and hardship. The children are left destitute and homeless, looking for shelter in alleyways. The drug has provided a false dream; they have been led astray and have had their minds blown apart. The children of the impoverished streets were promised a better life but this was not delivered. Again, this could be a metaphor for addiction. Despite the bleak subject matter, all these images are engaging and ironically, full of life.

The repetition of ‘Let’ in the sixth stanza sounds like a prayer. She could be suggesting that by remembering their pain, we, as a society, might attempt to improve the future. Meehan accentuates the bleak and oppressive forces of her world, but through a vibrant and forceful language she challenges these forces. She is also an advocate for change and there is a sense here that if society can change then the future will be brighter.

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Verse 2024 – Leaving Cert English Higher Level Poetry + Portfolio

The Verse Higher Level 2024 textbook for Leaving Certificate English poetry. Accompanied by the Verse Higher Level 2024 Poetry Skills Portfolio book.

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• A full, annotated sample essay and sample essay questions for new prescribed poet Paula Meehan.
• All past questions for each poet are included.
• Contains all eight poets prescribed for examination in 2024.
• Features a clear, colourful A4 layout . A key image accompanies each poem.
• Timeline for each poet offers relevant biographical detail to give context to their work.
• Pre-reading and comprehending and responding questions for all poems.
• Exploring sections after each poem offer immediate, clear analysis in a concise format. Relevant quotations and biographical details are integrated in the commentary, providing a model for essay answers.
• Creating questions contains innovative writing assignments prompted by the poem, which allow practise for Paper 1 through the study of poetry with common formats such as letters and blog posts.
• End-of-chapter theme sections contain handy reference tables showing the main themes within each poem. Major themes are explored in-depth , bringing together an overall analysis of the poet.
• End-of-chapter language and imagery sections offer notes on key literary techniques used by the poet with relevant examples for each.
• Sample essay plans and paragraphs for each poet develop skills in building structured answers that respond accurately to the question asked.
• Unseen Poetry section offers friendly guidance on approaching the unseen question with a variety of fresh poems and songs.
• Glossary of poetic terms gives clear explanations to refer back to when needed.
• Exam Advice sections provide useful information on preparing for and answering on prescribed and unseen poetry.

Poetry Skills Portfolio

Create an invaluable revision guide for exam-time. Build up knowledge of studied poets. Develop writing skills for producing exam-standard essay answers.  The Verse Higher Level Poetry Skills Portfolio  contains:

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