Death of a Field (Leaving Cert English): Revision Notes
Death of a Field
Introduction to the poem
Paula Meehan's "Death of a Field" serves as a powerful environmental elegy that mourns the loss of natural landscapes to urban development. Published in 2009 as part of her collection "Painting Rain," this free-verse poem captures the inevitable transformation of rural Ireland through industrialisation and housing development. The work explores how economic progress destroys both natural habitats and the personal memories tied to these spaces.
The poem functions as both a lament for environmental destruction and an urgent call to preserve what remains of Ireland's natural heritage. Through vivid imagery and careful structure, Meehan creates a moving tribute to a field that will soon disappear beneath concrete and houses.
Form and structure
This piece takes the form of a free-verse elegy, meaning it follows no regular rhyme scheme or metre but maintains a natural, conversational rhythm. The poem invites readers to mourn alongside the speaker, creating an atmosphere of shared loss and collective memory.
The work begins with a monostich - a single-line stanza - that immediately establishes the central concern about inevitable urban development. Throughout the poem, Meehan creates beautiful rhythm through her use of alliteration, assonance, and consonance, demonstrating how poetry can find music even in subjects of loss and destruction.
Opening warning (lines 1-2)
The poem opens with a stark declaration that immediately establishes the transformation from natural space to development project. Meehan's choice of words here reveals the deeper significance of bureaucratic language and its power to erase natural heritage.
Textual Analysis: Opening Lines
"The field itself is lost the morning it becomes a site / When the Notice goes up: Fingal County Council – 44 houses."
Key technique: The shift from "field" to "site" represents more than just terminology - it shows how bureaucratic language strips away the emotional and natural significance of places. The Fingal County Council notice becomes a symbol of official authority that can erase decades or centuries of natural history with a simple planning application.
The poet uses a process of metamorphosis throughout the work, where the poem moves from personal, intimate memory to collective, public mourning. The emphasis on "the field" throughout most of the poem gradually shifts to "a field" in the title, suggesting how personal attachment becomes generalised loss.
The disappearing wildlife (lines 3-8)
Following the opening warning, Meehan begins cataloguing what will be lost. She starts with a monostich highlighting "the loss of its herbs," then moves into vivid descriptions of the birds that currently inhabit this space.
Imagery Analysis: Wildlife Descriptions
The poet introduces readers to "woodpigeons in the willow," "finches in what's left of the hawthorn hedge," and "wagtail in the elder." Each bird is carefully connected to its specific habitat, showing how destruction of plant life directly impacts animal life.
Significant phrase: "what's left of the hawthorn hedge" already suggests that exploitation of nature has begun.
The personification technique becomes particularly effective when Meehan describes the birds as singing "their hungry summer song." This gives the creatures emotional depth and makes their impending loss more poignant. The simile comparing magpies to "flying castanets" creates a musical, rhythmic quality that emphasises the natural beauty about to disappear.
Flora and the loss of memory (lines 9-12)
The poem deepens its ecological focus as Meehan explores how "the memory of the field disappears with its flora." This section demonstrates the concept of animism - giving life and consciousness to natural elements.
Technique Analysis: Personification of Plants
Through personification, the poet asks "Who can know the yearning of yarrow / Or the plight of the scarlet pimpernel." By giving plants emotions and experiences, Meehan suggests that nature has its own perspective on destruction - one that humans typically ignore.
Literary effect: The question "Whose true colour is orange?" directed at the scarlet pimpernel shows how the speaker understands and communicates with nature on an intimate level.
This section exemplifies ecopoetry - writing that gives voice to environmental concerns by presenting nature from its own perspective rather than merely as a human resource. The poet describes ecological destruction from the plants' point of view, creating empathy for non-human life.
From field to housing estate (lines 13-18)
The poem reaches a turning point as Meehan declares "the end of the field is the end of the hidey holes / Where first smokes, first tokes, first gropes / Were had to the scentless mayweed." This section connects the natural space to human memories, particularly those of childhood and adolescence.
The repetition of "first" throughout these lines suggests formative experiences that took place in this natural setting. The alliteration in "hidey holes" and the consonance and assonance in "smokes," "tokes," and "gropes" create a musical quality that makes these memories feel precious and irreplaceable.
The transformation becomes clear: "The end of the field as we know it is the start of the estate." This marks the beginning of industrialisation, where the natural world gives way to "houses each two or three bedroom." The oxymoron "Nest of sorrow and chemical, cargo of joy" captures the complex emotions surrounding development - homes bring happiness to families but also introduce artificial chemicals and destroy natural habitats.
Natural versus industrial products (lines 19-28)
The poem's most striking section uses anaphora - repetition of phrases at the beginning of successive lines - to create a powerful contrast between the natural and industrial worlds. Meehan presents a series of metonymic associations, where natural plants are replaced by commercial cleaning products.
Structural Analysis: Anaphora and Metonymy
The structure "The end of dandelion is the start of Flash / The end of dock is the start of Pledge" continues through multiple pairs, contrasting wild plants like "teazel," "primrose," "thistle," "sloe," "herb robert," and "eyebright" with brand names like "Ariel," "Brillo," "Bounce," "Oxyaction," "Brasso," and "Fairy."
Literary effect: This technique brilliantly captures how industrial capitalism replaces natural abundance with manufactured products. Where once people might have used natural herbs for cleaning and healing, they now rely on chemical alternatives.
The anaphoric structure creates an atmosphere of prolonging, as if the speaker is trying to delay the inevitable transformation by listing everything that will be lost.
The section concludes with rhetorical questions: "Who amongst us is able to number the end of grasses / To number the losses of each seeding head?" This suggests that the losses are infinite and immeasurable, evoking a sense of overwhelming grief for the natural world.
The speaker's final connection (lines 29-33)
After contemplating the enormity of loss, the speaker declares "I'll walk out once / Barefoot under the moon to know the field / Through the soles of my feet to hear." This represents a desperate attempt to create one final, intimate connection with the natural space before it disappears.
Imagery Analysis: Spiritual Connection
The image of walking barefoot suggests a primitive, spiritual connection to the earth. The speaker wants to "know the field" through direct physical contact, moving beyond visual appreciation to tactile understanding.
Sound devices: The final lines create a euphonic memory through alliteration, assonance, and consonance: "The myriad leaf lives green and singing / The million million cycles of being in wing."
This section demonstrates how the poet uses sound devices to create a harmonious rhythm that mirrors the natural world's own music. The repetition of "million million" suggests infinite abundance that will soon be reduced to nothing.
Preserving through poetry (lines 34-39)
The poem's conclusion shows the speaker's ultimate attempt to preserve the field through memory and art. The lines acknowledge that soon the field will exist only as technical drawings and planning documents.
Metaphorical Analysis: Birth Imagery
The speaker hopes to "possess it or it possess me" through intimate connection with "its night dew, its moon white caul / Its slick and shine and its prolifigacy." These sublime images create an extended metaphor comparing the speaker's relationship with the field to a mother-child bond.
Key imagery: The "moon white caul" particularly suggests birth imagery, as if the speaker is trying to give birth to the field's memory through poetry.
The final line, "In every wingbeat in every beat of time," shows how the poet becomes metaphorically connected to the natural world. Through rich imagery, anaphora, personification, similes, alliteration, and other rhetorical devices, Meehan creates a poem with musicality, rhythm, and memorableness that strives to immortalise the world of poetry itself.
About Paula Meehan
Paula Meehan, born in 1955, is a contemporary Irish poet and playwright whose work often explores urban life, social issues, and environmental concerns. Her notable works include "Return and No Blame," "Reading the Sky," and "The Man Who Was Marked by Winter." Through her poetry, Meehan gives voice to marginalised communities and environmental causes, making her one of Ireland's most significant contemporary voices.
Key Takeaways
Essential Points to Remember:
- The poem uses the transformation from "field" to "site" to "estate" to show how bureaucratic language erases natural significance
- Meehan employs personification and animism to give voice to plants and animals facing destruction
- The anaphoric structure contrasting natural plants with commercial products powerfully demonstrates how industrialisation replaces natural abundance
- The speaker's final barefoot walk represents a desperate attempt to preserve the field through intimate physical and spiritual connection
- Through rich imagery and sound devices, the poem itself becomes a form of environmental preservation, immortalising what will soon be lost