" stolen cherries"? stolen from where? From humans?

Forums: English, Esl, Grammar
Email this Topic • Print this Page

context:

Where dips the rocky highland
Of Sleuth Wood in the lake,
There lies a leafy island
Where flapping herons wake
The drowsy water rats;
There we've hid our faery vats,
Full of berries
And of reddest stolen cherries.
Come away, O human child!
To the waters and the wild
With a faery, hand in hand.
For the world's more full of weeping than you can understand.

Topic Stats
Top Replies
Link to this Topic

Type: Question • Score: 8 • Views: 850 • Replies: 8

No top replies

View best answer, chosen by oristarA

@oristarA,

Keep in mind, the Irish didn't have any land of their own. Any cherry groves were owned by the English overlords. Woe to them who partook of the fruits of the farms they had to tend.

1 Reply

@Jack of Hearts,

Jack of Hearts wrote:

Keep in mind, the Irish didn't have any land of their own. Any cherry groves were owned by the English overlords. Woe to them who partook of the fruits of the farms they had to tend.

Before I go to check out in google, I wonder whether today's Ireland is part of Great Britain.

1 Reply

@oristarA,

oristarA wrote:

Jack of Hearts wrote:

Keep in mind, the Irish didn't have any land of their own. Any cherry groves were owned by the English overlords. Woe to them who partook of the fruits of the farms they had to tend.

Before I go to check out in google, I wonder whether today's Ireland is part of Great Britain.

Don't they teach any European history or geography in your country?

"Great Britain" is a geographical term meaning an island which contains England, Wales and Scotland. "Ireland" is another island nearby. From 1801 until 1922, both these islands (and some more) were part of the state called "the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland". In 1922 the southern twenty-six of the thirty-two Irish counties became a separate state called the "Republic Of Ireland". The remaining six northern counties remained in the United Kingdom, which since then has be called "the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland".

1 Reply

@contrex,

contrex wrote:

oristarA wrote:

Jack of Hearts wrote:

Keep in mind, the Irish didn't have any land of their own. Any cherry groves were owned by the English overlords. Woe to them who partook of the fruits of the farms they had to tend.

Before I go to check out in google, I wonder whether today's Ireland is part of Great Britain.

Don't they teach any European history or geography in your country?

"Great Britain" is a geographical term meaning an island which contains England, Wales and Scotland. "Ireland" is another island nearby. From 1801 until 1922, both these islands (and some more) were part of the state called "the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland". In 1922 the southern twenty-six of the thirty-two Irish counties became a separate state called the "Republic Of Ireland". The remaining six northern counties remained in the United Kingdom, which since then has be called "the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland".

Commies used to distort history, so the history textbook they compiled is not trustworthy. I got the impression that they said Ireland has been fighting for its independence from the Great Britain Empire.
Your introduction gives me the same question: Is there a force in Ireland who has been struggling for a united Ireland that puts an end to the separation of Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland?
Commies' TV programmes here were used to broadcast how "heroes" of Ireland battled for the unification.

1 Reply

@oristarA,

Yes, but the force has always been an underground movement. There have been many groups that fought for and against Irish independence and unification in the last 100 years.
These can be loosely defined by their religious affiliation, but not completely. And, while some might call them heroes, many would not. Most people would consider many of these groups and their members terrorists.
The IRA and the UDF were probably the most famous of the groups as they battled each other and innocents.

0 Replies

This thread has been fucked up by stupid talk of history and politics.

Getting back to the question, the cherries in the poem were stolen by the fairies (faeries) from human folk.

1 Reply

@McTag,

McTag wrote:

the cherries in the poem were stolen by the fairies (faeries) from human folk.

Indeed they were. So far as taking things without permission, the accusation is well founded, but it is said that their depredations differ from human "stealing". Some say the fairies do not take their booty away bodily, they only take what is called in Gaelic its toradh, i.e. its substance, virtue, fruit, or benefit. The outward appearance is left, but the reality is gone. Thus, when a cow is taken, it appears to its owner only as suddenly smittenby some strange disease. A still more important difference is that the fairies only take away what men deserve to lose. When mortals make a secret of, or grumble over, what they have, the fairies get the benefit. Particularly articles of food, the possession of which men deny with oaths, become fairy property. Maybe the cherries were hidden or denied?

1 Reply

@contrex,

Romantic literature and Pre-Raphaelite verses ... you should have asked me 50 years ago, when we had to read Yeats and compare his poetry with the German of that period Wink

0 Replies

" stolen cherries"? stolen from where? From humans?

Related Topics

Quick Links

My Account

able2know