Notes on the Plays

Notes on the Plays THE SHADOW OF A GUNMAN The action of the play takes place in May 1920 at the height of the Anglo-Irish war, fought between the British forces and the Irish Republican Army. Here, the former are represented by an irregular militia of Black and Tans and Auxiliaries, recruited for counter terrorist activities in support of the regular troops and the Royal Irish Constabulary. By mid 1920 the ordinary people of Ireland, many of whom had been initially hostile to the revolutionaries (as can be seen in The Plough and the Stars), had become far more sympathetic to them-and openly antagonistic to the forces of the Crown, mostly as a result of the conduct of the irregular troops who often behaved far more lawlessly than the Auxiliary does in The Shadow of a Gunman. Acri 3 A return room: an extra room added to a tenement, eked out of space not originally intended for a room for habitation. A return is an architectural term for 'the part of a wall or continuous moulding, frieze, etc. which turns away (usually at right angles) from the previous direction'. 3 Hilljoy Square: Mountjoy Square, Dublin, where the playwright lived for some months in 1920-21. 3 'the might of design ... beauty everlasting': quotation from a speech that begins 'I believe in Michael Angelo, Velasquez, and Rembrandt', delivered by the dying painter Louis Dubedat in the fourth act of Bernard Shaw's The Doctors Dilemma. 4 Or when sweet Summer's ... life is only ours: stanza from 'Sun shadows', early poem by O'Casey, printed in Windfalls (London, 1934) p. 25. There are minor changes in the latter, which closes 'For each is dead, and joy and life are ours.' 4 a bedlam: a madhouse, corruption of 'Bethlehem', from Bethlehem Hospital, used as an insane asylum from 1547. 4 oul' ones bawl at a body: old people shout at one. 4 Morpheus: God of Dreams in Greek mythology. 497 498 Notes on the Plays 4 Somnus: God of Sleep and brother of Death. 4 The Angelus: Roman Catholic devotion in honour of the Annuncia tion, beginning with the words 'Angelus Domini nuntiavit Mariae'. It is recited thrice daily, usually at 6 a.m., noon, and at 6 p.m. to the sound of the Angelus bell. Here, presumably, it is the noon Angelus that Shields has 'missed'. 5 Oh, Kathleen ni Houlihan, your way's a thorny way: quotation taken from a patriotic poem, 'The Passing of the Gael', by Ethna Carberry (1866-1902) published in her popular collection The Four Winds of Eirinn (Dublin, 1902) pp. 109-10. Kathleen ni Houlihan is one of the poetic names for Ireland. 5 Ah me! alas, pain, pain ever,for ever!: refrain spoken by Prometheus in Shelley's Prometheus Unbound, I, 23, 30 and 635. 5 the Black and Tans: irregular fighting force of 5800 armed men recruited by the British authorities for counter-terrorist activities in Ireland after 1919, so named because their uniforms were a mixture of black and khaki clothes. 6 there's great stuff: that is, they are well made. 6 Cuchullain or 'Cuchulain': Irish 'Cu Chulainn', literally 'the hound of Chulainn'. As a young boy the hero killed Chulainn's hound and, in consequence, was forced to serve as watchdog and bodyguard. He is the most important legendary Irish warrior whose heroic deeds are embodied in the great Gaelic prose saga known as the Tain Bo Cuailnge, or 'The Cattle Raid of Cooley' (see also note to 'Deirdre' on p. 504), contained in the Red Branch or Ulster cycle of tales. These were transmitted orally in the early Christian period in Ireland, then transcribed by monks and incorporated in late manuscripts in the eleventh and fifteenth centuries. Cuchullain was, reputedly, king of Muirthemne, in what is now County Louth. 6 Keep your hair on: don't get excited. 6 Knocksedan: in County Dublin. 6 a cod: a fool. 7 Goodbye ... ee: echo of a famous line from one of the most popular Britisharmysongsfrom the First World War, written by Weston and Lee (see fuller reference to the song in a note top. 192). 7 knocking about now: living at the present time. 7 Irish Republican Brotherhood: founded by james Stephens (sec note below) on 17 March 1858, this secret underground revolutionary organisation (of which O'Casey was a member from about 1907 to late 1913 or early 1914) was known for its militancy; its leaders master-minded the 1916 Easter Rising. 7 rifle levy: a contribution towards the cost of arms. 7 James Stephens: nationalist politician (1824- I 90 I), founder in 1858 of the Irish Revolutionary Brotherhood ( wtuch later became the Irish Republican Brotherhood) and insugator of nineteenth-century Fenian movement. Stephens is not to be confused with his younger namesake, the poet and storyteller (see note to p. 335). 7 Pro-Cathedral: the main Roman Catholic Oturch in Dublin. Notes on the Plays 499 7 Dark Rosaleen: poetic name for Ireland (used when patnotlc references in literature were forbidden by the authorities) and title of one of James Qarence Mangan's best known poems, a translation of one of Ireland's most famous political songs 'R6isin Dubh'. 7 Balor of the Evil Eye: one of the great prehistoric mythical figures in early Gaelic saga literature, also known as Balor Bailcbheimneach and Balor Na mBeimeann (of the Blows). Leader of the Fomorians, mythical early inhabitants of Ireland, he was defeated in an epic battle by Lugh Umhfhada and his people, the Tuatha De Danann, who proceeded to take over the country. 7 A half tall hat: in general shape, like those worn at weddings and on fashionable occasions, but much lower in the crown. 8 gostherin': that is, gostering, from gauster, gaster, dialect survival of MEgalstre; to behave in a noisy, boisterous, or swaggering fashion; to brag or boast; boastful and idle speech. 8 green, white, an' yellow: colours of the Irish national flag (though the yellow is actually orange in the Irish flag). 8 billickin': bilking, not paying money owed. 8 Be me sowl: upon my soul. 9 troglodytes: prehistoric cave-dwellers (note later description of Mrs Grigson as a tenement 'cave-dweller'). 9 blow: complain. 9 got the wind up: that is, is scared. 10 rookery: crowded tenement house. 10 Banba: poetic name for Ancient Ireland, as is 'Inisfail' (isle of destiny), referred to in the song subsequently sung by Shields (p. 10). Banba, one of the female druids of'the Tuatha De Danann, asked the Milesians upon their conquest of Ireland to name the island after her (as did Fotla and Eriu or Erin). 10 Oh, proud were the chieftains . .. the salt of our soil: first three lines from the immensely popular 'Lament for the Milesians' by Thomas Davis, published in The Spirit of the Nation (Dublin, 1843, with countless editions subsequently). In Davis's poem it reads 'proud Innis-Fail'. The Gaelic line means 'That is pity, without heir in the company' i.e. what a pity that there is no heir remaining of their company (from a note to the poem by Davis himself). 10 Fury: one of the goddesses of Greek mythology sent by Tartarus to punish crime. 10 tam o' shanter: round woollen or cloth cap,fullin the crown but fitting closely round the brows. 11 lashins: more than enough. 11 a Hooley: an entertainment with dancing. 11 two-pair back: rooms at the back of a tenement, on the second storey. 11 melodeon: a kind of accordion, small organ with suction-operated reeds. 11 weeshy: very small, tiny. 11 dawny: sickly, delicate. 11 the men o' '98: the United Irishmen, who rebelled in 1798. 500 Notes on the Plays 12 One day, when Morn's half-open'd eyes ... The Golden Celan dine: stanza quoted from an early poem by O'Casey, 'A Walk with Eros', published in Windfalls (London, 1934) p. 7, where the last line refers to 'The queenly celandine.' 13 Annie Laurie: the poem 'Annie Laurie' was not written by Burns but by William Douglas of Finland at the end of the seventeenth century. James Grant in his Preface to The Scottish Cavalier says that the original woman who inspired Douglas was one of the four daughters of Sir Robert Laurie, the first baronet of Maxwelton, to whom 'Douglas inscribed those well-known verses and that title air which now bear her name and are so wonderfully plaintive and chaste for the time.' She did not marry her ardent lover- who is supposed to have been killed in Flanders though this has not been confirmed historically- but, instead, was wedded to Alexander Fergusson of Craigdarroch in 1709. She is also the mother of the triumphant hero in Burns's poem 'The Whistle'. 13 Robert Emmet: Irish patriot (1778-1803) who tried to induce Napoleon and Talleyrand to support Irish independence. He led a rising in which he attempted to seize Dublin Castle and capture the Viceroy, in consequence of which he was tried by court-martial and hanged. See also note to 'She is far from the land' on p. 508. 14 'grasp this sorry scheme of things entire, and mould life nearer to the heart's desire': quotation from The Rubdiyat ofOmar Khayydm by Edward Fitzgerald (1809-83). 14 dungarees: overalls, usually made of denim. 1 14 minded: cared about. 15 There's no flies on Tommy: he is sharp and doesn't miss anything. 15 burgeons: Minnie really means 'burdens'. 15 a nod's as good as a wink to a blind horse: that is, there is no need to say anything; we understand.

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