Four Green Fields
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''Four Green Fields'' is a 1967
folk song Folk music is a music genre that includes #Traditional folk music, traditional folk music and the Contemporary folk music, contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be c ...
by
Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...
musician
Tommy Makem Thomas Makem (4 November 1932 – 1 August 2007) was an internationally celebrated Irish folk musician, artist, poet and storyteller. He was best known as a member of the Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem. He played the long-necked 5-string banjo ...
, described in ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' as a "hallowed Irish leave-us-alone-with-our-beauty ballad." Of Makem's many compositions, it has become the most familiar, and is part of the common repertoire of Irish folk musicians.


Content and meaning

The song is about Ireland (personified as an “old woman”) and its four provinces (represented by “green fields”), one of which remains occupied (”taken”) by the British (the “strangers”) despite the best efforts of the Irish people (her “sons”), who died trying to defend them. Its middle stanza is a description of the violence and deprivation experienced by the Irish, including the people in Northern Ireland. At the end of the song, one of her fields still shows the promise of new growth: :"But my sons have sons, as brave as were their fathers; :My fourth green field will bloom once again," said she. The song is interpreted as an
allegorical As a literary device or artistic form, an allegory is a narrative or visual representation in which a character, place, or event can be interpreted to represent a hidden meaning with moral or political significance. Authors have used allegory th ...
political statement regarding the constitutional status of
Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...
. The four fields are seen as the
Provinces of Ireland There have been four Provinces of Ireland: Connacht (Connaught), Leinster, Munster, and Ulster. The Irish language, Irish word for this territorial division, , meaning "fifth part", suggests that there were once five, and at times Kingdom_of_ ...
with
Ulster Ulster (; ga, Ulaidh or ''Cúige Uladh'' ; sco, label= Ulster Scots, Ulstèr or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional Irish provinces. It is made up of nine counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United King ...
being the "field" that remained part of the
United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
after the
Irish Free State The Irish Free State ( ga, Saorstát Éireann, , ; 6 December 192229 December 1937) was a state established in December 1922 under the Anglo-Irish Treaty of December 1921. The treaty ended the three-year Irish War of Independence between th ...
separated. The old woman is seen as a traditional personification of Ireland herself (see
Kathleen Ni Houlihan Kathleen Ni Houlihan ( ga, Caitlín Ní Uallacháin, literally, "Kathleen, daughter of Houlihan") is a mythical symbol and emblem of Irish nationalism found in literature and art, sometimes representing Ireland as a personified woman. The f ...
). The words spoken by the woman in Makem's song are taken directly from "Cathleen ni Houlihan", an early play by W. B. Yeats. There was a version done by the High Kings.


Background

The concept of Four Green Fields representing the four provinces of Ireland had been used before, having been previously used in the 1939 stained glass work
My Four Green Fields ''My Four Green Fields'', is a stained glass window by Irish artist Evie Hone. The window depicts the four provinces of Ireland and, though the composition is complex, emblems and symbols of the four provinces can be clearly seen. It was commi ...
by
Evie Hone Eva Sydney Hone RHA (22 April 1894 – 13 March 1955), usually known as Evie, was an Irish painter and stained glass artist.Nicola Gordon Bowe (May 2009)Hone, Eva Sydney (1894–1955) ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', online editi ...
. Makem frequently described the song as having been inspired by a drive through the "no man's land" adjoining Northern Ireland, where he saw an old woman tending livestock. She was oblivious to the political boundaries that loomed so large in the public's eye; the land was older than the argument, and she didn't care what was shown on the map. Makem commonly sang the song as an encore.


See also

*
Kathleen Ni Houlihan Kathleen Ni Houlihan ( ga, Caitlín Ní Uallacháin, literally, "Kathleen, daughter of Houlihan") is a mythical symbol and emblem of Irish nationalism found in literature and art, sometimes representing Ireland as a personified woman. The f ...
*
Mise Éire ''Mise Éire'' (, Irish for "I mIreland") is a 1912 Irish-language poem by the Irish poet and Republican revolutionary leader Patrick Pearse. Background ''Mise Éire is'' a 1912 Irish-language poem by the Irish poet and Republican revolutio ...
*
Róisín Dubh (song) "Róisín Dubh" (; "Dark Rosaleen" or "Little Dark Rose"), written in the 16th century, is one of Ireland's most famous political songs. It is based on an older love-lyric which referred to the poet's beloved rather than, as here, being a metap ...
*
The Sean-Bhean bhocht "The Sean-Bhean bhocht" (; Irish for "Poor old woman"), often spelled phonetically as "Shan Van Vocht", is a traditional Irish song from the period of the Irish Rebellion of 1798, and dating in particular to the lead up to a French expedition to ...
*
Hibernia (personification) Hibernia as a national personification representing Ireland appeared in numerous cartoons and drawings, especially in the nineteenth century. As depicted in frequent cartoons in ''Punch'', a magazine outspokenly hostile to Irish nationalism, Hi ...


References

{{authority control 1967 songs Irish folk songs Personifications of Ireland National personifications