A Difficult Birth, Easter 1998
by Gillian Clarke
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The title is specific
and refers to the
literal difficult birth
of a ewe.
A Difficult Birth, Easter 1998
An old ewe that somehow till this year
had given the ram the slip. We thought her barren.
Good Friday, and the Irish peace deal close,
and tonight she’s serious, restless and hoofing the straw.
The double meaning
is reinforced in the
first stanza and
second stanzas.
They prepare to
celebrate news of
the peace process
but are interrupted
by a ewe in labour.
We put off the quiet supper and bottle of wine
we’d planned, to celebrate if the news is good.
Her waters broke an hour ago and she’s sipped
her own lost salty ocean from the ground.
While they slog it out in Belfast, eight decades
since Easter 1916, exhausted, tamed by pain,
she licks my fingers with a burning tongue,
lies down again. Two hooves and a muzzle.
Clarke also says that the
timing links to the
resurrection of Christ,
celebrated at Easter.
This is hinted at during
the poem.
But the lamb won’t come. You phone for help
and step into the lane to watch for car lights.
This is when the whitecoats come to the women,
The first lamb is
eventually born and
the second comes
more easily. The
scene is peaceful,
possibly mirroring
the peace following
the peace process
It also has a wider,
metaphorical meaning
linked to the Good
Friday Agreement. This
extended metaphor runs
throughout the poem.
well meaning, knowing best, with their needles and forceps.
So I ease my fingers in, take the slippery head
in my right hand, two hooves in my left.
We strain together, harder than we dared.
I feel a creak in the limbs and pull till he comes
in a syrupy flood. She drinks him, famished, and you find us
peaceful, at a cradling that might have been a death.
Then the second lamb slips through her opened door,
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the stone rolled away.
The birth is not straight
forward and they call for
the vet. Clarke reacts
against this and helps
the ewe herself.
The double meaning is reinforced in the first stanza. They prepare to celebrate
news of the peace process but are interrupted by a ewe in labour.
They’d waited so long that they’d given up hope.
This could be seen as a metaphor for the hopeless
waiting for the troubles to end in Ireland
As are the
people
waiting on
the Good
Friday
Agreement
Literally they thought the ewe
was barren but this could also
refer, metaphorically, to the
loss of hope prior to the
agreement
An old ewe that somehow till this year
had given the ram the slip. We thought her barren.
Good Friday, and the Irish peace deal close,
and tonight she’s serious, restless and hoofing the straw.
We put off the quiet supper and bottle of wine
we’d planned, to celebrate if the news is good.
Clarke tells us that there is a third story in this poem; that of Christ’s resurrection.
What words in this stanza link to religion and, specifically, Easter?
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Clarke mixes ideas between the ewe’s
labour and the conflict in Ireland. One is
used metaphorically for the other.
Ironically they
aren’t literally
‘slogging’ it out
as they have
done in the past
but discussing
the details of
peace.
The labour is going on too
long, emphasising the
difficulty of the birth. Link this
idea to the peace process.
Her waters broke an hour ago and she’s sipped
her own lost salty ocean from the ground.
While they slog it out in Belfast, eight decades
since Easter 1916, exhausted, tamed by pain,
she licks my fingers with a burning tongue,
lies down again. Two hooves and a muzzle.
Exhausted and forced to make peace after eight
decades of violence and pain in the province.
This is
deliberately
placed in between
the peace process
and the birth as it
applies to both.
Literal exhaustion of the ewe
Could this refer to the spiteful tongues of the men involved in the conflict.
The lamb is nearly there in the same sense as peace has almost been achieved
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This statement at the start of
the third stanza shows the
poet’s anxiety for both the
lamb and the peace process.
The vet is called.
The writer seems to rebel against
this - men thinking they know
best, even about birth
But the lamb won’t come. You phone for help
and step into the lane to watch for car lights.
This is when the whitecoats come to the women,
well meaning, knowing best, with their needles and forceps.
So I ease my fingers in, take the slippery head
in my right hand, two hooves in my left.
Clarke says, “The statement is slightly ironic, a note of caution rather than a
serious condemnation of surgical intervention in birth. It is a gentle rebuke, not
a condemnation of doctors, vets, or science.”
The poet represents two mothers working together for a
common goal. This image is reinforced in the next stanza.
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Poet and ewe strain together
perhaps in the same sense
that the members of the
peace process strain together
towards a common goal.
The scene is calm and full of promise
and hope. The poet stresses the close
relationship between life and death.
Hinting, possibly, at the enemies working
closely together to bring peace
We strain together, harder than we dared.
I feel a creak in the limbs and pull till he comes
in a syrupy flood. She drinks him, famished, and you find us
peaceful, at a cradling that might have been a death.
Then the second lamb slips through her opened door,
the stone rolled away.
Shorter than the other lines,
stressing the simple, natural,
miracle that has occurred.
Again this links to the
resurrection of Christ and
suggests images of rebirth, life
and new hope.
Following the difficulty of the first birth
the second lamb ‘slips through’ with
ease. This is Clarke’s way of stressing
the fact that the first step towards
something is always the hardest.
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Review
•
In the poem Clarke explores her love of nature
as well as her concern over the way war and
peace is brought about in the world.
1. Link the events in the birth of the lamb with
those of the peace process.
2. Find evidence to suggest this poem is
optimistic/pessimistic.
3. What view of nature is expressed in this
poem?
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Comparisons
At a Potato Digging
• Both writers depict natural events, familiar to country people or farm
workers, and relate them to history and wider political perspectives specific to Ireland in both cases.
• Whereas Heaney’s poem is in clear sections Clarke mixes up the
details of the two narratives (lamb’s birth and peace process).
Storm on the Island
• It has been suggested that Storm… is metaphorically referring to the
troubles in Ireland. What evidence is there to back this view up?
• If this is the case then a comparison of these two poems and the use
of extended metaphor would seem appropriate.
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Comparisons
Sonnet: Clare
• Both poems present nature in a positive way
• Whereas Clare simply presents a beautiful natural scene Clarke
interposes this with the troubles in Ireland and the hope which
accompanied the peace process
The Eagle Tennyson
•Natural beauty is presented in both
•Both are from the point of view of an observer
•One is a real experience the other is at least partly imaginary
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