Parnell

Parnell - meaning Summary

A Promise and Contradiction

This brief poem presents Charles Stewart Parnell as a political leader making a grand promise of Irish freedom while an ordinary laborer responds with practical skepticism, saying he will "still break stone." It compresses the tension between nationalist rhetoric and everyday hardship, suggesting that political pledges can feel distant or irrelevant to those who continue to endure manual toil. The tone is ironic and economical.