Four Green Fields - Content and Meaning

Content and Meaning

The song tells of an old woman who had four green fields; and how strangers tried to take them from her; and how her sons 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 a parable of the status of Northern Ireland following the Partition_of_Ireland. The four fields are seen as the Provinces of Ireland with Ulster being the "field" that is still part of the United_kingdom under the terms of the Belfast_Agreement. The old woman is seen as a traditional personification of Ireland herself (see Kathleen Ni Houlihan). The words spoken by the woman in Makem's song are taken directly from "Cathleen ni Houlihan", an early play by W. B. Yeats.