The Plough and the Stars (15 page)

1
Maggie – elsewhere Mrs Gogan’s first name is given as Jenny and Cissie, a sign of the playwright carelessly at work.

2
derogatory – critical, ascribing blame. But Fluther uses the word to suit all occasions.

3
foostherin’ – bustling about fussily (Dolan,
Dictionary of Hiberno-English
).

4
canonicals – clerical dress. Presumably Mrs Gogan means ‘regimentals’ or military dress.

–
Citizen Army – the Irish Citizen Army was founded by Jim Larkin in November 1913 as a defence force for the Dublin workers during the great lock-out of 1913–14. O’Casey was the secretary for a time.

–
Liberty Hall – headquarters of the Irish Transport and General Workers’ Union and of the Irish Citizen Army, located in Beresford Place.

5
figaries – Mrs Gogan possibly means ‘filigree’, ornamental work. ‘Figary’ (Hiberno-English) could mean ‘stylish clothing’ (Dolan,
Dictionary of Hiberno-English
).

6
Covey – a smart alec, a know-all person (Ayling,
Seven Plays,
glossary).

—
Plough an’ th’ Stars – the banner of the Irish Citizen Army.

—
in seculo seculorum
– for all eternity.

7
cunundhrums – conundrums, riddles. Here and throughout (compare ‘mollycewels’ for ‘molecules’ or ‘wurum’ for ‘worm’) O’Casey renders Dublin speech phonetically.

8
Georgina: The Sleepin’ Vennis –
The Sleeping Venus
by Giorgione, sixteenth-century Italian painter.

9
Dear harp o’ me counthry – one of the popular melodies of the Irish poet and songwriter Thomas Moore (1779–1852).

10
where your bowsey battlin’ ’ll meet, maybe, with an encore – where your drunken fighting may be welcome. (Note the theatrical term ‘encore’.)

11
Jenersky’s
Thesis
– a fictional Marxist text.

—
whole – complete. The phrase is Dublinese, ‘a great fellow’.

12
a glass o’ malt – whiskey.

13
to speak proud things, an’ lookin’ like a mighty one – a possible quotation from the Bible, untraced.

—
g’up ower o’ that – go away. Nora’s rather refined speech here lapses into colloquialism (the phrase is spoken as one word); ower – ‘out’.

14
sorra – no (Hiberno-English, emphatic negative).

—
the Foresters
– according to O’Casey, ‘The Irish National Foresters is merely a benevolent Society, and those who wear the costume worn by Peter are a subject of amusement to intelligent Irishmen’ (French’s acting edition, 1932, p. 80).

15
Oh, where’s th’ slave so lowly – another of Moore’s
Irish Melodies
, 1807.

16
varmint – vermin (Ayling,
Seven Plays
, glossary).

17
The Soldiers’ Song
– by Peadar Kearney (1883–1942), first published in 1912, later the Irish national anthem.

18
yous’ll not escape from th’ arrow that flieth be night – quotation from the Bible, Psalms 91: 5.

—
titther – tittle, particle.

19
Curse o’ God on th’ haporth – Dublin slang for ‘nothing at all’; ‘haporth’ – halfpenny-worth.

—
It is a glorious thing … of them! – lines taken from ‘The Coming Revolution’ (1913), a speech by Pádraic Pearse (1879–1916), leader of the Irish Volunteers.

20
gems – possibly ‘gentlemen’ (ironic).

—
dhrink Loch Erinn dhry – colloquial expression for great thirst; presumably referring to Lough Erne in Co. Fermanagh.

—
Wolfe Tone – Theobald Wolfe Tone (1763–98), founder of the United Irishmen, whose grave in Bodenstown, Co. Kildare, became a shrine for republicans from the centenary of Tone’s death in 1898. See also the note to p. 40.

21
vice versa – the opposite way.

—
Comrade soldiers … country – lines from ‘Peace and the Gael’ (1915), a speech by Pádraic Pearse. The next sentence in the speech here is O’Casey’s addition. It may be noted that Pearse’s speech was delivered in
December
1915, one month after O’Casey’s specified time for Act Two.

22
shinannickin’ afther Judies – chasing girls. The word ‘shenanigans’, or ‘shinannickin’, is usually a noun meaning, colloquially, ‘mischievous behaviour, trickery’ (Dolan,
Dictionary of Hiberno-English
).

23
Bodenstown – site of cemetery in Co. Kildare where the grave of Theobald Wolfe Tone is located (see note to p. 35).

24
little Catholic Belgium – the point here is that Bessie is a staunch Protestant with a son fighting in France.

25
flappers – flighty society girls.

—
a woman that is loud an’ stubborn … house – a qotation from the Bible, Proverbs 7: 11. The reference is to a ‘harlot’ or whore.

26
Cissie Gogan – compare ‘Maggie’ (p. 5) and ‘Jenny’ (p. 44).

—
The last sixteen months … God! – a second quotation from Pádraic Pearse’s speech ‘Peace and the Gael’ (1915).

—
Saint Vincent de Paul – a charitable organisation which gives vouchers to the poor for food and clothing.

27
precept upon precept … little – a quotation from the Bible, Isaiah 28: 10. The passage is an attack on drunkards.

—
weddin’ lines – marriage certificate (Ayling,
Seven Plays
, glossary).

—
Jinnie Gogan – earlier (p. 43), Mrs Gogan gave her first name as Cissie and at the outset (p. 5) as ‘Maggie’. O’Casey was not usually careless over such details.

28
dawny – frail.

29
gom – a silly, a foolish person (Dolan,
Dictionary of Hiberno-English
).

30
chiselur – child (usually spelt ‘chiseller’, Dublin slang).

—
Shan Van Vok – Fluther’s rendering of the Gaelic,
Sean Bhean Bhocht
, or ‘poor old woman’, i.e., Ireland.

31
bowsey – a disreputable drunkard; Dublin slang, perhaps related to ‘booze’ (Dolan,
Dictionary of Hiberno-English
).

32
malignifed – Fluther means ‘maligned’, insulted.

—
clatther – blow (Hiberno-English).

33
Our foes are strong … peace! – from Pádraic Pearse’s ‘O’Donovan Rossa – Graveside Oration’ (1915).

34
I once had a lover … th’ bed! – Rosie’s song was cut from the first production in 1926 at the horrified insistence of the government representative on the Abbey Board.

35
put much pass on – take much notice of.

—
aself – itself, i.e. ‘even’.

36
GPO – the General Post Office in O’Connell Street, headquarters of the 1916 Rising.

37
gunboat
Helga
– the
Helga
did not come up the Liffey until the Wednesday of Easter Week, the Rising having begun on Monday.

—
shanghaied – forced into a situation from which there is no escape.

—
th’ boyo – Uncle Peter.

38
Orange – Mrs Burgess is a Protestant and unionist, which may be enough to identify her with the Orange Society in Northern Ireland (founded 1794 as a defence organisation dedicated to that first great loyalist King William of Orange (1650–1702)). Thus, here, ‘Orange’ means ‘loyalist’.

39
Sorra mend th’ lasses – bad luck to the women (Dublinese).

40
only for – if it wasn’t for.

—
th’ tossers – the coins and strip of wood with which to play ‘pitch-and-toss’. The men would bet on whether the coins came up ‘heads’ or ‘harps’ (tails), the two sides of the Irish coinage.

—
oul’ son – a friendly greeting, gender-neutral.

41
a juice … a tanner – two (old) pence, and six (old) pence. Before decimalisation in 1971 there were twelve pennies in a shilling and hence a special coin for sixpence, half a shilling.

42
th’ Volunteers – that is, those in O’Connell Street, who fired on the Irish themselves in an attempt to stop the looting (compare pp. 70–71).

43
Wrathmines – the fashionable suburb of Rathmines, its higher class designated by the fancy (British) pronunciation.

44
from backside to breakfast time – a Dublin expression: inside out.

—
kinch – twist (Ayling,
Seven Plays
, glossary).

—
sorra mind I’d mind – I wouldn’t mind in the least (‘sorra’ = sorrow = strong negative).

—
met with a dhrop – got a shock.

45
mot – girl (Dublin slang).

46
The Minsthrel Boys – the patriots. The reference is to Thomas Moore’s poem, ‘The Minstrel Boy to the war is gone’,
Irish Melodies
, 1807.

47
shelter me safely in th’ shadow of Thy wings – from Psalms 91: 4.

48
a nose – suspicion.

—
pimpin’ – spying.

—
Danes … Brian Boru – in 1014 Brian Boru, high king of Ireland, won a decisive battle against the Danes at Clontarf.

—
Spuds up again – spades are trumps again. They are playing ‘twenty-five’.

49
hand runnin’ – in succession.

50
gone west – dead. The phrase was much used during World War I.

—
sorrow may endure … mornin’ – a quotation from the Bible, Psalms 30: 5. O’Casey replaced ‘weeping’ with ‘sorrow’.

—
Lead, kindly light – a hymn written in 1832 by John Henry Cardinal Newman (1801–90), a convert well known to Dubliners, since he founded the Catholic University (later University College, Dublin) at St Stephen’s Green in 1854.

51
a man’s a man – echo of a poem by Robert Burns (1759–96), ‘For a’ that, and a’ that’.

52
join hup – conscription was a controversial subject in Ireland in 1916, but was successfully kept out.

—
Shinners – members of Sinn Féin.

53
redjesthered – registered (professional).

—
picaroons – thieves.

54
blighter – contemptible or annoying person.

55
They were summoned … ’owme! – the popular World War I song by Ivor Novello (1893–1951).

Ayling, Ronald, ‘Notes’ in
Seven Plays by Sean O’Casey: A Students’ Edition
, London: Macmillan, 1985.

Dolan, Terence Patrick,
A Dictionary of Hiberno-English: The Irish Use of English
, Dublin: Gill and Macmillan, 1998.