The Planter\'s Daughter Essay PDF

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Notes on Austin Clarke's poem 'The Planter's Daughter'...

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The Planter's Daughter by Austin Clarke is primarily a poem about the poet's admiration for a beautiful woman, in this case the daughter of a planter, but also provides an important social commentary on the historical state of Ireland at the time. A planter was an English or Scotsman who bought cheap land in Ireland from the government around the 17th century, who then employed local people to work on it. Planters were wealthy and powerful Protestants, so the social status of a planter would make his daughter unobtainable to the working classes. Clarke sets the scene beautifully with the first two lines, establishing a cosy, intimate setting that describes parochial life. We appear to be in some sort of social setting, perhaps a pub. We get an insight into the life of the villagers in what appears to be a close-knit, possibly introverted community, which would be difficult for the planter's daughter, essentially an outsider, to break in to. In terms of form, the poem is written in two neat eight-line stanzas. There is a subtle musicality about the poem, with delicate sound effects in phrases such as 'stirred at sea' and 'music in mouth', sometimes also with hints of end rhyme and half-rhyme. The third and fourth lines further reinforce the feeling of small-town Irish life in the poem, where villagers make small talk about other people. The third line begins with "They say", as if a ghost story is being told. The planter's daughter is the spearhead, an almost legendarily beautiful woman. It comes across as though she is at a distance to everyone else, because she is part of a higher class.

Clarke does not explicitly describe what makes the girl beautiful in typical fashion. He does not speak about her hair, or her lips or any other symbol of beauty typical of poems like this, rather he implies it through lyrical lines such as "... her beauty Was music in mouth" The use of the word 'candlelight' adds to the intimacy of the setting. The village people seem mesmerised by this girl. We learn from the fifth and sixth lines of the first stanza that she is modest; "and few in the candlelight Thought her too proud" Normally the planter's daughter would be too aloof to associate with the working class but this particular woman is down to earth. The last two lines of the first stanza could be a clever play on words. Why are trees brought into the poem? Could it just be Clarke using striking, memorable imagery, or is there more behind it? Indeed, trees are physically planted, but here 'to plant', has an entirely different meaning. The planter is not the planter of the trees. Or perhaps it simply shows the wealth of the planter — he has enough land and money to be able to afford to plant trees around his property. At the beginning of the second stanza, we hear the second-hand comments of the locals. The girl evokes different emotions. The clever juxtaposition of the men who were silent but the women who were "speaking wherever she went" is very effective. The men were

lost for words to describe her beauty, but the women spoke about her, perhaps out of envy, or awe. The three metaphors in the last four lines of the second stanza are perhaps the most intriguing lines of the whole poem. 'A bell that is rung' is a delicate tinkling noise, but is not typically used to describe beauty. To look at the connotations of the word 'bell', one would think of alarm bells, or bells at a church. A bell is normally used to attract attention. This line is peculiar, it could mean any of a number of things. Perhaps it simply means that she attracted attention wherever she went. "A wonder told shyly" shrouds the planter's daughter in mystery. Her life to the locals is a secret, but not just a secret, a wonder. The last two lines of the poem wrap it up nicely with another memorable image; "And O she was the Sunday In every week." At the time of writing of this poem, Sunday would have been a bigger deal than it is today. It would be a day of rest, a day of worship for the tenantry and a day to dress in your best clothes. Sunday would be something to look forward to or be excited about, and essentially that is the feeling that the poet is trying to convey here. In conclusion, it is fair to say that the story of the poem is actually the effect of the unattainable girl on the community, and not an ode to the girl herself.

Laura Enright...