“Plant, Plant the Tree”
Description
Freedom's sun is rising for Ireland. "Despotic sway from France is chas'd, And church delusion's vanish'd"; Ireland needs the same. "Plant ... fair Freedom's Tree." The French will help. "Erin Go Bragh" will replace "God Save the King." Wars will end
Notes
Evidently a reference to the events of the 1790s, when the French Revolution seemed to portend freedom for many nations. The irony is that instead it led to the Reign of Terror, and Napoleon, and not much else. Indeed, Ireland would see her freedom reduced; since 1782, she had had some internal autonomy under Grattan's Parliament (see the notes to "Ireland's Glory"). But the French were in fact very little help (see the notes to "The Shan Van Voght"), and Ireland would suffer first the 1798 rebellion and then the Union of the Parliaments. - RBW
References
- Zimmermann 5, "Plant, Plant the Tree" (1 text, 1 tune)
- Moylan 19, "Plant, Plant the Tree" (1 text, 1 tune)
- BI, Zimm005