"
The Wind That Shakes the Barley" is an Irish ballad written by
Robert Dwyer Joyce (1836–1883), a
Limerick-born poet and professor of English literature. The song is written from the perspective of a doomed young
Wexford rebel who is about to sacrifice his relationship with his loved one and plunge into the cauldron of violence associated with the
1798 rebellion in
Ireland. The references to
barley in the song derive from the fact that the rebels often carried barley or oats in their pockets as provisions for when on the march. This gave rise to the post-rebellion phenomenon of barley growing and marking the "
croppy-holes," mass unmarked graves into which slain rebels were thrown, symbolizing the regenerative nature of Irish resistance to British rule. As the barley will grow every year in the Spring time of the year this is said to symbolize Irish resistance to British oppression and that Ireland will never yield and will always oppose British rule on the island.