Analysis Of The Sniper By Liam O Flaherty

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The Sniper by Liam O’Flaherty is a poem about a poor man trapped in the middle of a civil war. In the beginning of the poem, he is seen as a cold, terrible man, but as the poem progresses the reader becomes more sympathetic to him when he is remorseful for the actions he has taken during his time of battle lust. The poem begins with the man on a rooftop above the city of Dublin, a Republican sniper, waiting to take down his enemies. A woman walks past and spots him, turns to tell authorities of his position when the firing of his gun causes her to “[fall] with a sudden shriek into the gutter” (1). The act of shooting a woman to save himself is a cruel act, especially in the 1920’s when the assault of a woman would have seemed atrocious to any

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