The speaker of the poem is an Irish woman (as specified in the final stanza, “Then not in vain my woman’s hand” [Line 45]) who is driven by patriotic loyalty to her country. The poem is told from the perspective of one who has been hurt by the damage which her country has undergone, but sees its proud potential. There are hints throughout the poem that the speaker herself feels powerless to incite this change, despite how much they believe in it; instead, they await the coming of someone who is in a better position to elevate Ireland to what the speaker knows it can become.