Poquette has a bachelor's degree in English and specializes in writing about literature. In the following essay, Poquette discusses O'Casey's use of symbolism in the play.

Beginning with his first plays, O'Casey was noted for his use of realism in drama. As Bernard Benstock says in his book Sean O'Casey, O'Casey "changed the nature of Irish drama from peasant comedies to a presumably realistic drama of Dublin slum life." As he progressed in his career, O'Casey continued to use realistic elements in his plays, but he also began to explore the use of literary techniques such as symbolism. A symbol is a physical object, action, or gesture that also represents an abstract concept, without losing its original identity. Symbols appear in literature in one of two ways: They can be local symbols, meaning that their symbolism is only relevant within a specific literary work; they can also...