Sympathetic Ink: Intertextual Relations in Northern Irish Poetry
Shane Alcobia-Murphy
Abstract
Northern Irish poets have been notably reticent when addressing political issues in their work, a tendency that this book traces through the works of Seamus Heaney, Paul Muldoon, and Medbh McGuckian. Using collections of the poets' papers made only recently available, the author focuses on the oblique, subtle strategies the poets apply to critique contemporary political issues. He employs the concept of sympathetic ink, or invisible ink, arguing that rather than avoiding politics, these poets have, via complex intertextual references and resonances, woven them deeply into the formal constructi ... More
Northern Irish poets have been notably reticent when addressing political issues in their work, a tendency that this book traces through the works of Seamus Heaney, Paul Muldoon, and Medbh McGuckian. Using collections of the poets' papers made only recently available, the author focuses on the oblique, subtle strategies the poets apply to critique contemporary political issues. He employs the concept of sympathetic ink, or invisible ink, arguing that rather than avoiding politics, these poets have, via complex intertextual references and resonances, woven them deeply into the formal construction of their works.
Keywords:
Northern Ireland,
poetry,
politics,
Seamus Heaney,
Paul Muldoon,
Medbh McGuckian,
intertextual references,
resonances
Bibliographic Information
| Print publication date: 2006 |
Print ISBN-13: 9781846310324 |
| Published to Liverpool Scholarship Online: June 2013 |
DOI:10.5949/UPO9781846314148 |
