"Places where a thought might grow": The historical context of the poetry of Derek Mahon.

Title: "Places where a thought might grow": The historical context of the poetry of Derek Mahon.
Identifier: AAI9605612
identifier: 9605612
Creator: King, Patricia McGovern.
Contributor: Adviser: Catherine McKenna
Date: 1995
Language: English
Publisher: City University of New York.
Subject: Literature, English | Literature, Modern
Abstract: This dissertation examines the poetry of Derek Mahon as it relates to the historical background of contemporary Northern Ireland. My reading of Mahon's work explores the tension between text and context, the contested juncture between the private space of the poem on the page and the public space of political conflict.;Chapter 1 charts Mahon's relation to his home place and the manner in which his growth as a poet coincides with his affirmation of places like Derry and Belfast as integral parts of the Irish literary landscape. Chapter 2 focuses on Mahon's questioning of the Northern poets' place in the Irish literary tradition, while chapter 3 studies the complexity of the Irish poets' relation to the English literary tradition.;The conclusion locates Mahon as an exemplary figure of the poet in a troubled time, sustaining a balance between poetry as an expression of the Yeatsian "lonely impulse of delight" and poetry as the cry of a people's pain.
Type: dissertation
Source: PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
degree: Ph.D.

Media: "Places where a thought might grow": The historical context of the poetry of Derek Mahon.