Book contents
- A History of Irish Literature and the Environment
- A History of Irish Literature and the Environment
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Contributors
- Introduction Culture, Climate, Capital, and Contagion
- Chapter 1 Landscape and Literature in Medieval Ireland
- Chapter 2 The Irish Annals and Climate, Fifth–Seventeenth Centuries CE
- Chapter 3 The Environmental Vocabulary of Irish Folklore
- Chapter 4 Narratives of Arboreal Landscapes
- Chapter 5 Famine and Ecology, 1750–1900
- Chapter 6 Political Ecology in Nationalist Literature, 1880–1922
- Chapter 7 Solastalgic Modernism and the West in Irish Literature, 1900–1950
- Chapter 8 The Ecology of the Irish Big House, 1900–1950
- Chapter 9 Refuge and Domestic Space in Northern Irish Poetry, ca. 1940–Present
- Chapter 10 Irish Travellers, the Environment, and Literature
- Chapter 11 The Oceanic Imaginaries of Modern Irish Writing
- Chapter 12 Landscape in Irish-Language Literature: Poetry and Prose, 1900–2000
- Chapter 13 Poetry and Place
- Chapter 14 Animals and Climate Crisis in Irish Poetry
- Chapter 15 Animals and Animality in Irish Fiction
- Chapter 16 The Political Ecology of Food and Hunger, 1950–Present
- Chapter 17 Built Environments and Lived Ecologies in Contemporary Irish Poetry, 1998–Present
- Chapter 18 Transnationalism and Environment in Contemporary Irish Literature
- Chapter 19 Energy Futures in Contemporary Irish Fiction
- Bibliography
- Index
Chapter 14 - Animals and Climate Crisis in Irish Poetry
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 14 July 2022
- A History of Irish Literature and the Environment
- A History of Irish Literature and the Environment
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Contributors
- Introduction Culture, Climate, Capital, and Contagion
- Chapter 1 Landscape and Literature in Medieval Ireland
- Chapter 2 The Irish Annals and Climate, Fifth–Seventeenth Centuries CE
- Chapter 3 The Environmental Vocabulary of Irish Folklore
- Chapter 4 Narratives of Arboreal Landscapes
- Chapter 5 Famine and Ecology, 1750–1900
- Chapter 6 Political Ecology in Nationalist Literature, 1880–1922
- Chapter 7 Solastalgic Modernism and the West in Irish Literature, 1900–1950
- Chapter 8 The Ecology of the Irish Big House, 1900–1950
- Chapter 9 Refuge and Domestic Space in Northern Irish Poetry, ca. 1940–Present
- Chapter 10 Irish Travellers, the Environment, and Literature
- Chapter 11 The Oceanic Imaginaries of Modern Irish Writing
- Chapter 12 Landscape in Irish-Language Literature: Poetry and Prose, 1900–2000
- Chapter 13 Poetry and Place
- Chapter 14 Animals and Climate Crisis in Irish Poetry
- Chapter 15 Animals and Animality in Irish Fiction
- Chapter 16 The Political Ecology of Food and Hunger, 1950–Present
- Chapter 17 Built Environments and Lived Ecologies in Contemporary Irish Poetry, 1998–Present
- Chapter 18 Transnationalism and Environment in Contemporary Irish Literature
- Chapter 19 Energy Futures in Contemporary Irish Fiction
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
This chapter focuses on the literary tradition of shape-shifting human-animal figures in early Irish and modern literature. Inspired by ecofeminist and multispecies scholarship, Kathryn Kirkpatrick argues that “Palpably dynamic, relational, and even dialectical, the shape-shifter dramatically embodies ... a relational epistemology, the self-made and known in relation to others, including animal others.” Indeed, shape-shifting is “a powerful trope in an era when human beings, particularly those of the first world, must transform and adapt quickly to climate crisis.” The essay chastises the severe shortcomings of contemporary politics to address the mass extinction of species and contextualizes the historical literary tradition of shape-shifting from the vantage point of contemporary concerns.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- A History of Irish Literature and the Environment , pp. 280 - 297Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2022