Book contents
- A History of Irish Women’s Poetry
- A History of Irish Women’s Poetry
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Notes on Contributors
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction I
- Introduction II
- Chapter 1 Women in the Medieval Poetry Business
- Chapter 2 Seventeenth-Century Women’s Poetry in Ireland
- Chapter 3 The Oral Tradition
- Chapter 4 Archipelagic Ireland
- Chapter 5 Irish Romanticism
- Chapter 6 Mary Tighe in Life, Myth, and Literary Vicissitude
- Chapter 7 Masculinity, Nationhood, and the Irish Woman Poet, 1860–1922
- Chapter 8 The Eclipse of Dora Sigerson
- Chapter 9 Between Revivalist Lyric and Irish Modernism
- Chapter 10 The Other ‘Northern Renaissance’
- Chapter 11 Rematriating Mid-Century Modernism
- Chapter 12 Accidental Irishness and the Transnational Legacy of Lola Ridge
- Chapter 13 Crisis and Renewal: Irish-Language Poetry in the Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries
- Chapter 14 The Poetry of Máire Mhac an tSaoi and the Indivisibility of Love
- Chapter 15 Biddy Jenkinson
- Chapter 16 Bilingual Poetry
- Chapter 17 Catholicism in Modern Irish Women’s Poetry
- Chapter 18 1970s–80s Feminism
- Chapter 19 The Art of Fabrication
- Chapter 20 Eavan Boland, History and Silence
- Chapter 21 Paula Meehan and the Public Poem
- Chapter 22 Formalism and Contemporary Women’s Poetry
- Chapter 23 ‘A Song Said Otherwise’
- Chapter 24 Contemporary Irish Women’s Poetry, beyond the Now
- Select Bibliography
- Index
Chapter 14 - The Poetry of Máire Mhac an tSaoi and the Indivisibility of Love
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 June 2021
- A History of Irish Women’s Poetry
- A History of Irish Women’s Poetry
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Notes on Contributors
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction I
- Introduction II
- Chapter 1 Women in the Medieval Poetry Business
- Chapter 2 Seventeenth-Century Women’s Poetry in Ireland
- Chapter 3 The Oral Tradition
- Chapter 4 Archipelagic Ireland
- Chapter 5 Irish Romanticism
- Chapter 6 Mary Tighe in Life, Myth, and Literary Vicissitude
- Chapter 7 Masculinity, Nationhood, and the Irish Woman Poet, 1860–1922
- Chapter 8 The Eclipse of Dora Sigerson
- Chapter 9 Between Revivalist Lyric and Irish Modernism
- Chapter 10 The Other ‘Northern Renaissance’
- Chapter 11 Rematriating Mid-Century Modernism
- Chapter 12 Accidental Irishness and the Transnational Legacy of Lola Ridge
- Chapter 13 Crisis and Renewal: Irish-Language Poetry in the Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries
- Chapter 14 The Poetry of Máire Mhac an tSaoi and the Indivisibility of Love
- Chapter 15 Biddy Jenkinson
- Chapter 16 Bilingual Poetry
- Chapter 17 Catholicism in Modern Irish Women’s Poetry
- Chapter 18 1970s–80s Feminism
- Chapter 19 The Art of Fabrication
- Chapter 20 Eavan Boland, History and Silence
- Chapter 21 Paula Meehan and the Public Poem
- Chapter 22 Formalism and Contemporary Women’s Poetry
- Chapter 23 ‘A Song Said Otherwise’
- Chapter 24 Contemporary Irish Women’s Poetry, beyond the Now
- Select Bibliography
- Index
Summary
The publication of Máire Mhac an tSaoi’s Margadh na Saoire in 1956 marked a revolutionary moment in Irish women’s poetry. Mhac an tSaoi came from the elite stock of the new state, and as the daughter of politician Sean McEntee experienced Irish history as very much a family affair. Her childhood experiences of the Kerry Gaeltacht were heavily formative, and her intimacy with folk songs and the dán grá tradition leave a strong influence on her early work. This work stood out strongly for its frank and radical treatment of sex, love, and the female sphere in Irish life. Her writing on themes of motherhood situates itself in the currents of debate over subsequent decades on reproductive rights, and paints a withering portrait of patriarchal control over women’s bodies. Subsequent poems tackle issues ranging from commemorations of the 1916 Rising to the Holocaust, and confirm her as one of the great modern Irish lyric poets.
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- Information
- A History of Irish Women's Poetry , pp. 255 - 269Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2021