nationality, and she loosely connects this trend with post-colonial and
postmodern theories. However, Wills’s discussion is confined to
focusing on poetry from the North of Ireland and does not make
detailed comparison with Southern Irish poets. Neither does her
commentary on the poems engage in any depth with contemporary
theorization of identity formation.
Therefore, an uncovered area for debate is to explore gender and
nation in terms of the relationship between the representation of the
national body and national space, in male and female poets from both
the North and the South of Ireland. This develops Wills’s argument by
addressing poets from the South of Ireland, exploring different ways
in which nationality is represented, while investigating the importance
of territory and the Partition in contemporary Irish poetry as a whole.
Asking how far the connection between the Irish territory and the
female body is addressed by contemporary poetry, this will be
problematized at a broader level with reference to feminist and post-
colonial theorization so as to reassess the configuration of ‘Woman’
and ‘Nation’ in Irish writing.
Irish Poetry and the Theorization of Identity
Hence, the approach of this book is two fold: first, it explores identity
in terms of gender and nationality in contemporary Irish poetry;
second, it identifies the points of connection and disconnection
between Irish poetry and theorization of identity formation in the
fields of feminist and post-colonial theory. Oscillating between poetry
and theory each chapter provides a commentary that questions the
intellectual and political agenda of contemporary Irish poets, while
calling into question the implied divisions between theory, poetry and
a practical politics.
In view of this, the differing political positions of Irish critics
claiming to eschew and pursue the theorization of national identity are
explored. Drawing on the work of Carol Coulter, Luke Gibbons, Colin
Graham, Declan Kiberd, Richard Kearney, Edna Longley, Gerardine
Meaney, Gerry Smyth and Ailbhe Smyth, discussion throughout