Gendered Spaces in Contemporary Irish Poetry

Kearneyís work, discussion problematizes how the notion of
migration, introduced in the work of Heaney, is developed within
contemporary Irish poetry as a whole.
Bringing together post-colonial, feminist and post-nationalist
theorization of identity, it is interesting to consider what effect
concerns with fluid identity and migration have on our understanding
of gendered and national identity as represented within poetry from
Ireland today. How far do the poets undermine the authenticity upon
which the representation of ëWomaní and ëNationí are founded? As a
first step towards answering this question, the following section
provides an introduction to post-colonial debate regarding Irish
identity. The beginning of each section introduces key concepts
regarding the theorization of identity so as to investigate the
intellectual agenda of the poets while also noticing the ways in which
their poetry inflects, develops and problematizes our understanding of
subjectivity in relation to identity politics.