Irish literature in transition general editors: Claire Connolly (University College Cork) Marjorie Howes (Boston College) ; 1: Irish literature in transition 1700 1780 William Dunkins exuberant comic poem The Parsons Revels offers a useful starting point for this collection because it gives voice to something of the complexity of eighteenthcentury culture in Ireland. The poems setting is a Christmas time feast held in the mid 1740s at Beauchamp Hall near Athy Co. Kildare Starting points Philosophical and political frameworks Local national and transnational contexts Gender and sexuality Transcultural contexts.