The First World War in Irish poetry
By: Jim Haughey.
Publisher: Bucknell University Press; Associated University Presses
Published: 2002
Place of publication: Lewisburg [PA]; London; Cranbury, NJ
Language: eng
Number of pages: 309
Subjects: English poetry -- Irish authors -- History and criticism.; World War, 1914-1918 -- Ireland -- Literature and the war.; English poetry -- 20th century -- History and criticism.; War poetry, English -- History and criticism.; Ireland -- In literature.
Description: "Drawing on the work of over thirty Irish poets whose careers span the twentieth century, from soldier poets like Francis Ledwidge to influential figures like Yeats, Joyce, and Heaney, Jim Haughey's The First World War in Irish Poetry provides the first comprehensive book-length study devoted to how Irish poets write the Great War.

While the book surveys a startling range of viewpoints expressed about the war from an Irish perspective, it also explores the extent to which Irish memory of the war has been politicized to serve warring political ideologies. By presenting a wide reading of the poets' war poetry, Haughey illustrates how inaccurate memories of the war further exacerbate existing political divisions and intensify sectarian hatred in Northern Ireland.

A recurring preoccupation of the book is its exploration of the extent to which Irish war poetry (and popular culture) is suffused with unionist and nationalist mythographies which either read the war as a glorious imperial sacrifice or largely ignore it as a colonial sideshow to the Easter Rebellion."--BOOK JACKET.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 287-302) and index.