Whether in the form of idealised ancient times or the representation of more recent political
events Irish national history often obtained a central position in the work of many Irish
poets throughout the twentieth century. In more recent years however these strong ties
between poetry and history appear to have been severed: As current research suggests many
contemporary Irish poets who started publishing their works around the year 2000 have turned
their poetic focus away from national concerns and thus have exchanged the topic of Irish
national history for a more 'post-national' present-day perspective. Yet this impression is
misleading as the present book will show. By analysing selected poems by Iggy McGovern Tom
French Vona Groarke Martina Evans Leanne O'Sullivan Paul Perry Lorna Shaughnessy Paula
Cunningham as well as the more intensively researched writers Paula Meehan and Paul Durcan
this study will argue that Irish history still finds its proper place in the work of
contemporary Irish poets. More specifically this book will focus on one of the most dominant
ways of remembering Ireland's past in recent poetry: the negotiation of history via liminal
remembrance which refers to the observation that many contemporary Irish poems represent
aspects of Irish history in between being remembered and being forgotten at the same time.
CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ...................................................................
ix 1. INTRODUCTION: WHERE DID ALL THE HISTORY GO?
................................................ 1 2. WHAT IS LIMINAL REMEMBRANCE?
.............................. 92.1 Liminal Remembrance: The Concept of Liminality
.............................................. 92.2 Liminal Remembrance: Remembering and
Forgetting ...................................... 112.3 Liminal Remembrance the Album and the
Lexicon .......................................... 16 3. LIMINAL REMEMBRANCE IN CONTEMPORARY
IRISH POETRY ............ 233.1 Some General Features of Liminal Remembrance
........................................... 233.2 Type I: Indirect Memories of National History
.................................................... 26Poems of Minimal Discrepancy
......................................................................... 28To Smithereens
(Vona Groarke) 28 · The News in 1974 (IggyMcGovern) 33Poems of Medium Discrepancy
......................................................................... 36At Shelling Hill
(Paula Meehan) 36 · Townland (Leanne O'Sullivan) 41Poems of Large Discrepancy
............................................................................ 44Commute (Tom
French) 44 · Arrival (Iggy McGovern) 483.3 Type II: National History and Family Memory
.................................................... 52National History in Single Family
Stories .......................................................... 52The Hyacinth under the
Stairs (Paula Cunningham) 54 · The Scar(Tom French) 61National History and the Family Collage
........................................................... 64Of the gas stove and the
glimmerman (Paul Perry) 66 · The Jeep (IggyMcGovern) 713.4 Type III: National History and
Authentic Memory .............................................. 75Poems on Concrete Photographs
..................................................................... 79Red (Tom French) 79 ·
Manulla Junction (Paula Meehan) 81 · The Photographof My Aunts (Joan McBreen) 84National
History in 'Snapshot Memories' ..........................................................
85Moss (Tom French) 86 · Shelter (May 1976) (Lorna Shaughnessy) 89National History in 'Cl
