Classical Presences in Irish Poetry after 1960

Florence Impens is Leverhulme Early Career Fellow at the University of Manchester, UK. She has previously lived, studied, and worked in France, Ireland, and the United States. Her research interests include Irish Studies, contemporary poetry in English, and reception studies.

• 1. A Brief Introduction: Rationale and Objectives.- 2. The Classics in Modern Irish Poetry.- 3. Seamus Heaney: ‘Lethe in Moyola’.- 4. Michael Longley: The ‘Lapsed Classicist’.- 5. Derek Mahon and Eavan Boland: Marginal Perspectives.- 6. A Classical ‘Revival’?.- Further Reading.

“This monograph offers a fresh and timely look at the classical tradition – and the function of the Classics – in the work of the Irish poets … . The book’s detailed critical exegesis and firm grasp of historical, literary and classical contexts will be of great value to scholars of classical reception and contemporary Irish poetry alike, and I.’s perceptive, often original insights into several of the poems and plays make a meaningful contribution to the field.” (Laura McKenzie, The Classical Review, Vol. 69 (1), April, 2019)