Palabras clave liminares. posiciones sus de entresijos los desde mujeres, bien reevaluándolas por vivida experiencia conla estereotipadas y abstractas femeninas figuras estas alineando bien irlandés, ynacionalismo sobre feminidad discursos los sitio donde revisar poderoso un como femeninos tropos estos utilizan contemporáneas irlandesas poetas que las revelará ensayo Este estructuralmente. liminares permanecen éstos alo cual, relación en sociedad, la de orden el en simbólico ingreso su para niños alos ypreparar pulsiones las regular para importante función una asumen madres que las que considera Kristeva, Julia según nidad mater la de sociedad la posición en la que caracteriza cultural localización mente misma la tradicional habitan irlandés nacionalismo del femeninos que los tropos demostrará análisis El nación. la de femeninas alegorías las de convencionales representaciones las reformula mujeres de irlandesas contemporánea que poesía la las en formas las examina ensayo Este Resumen rereading Irish traditions. words Key positions. liminal their within from them or by reevaluating experience, women’swith lived figures female stereotyped abstract, these aligning through either ism, national Irish and of femininity discourses the a potent site as for revising tropes female these use womenpoets Irish contemporary that show will paper This liminal. structurally remain themselves they to which order relation of society, in symbolic into the for entrance children preparing and drives the regulating in function important an assume mothers that argues who Kristeva, to Julia according of position motherhood societal the characterizes that location cultural same the inhabit nationalism of Irish tropes female traditionally that show will analysis The nation. of the allegories of female representations ventional con women’s revises Irish contemporary poetry which in ways the examines paper This Abstract nación irlandesa, de relecturas la tradición irlandesa. UNMOTHERLY NATIONS, MOTHERS: UNPATRIOTIC UNMOTHERLY Revista CanariadeEstudiosIngleses,68;April 2014,pp. 141-155; ISSN:0211-5913 : Irish women’s poetry, Kristeva, female representations and the Irish nation, nation, Irish the and representations female women’s: Irish Kristeva, poetry, OTHER IRELANDS IN CONTEMPORARY CONTEMPORARY IN IRELANDS OTHER : poesía de mujeres irlandesas, Kristeva, representaciones femeninas y la y la femeninas representaciones Kristeva, mujeres de irlandesas, : poesía WOMEN’S POETRY NUI Galway, Ireland NUI Katharina Walter Katharina
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REVISTA CANARIA DE ESTUDIOS INGLESES, 68; 2014, PP. 141-155 141 REVISTA CANARIA DE ESTUDIOS INGLESES, 68; 2014, PP. 141-155 142 maiden tells the stranger that she will be denied the pleasures of love her suitor pleasures until the denied be she will that stranger the tells maiden (113),despair” The Éire. and poet speaker/ amale aconversation records between amood of “unredeemable capturing ÓTuama as Sean describes poem, which the form, “aisling” commonthe is in that a pattern Following of her existence. purpose of the bereft instantly she also is death, of his she learns When overseas. captive to whom held be sovereign of she Ireland, believes rightful the Cheannaí, an Mac simplification. this demonstrates vision poems, famous “The Merchant’sSon” (15-16), Rathaille’s Ó one of Aodhagán poet 17th-century as Hartnett by Michael into English translated Cheannaí,” of “Mac an A reading subdues them. that system the within body of disciplining the part important an roles theirwho presentedmothers, formmaternal by mouldedbe into sacrificial the independence identity, and national to or daughters of consolidating restoring and to produced be for are purpose Sons the politicized. and applicable, depersonalized is whose motherhood, and where of women, or oversexed be desexualized, who can Together,images variants. presentandgeneric come many simplified in figures these of old aisling hag maiden/ young beautiful the and Ní Houlihan, Cathleen ity,Rosaleen, Dark for motherhoodIreland, Mother simplification. only one is target the different positions in Irish women’s poetry from the past three decades. three women’spositions Irish in different the thefrompast poetry for account to seeks essay This or experimentation ironic distance. stylistic through either unaltered, qualities original their leaving while allegories these challenged have “woman” Ireland in “nation” and independence. poets Other Irish long after of both on images the above, impacts explains Kiberd passivity,tion as which, and inherent the abstrac hence contesting existence, stories of her quotidian tell makes portrayal: conventional their or, alternatively,meanings re-evaluated have either re-inscribed Ireland ism, women in poets national cultural of discourses of the “woman”in victimization and simplification Inventing in Kiberd’s Ireland emphasis Declan Along with complementarypaths. yet different, fundamentally lowed two have folhood, of gender, poets criticism, these of nation. voicing In the and this conceptions foroversimplified offering of mother nationalism of Irish allegories The maiden in Ó Rathaille’s poem, Éire, has no autonomyhas poem,Éire, Rathaille’s fromin Ó her maiden The lover When the discourses of nationalism are amalgamated with those of feminin those with amalgamated are of nationalism discourses the When icon and on this agency bestows Boland of Eavan her many In poems, 294) (Kiberd present. of the mediocrity the from adistraction as used is which past, idealized on an harping endless by an possible revolution. It of made the is concreteness historic the overrides completely stage” “lyric the a nationalism, such In unimplemented. desires her leave own she must and her to be, want they of woman for sort her lovers the impersonate must blood and flesh of real Houlihan ní Cathleen the words, other In fantasy. original the of outlines to the it conforms until industries touristic by the slowly transformed is landscape actual the independence, after that, woman’sso areified body— like treated is landscape the even everything— affects permitted, once fetishizing, The maternal criticized have unanimously Ireland in womenContemporary poets the silence and passivity that characterizes characterizes that passivity and silence the on the vast and continuous of and the impact on vast the these iconic figures with new with new iconic figures these poetry poetry - - - - - happy love, but of identity: her very show, lines closing the as deprives her and, not only offuture her slender hopes of prolongs which Spain, her indefinite in into plight an her love killed that was news disillusioning the to 15). Éire however,(Harnett imparts poet the stanza, last the In Cheannaí” an Mac comes back none with lie become and till barren “she’ll return: his until suspended is womanhood her very fact, In travels. from his back comes both as a “terminus ad quem” towards which all identificatory processes should be processes identificatory a“terminus quem” ad all as which both towards is held outsocietal, or individual that theself, be of image hypostasized a fixed, imaginaire, nationalist the “in stage: mirror semiotic or Lacanian Kristevan the with strong repercussions has that wayin a identification nationalistic describes Examining Irish Nationalism in of the Context Literature, and Religion Culture O’Brien’s Eugene understanding, this with generic representations. accordance In and individualized in both of maternity discourses to the regard with luminating “chora” the of Platonicthat the showing il receptacle, traits is important mirrors or identity (“anteriorent existence poem One”), to the ÓRathaille’s in maiden the independwith no space,”(“matrix Cheannaí offspring an for Mac “nourishing”) metaphysics” consequently, (191). and, to God defying provider apotential of As “Women’s anterior One, to the unnameable, nourishing, space, “matrix Time” as of Platonic the Kristeva’s echoing association “chora” obfuscated, in maternity with and is that mythologized as a site of morealso origin generally but figure, maternal maternity, a tropethewhenportrays abstract, if woman-as-nation effectuated, an as espoused. to is whom woman on the male the entirely contingent is that afunction poem, as the in mother, addressed is maternity rendering of aisling the particular this in While death. of her when lover’s she learns of it, dematerializes possession her and soul, which he takes until infertile surrendered herTo remain body, she has man will which this of “[h]er most esteemed the overseas. kin” of Ireland, king freckled of rightful the “The Merchant’sin function Son”right, in but is entirely her a own exist not does poem, it but entiremaiden tradition from. The emerged the particular not only to this of core significance nevertheless is Cheannaí’s an to Mac connected intricately very Tuama’s (113-115), demonstrates of poem the analysis Éire’s that so fact is fate the Ó as rule, disempowerment under colonial of ofconsequence overall Ireland the a comment on women’s to men, comparison in powerlessness but a rendered is as For the analysis in this essay, the concept of maternity is relevant in two ways: ways: essay, two in relevant concept is this the in of maternity For analysis the maiden’sEven the not though is poem intended the in incapacitation as 16) (Hartnett exhausted. girl, this my woe, one flash: in quick escaped Her soul screaming, shook with her body beside, my close voice so she heard When heartache.’ your heed none and body’s will his laid Spain in beyond mortal, was knew love you ‘The her words, to her Iheard when I said Cheannaí. an Mac comes back her till there’s to near come no relief her aspect— gloom with black she gets— no sleep wet, is her face love, Iwitness; no fondness, by them, had be can no favour, feast, woman; loved who this crowds the they’re overseas, kin, Her freckled Éire is not conceptualized as a a as not is Éire conceptualized - -
REVISTA CANARIA DE ESTUDIOS INGLESES, 68; 2014, PP. 141-155 143 REVISTA CANARIA DE ESTUDIOS INGLESES, 68; 2014, PP. 141-155 144 a Time of Violence of a Time argumentation and linear time: linear and argumentation Consequently, stituted. logical “nation,” defies the maternal, pre-Oedipal the like con identity is out national of which to dialogue O’Brien, up aperformative sets (53). prevented” be and utopian destiny, interplayof origin according of This myth should deviation a“terminus aquo” conversely and as all from which progressing, particularities of women’s lives. to need record much the the in of her poetry, advocating of femininity courses and their contemporary contestations are relevant in this dissertation. this in relevant are contestations contemporary their and purposes, for political function maternal the harness often Ó Rathaille’s, also which like poems “aisling” location that acultural as of maternity understanding abstract second, more of this light It in mostly is language. representationing through defy as well or “monumental”as time, of cyclical realm to the O’Brien pertains of emigrants: prostitutes and women, of 128) lives silenced “real” experience the lived (Boland the including with of crime” the arhythm make history, up the words /that /the bandage /that songs of “the replacing representation 129). (Boland importance the emphasizes Boland for its “a language” new envisages 128). (Boland speaker the old dactyls” Instead, convention “[her] sees / into literary that from the nation displaced to depart seeks (199), explains Meaney Gerardine who as poet awoman name, is of same poem the Boland’s revision of Pearse’s text, Pádraig this in The speaker iconic status. gained published Boland’s in 1987 originally poem The collection Journey Éire,” “Mise nationalism, a Irish in of femininity appropriation of discourses the 1 of delight rictus the frictions, quick the who practices garrison— of the precincts the in dove-strut of sort a wrists, atthe of silk a sloven’s mix woman— the I am dis the expropriationof simplification and counters this Boland Eavan “chora” of “Women’s Kristevan the Like in Time,” selfhood nationalistic (20) techniques. psychoanalytic and linguistic, literary, in not is grounded which analysis any in examined fully be never can which alism of nation epistemology to the dimension suasive and alinguistic to create combine influences, unconscious strong to allied message, this of overtones The religious death. and time a Volk, a people, transcends creates which selfhood Nationalistic is theme is covered in numerous poems especially in The in Journey especially poems numerous in covered is theme is Th The Lost Land Lost The , and
. 1 Ironically, her first major poetic response to the major Ironically, to response herpoetic first , has by now itself , has , Outside History , In In - - - - One Is Not which Sex This and Woman Other the of Speculum Irigaray’s the Medusa”; of Luce Laugh “The entities, autonomous two of designating gender as discourses represents the that paradigm epistemological alternative an as feminine or virtual Imaginary” “feminine the poet’s” (a concept which is itself charged and often used reductively)poet’s” used renovation often and of (a charged itself is concept which of “the woman conceptualization toLongley’s the obvious reaction statement an is representation. cultural in gendering or their of nationalism but not discourses the but not (163), Éire” role the questions poet, poet of woman the the that suggesting Mise “destabilizes poem the that argues Longley Edna of Irelands,” for instance, The conventionsBreakdown and forms “From In she to contests. Anorexia: Cathleen old to the captive by remaining potential creative of her full realization the herself for denying criticized been tion” has Éire,” “Mise in Boland that it not is surprising nation divided. have been of the allegories female of on for value Boland’s Éire” “Mise the revising views a“passable yield of went imitation what before.” eventually will However, critics’ which process, present women along and unsettling is of and den Irish lives past ; and Alice Jardine’s “Gynesis.” Jardine’s Alice ; and 2 of what went ( of before. what imitation into apassable awhile after heals and of scar akind is language a new that nor cares knows neither who homesickness of vowels the with guttural immigrant the mingling wharf of the water dirty over the north and east shifts wind the as to her baby her half-dead holding cold, huddling the in Belle, Mary the on board gansy-coat the in woman the I am silks. rice-coloured for it, cambric gets and 2 Hélène of with Cixous’s theorizing Irigaray’s accordance In Luce and Given her choice of words in phrases like “a kind of scar” and “passable imita and “a of scar” Given like kind her choice of phrases words in The Newly Born Woman Born Clement’s Newly The Catherine Cixous’s and Hélène ee the remaking of Irish poetry Boland envisages in order in to hid record the envisages Boland poetry of Irish remaking the S NCP 128-9)
; Hélène Cixous’s ; Hélène - -
REVISTA CANARIA DE ESTUDIOS INGLESES, 68; 2014, PP. 141-155 145 REVISTA CANARIA DE ESTUDIOS INGLESES, 68; 2014, PP. 141-155 146 endemic in the foundations of modern Irish culture” (31). culture” of foundations endemic modern the Irish in representation is which true and false it,” tension between very the “enacting thus beneath by emptiness nation, the demanded and at mask once the models speaker the Éire). (Mise elided is what emigrants), of herself whores Therefore and the and lives (such suppressed elements the the of Éire) elides country’s as history the (Mise that icon the of both Ireland simultaneously is female as “the speaker that buck remarks Women Form,” as Formalism Republic the Poets of Clutter and Ireland: Catriona “Irish In paradigm. way for development the paves the cultural that alternative of an dynamics up aperformative setting as its hidden Other with of Hibernia ited image offers offers more forpossibilities renewal. that strategy as a part” “fixed of that approach deconstruction to other poets’ this woman” (178). Irish (but therefore exemplary) ordinary and compares Thecritic whereby becomes aprocess Mother personhood, Ireland it assumes as part poetic her 1998 as well Land Lost as The collection Éire,” “Mise in tradition poetic of Irish the avoice woman-as-object to the giving by that explains Batten entails. poetics and of more language but generally also nationalism, not only of cultural contestation structures recurrent of inherited the poet’s the that limitations the to Longley, terms highlighting Boland’s work similar in of Nation,” Body the the and discusses Batten Ní Guinn Chuilleanáin McGuckian, “Boland, In codes. of established the her adiminishment project own as traying implicitly por thus damage, and of injury terms in of nationalism discourses the The Poetry of Eavan Boland and Eiléan Chuilleanáin.” Ní Eiléan and Boland Eavan of The Poetry History’: into Sarbin’s “ ‘Out of Myth Deborah Poetics”; “A and Transnational Ramazani’s ”; Jahan of Violence’ aTime in ‘Writing Boland’s Eavan in Nationality Gender, and Historiography, Limited’: Is Cartography of Science the McMullen’s “‘That Politics”; and Kim Culture Womention: Irish in larger degree than her work 1980s from the 1990s, than early degree and whereby,larger to according conceptthe Thepoet’s of example. “nation” deconstructs morewriting to a recent most effective, the not if necessarily known, most widely the exclude. is Éire” “Mise they what representing as well as of nationalism, of poetry women Irish images” in in” we are (41). culture the “cumulated the revisits recurrently Boland indeed, And representations of by women, identity, of codified have been female they as such “ requires project ist revision this , Metamorphoses in suggests Braidotti Rosi of femininity.As discourses of renovating the process the in stage important and work anecessary constitutes Boland’s early in present often especially as oppositional stance predominantly a them, arguably attempt at revising asuccessful it or contests as traditions the former’s the her to body escape sells destitution. who the woman or poverty abysmal in motherits suffering Other, emigrant the product the precisely of of encounteris “the the of woman” generic the image and More appreciative readings of “Mise Éire” see the juxtaposition of inher juxtaposition the the of see Éire” More “Mise appreciative readings 3 Whether one chooses to see the poem as reproducing and perpetuating reproducing perpetuating and as poem the one to see chooses Whether or similar perspectives, see Gerardine Meaney’s discussion of the poem in “Sex and Na and “Sex in poem of the discussion Meaney’s Gerardine see perspectives, or similar F the stock of cumulated images, concepts and and concepts working images, of through stock cumulated the , Boland “turns frequently to that fixed fixed frequently to that “turns , Boland 3 Indeed, Boland’s poem Indeed, - - - - - Michael Böss, Boland’s 1998 Böss, Land Lost Michael The collection ter in the “colony the ter in relationships of male-female patterns formulaic room,” the defying objects. of external images drawn, precisely yet prismatic, often Ní tendcomplex,conventional to poems Chuilleanáin’s offer binaries, multilayered, other other, and as well outside, self and inside as between boundaries blurs the often McGuckian’spoetry While introspective different. fundamentally are this order in to achieve Ní employed and Chuilleanáin strategies bythe McGuckian level. However, aconceptual than rather at astylistic, predominantly occurs that on arevision based contests, Boland early the traditions from the poetry of Irish alternativesolutions offer indeed the for emancipation writings their show that will of colonial victim versus aggressor. versus victim of colonial dichotomy simplified the other binaries, among questioning, of as maternity, well as notions of fixed undermines “subject-objectpositions” and of iconic representations (109).nation, or island” the “The Colony Thein encounter Room” portrayed radically to relationship the their negotiate may poets of body male ahistorical from which structure unchanging an iconic as mother and an as primarily woman the designate in subject-object fixed positions are which which traditions, and cultures literary “Irish challenges You: ofTheatre Dreams,” the and McGuckian Medbh McGuckian with My “Dreamin’ in Dreams suggests Sullivan Moynagh as which, in of ways the representative is and of sexuality as well conventions the questions as poem of art the Overall, culture. gay and exchange, for post-war excentricity, focus this artistic echoes by Muriel Belcher, ambience that run an creates was which members, and Second World War, one of founding was Bacon the Francis painter the of which of the aftermath the in club Soho, in established London, was which drinking identity.implicitsexual The titlethethe poem to a of private in members reference of unspecified partners two between of love-making act the s/he describes as land to body the female the convention the who analogizes re-inscribes that a speaker approaches trope: woman-as-nation to the of Nation,” different Body the the their and describes Batten Guinn Chuilleanáin more and oppositional implicitly.a less viewpoint Ní McGuckian, “Boland, In conventions from literary Irish the Ní more Chuilleanáin’s review oblique writings of it, Medbh McGuckian’s aspects Eiléan and renouncing substantial also time same at the and tradition poetic Irish the with to identify of at once seeking dilemma ” 127).Land” Boland’s Love:Eavan “Lost and momentLoss tional of (“The Naming Medbh McGuckian’sColony “The Room” ( and Chuilleanáin Ní by poems McGuckian the following of analysis The of (173) history. and of narrative course the for rethinking strategies replete with as absence and silence figures that poetry a offer they or absent silenced historically been have womenIreland To surrender. in that bodily anger Boland’s through agency acquire who figures or historical speakers present often Ní Chuilleanáin and McGuckian victims, women who remain those representing while victimhood eschew they when political become women writers To that argument Boland’s McGuckian’s poem portrays two mutually desiring lovers during an encoun an lovers during desiring mutually two McGuckian’s portrays poem While the speaking voice in Boland’s work often seems constrained by the by the voice Boland’s constrained work in seems often speaking the While Drawing Ballerinas marks an important transi important an marks 48) features - -
REVISTA CANARIA DE ESTUDIOS INGLESES, 68; 2014, PP. 141-155 147 REVISTA CANARIA DE ESTUDIOS INGLESES, 68; 2014, PP. 141-155 148 in in ance came from abroad in the person of a gallant national saviour” (362). saviour” national of agallant person the in abroad from came ance deliver until languished and back lay or skywoman ‘spéirbhean’ wilting the a site of contest: but as person autonomous an not as woman imagined always had century eighteenth of the poets ‘aisling’ the addressee of the speaker’s words and caresses is described in terms of both of both terms in described is of speaker’s the caresses words and addressee the while of your mouth” glitter /the other,overthe “the opening, cushioned gliding exploration of asensual in prayer, then and to palm” “in palm cast alternately are by Kearney. addition, described In speaker’s the as hands nationalism of Irish poetry formulaic the object” dichotomy characterizes “male subject” “female that versus of “spéirbhean” “meirdreach”: image versus binary the deconstructs desire of a male as described by Richard Kearney in Postnationalist in Ireland Kearney by Richard described as ofdesire amale aisling 4 the thereby challenging meaning, bestows touch actively partners’ Both asked fornightinthatmistletoeway. (48) the evenings neededmost,whentheday... ray coloured the reflected mirrors the winter, to neck, the neck in shocks small Like year-long, inactive lover, durableasparadise. in itssexualclimate,your kingdom-come eyes, root-note, your enclosure, railed its in of Ireland, or continuation birth the than touchable Less body. your covers that map the stretch and scent flowers and roots woods, all mouth; of your glitter the opening, cushioned the skim just My hands of my skin. floor-line curved enter the body ear-shaped your skin roof of your shingled the through I hear hand; centre of your the Youwith body my define I give your meaning, your handsnew lefthandcalm. if Iplacemyhandsinprayer, palmtopalm, touched: being also you are touching, you are If McGuckian’s poem love-making, as well reverence as religious Evoking Sasannach the England: from invader masculine aggressive the by ravished virgin vulnerable a with identified more frequently became Ireland century, seventeenth of the plantations the After hag— meirdreach hag— ashameless as logic, (or same the inversely, marauder following alien by the ened or spéirbhean daughter visionary as a personified thus was Ireland ‘hidden’ eclan Kiberd also emphasizes the passivity of the woman in “aisling” poetry: “The “The poetry: “aisling” in woman of the passivity the emphasizes also Kiberd eclan poetry, where a passive woman is the object of the, often unconsummated, unconsummated, object often the of is the, woman poetry, where apassive D — who lifted her skirts for the invader’s for the pleasure). (119-120) her skirts lifted — who . In the Aisling the . In poems of the eighteenth century, the the century, eighteenth of the poems : threat 4 - - 24), enhances. further the lover’sof image theeyes” which “kingdom-come effect an existence, material from concrete apart lovers arealm in two the encounter positioning the between as aswell past, the of fixations to overcomeunhelpful thetransience and of fluidity language a advocating thus paradise,” as “durable is offers other McGuckian and representation self identity, the of of encounteras national the between image the as well identification involved contingencies national the in Ireland,” acknowledging or continuation /of birth it the “[l]ess is touchable Because than collective. and body, of identity formation, personal both complex hence to the pointing dynamics lover’s the or shielding concealing containing, constructing, alternatively is that map “scent[ing] is stretch[ing]” speaker and the the as defamiliarized, composite also is imposition.a colonial McGuckian’s In representation poem, the of body/map the as tradition cultural Irish the in of conventional“woman” “land” association with rendering the sections, blended map are with in parts body of female images ing therefore on alienat and for draw may poem inspiration, the fragmented which Translations Friel’s Brian as such responses, 1980s the in Empire, artistic which elicited various of British the part order in as out territory to map names Irish place tion of Irish covers your body,”to “the that map angliciza 19th the evokes century for instance, The reference associations. invite political numerous and also otherpoem references climate”) nuances. (“your root-note, sexual (“yourand eyes”) religious its sexual kingdom-come /in dissolves into sea” the (77):dissolves Poet a Contemporary Ní Chuilleanáin, Eiléan Reading in grows,”them suggests Irene Gilsenan-Nordin off sleep.between to the space as time the drifting same is “At addresses recurrently voice “you”the into unspecified speaking the one while another fuse gradually poem the in swimmer the and island the which way in the dimension in aesthetic the in mirrored is level ata conceptual different perspectives of merging This clothes. his is mending wife his babywhile his holding that man of a as as well addressee fied unspeci an and poet of theperspectives of glimpses by offering undertaking lective
shows that the objectification of women in Irish poetry of nationalism is a col is a nationalism of poetry of women objectification Irish the in shows that Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin’s “The Last Glimpse Erin”of Glimpse ( Last Ní “The Chuilleanáin’s Eiléan of title the the lines, connotations of these addition sensual strong In to the Buried in a pillow like awave. like apillow in Buried head your aswimmer: forward: thrown arm An quilt, the From in lost low your shoulder aspider’s distance Like the cord: navel Sheer, growing one is long line become surfaces air,We all the face sea. the in andsmooth low glimpse, last The it grow: make eyes our of sky: edge On the heaving shoulder swimmer’spolished a coastline, The and visual artist Kathy Prendergast’s latter, the In Kathy series. Map Body artist visual and , “the distance paradoxically diminishes, as the island slowly island the as diminishes, paradoxically , “the distance The Rose Geranium Geranium Rose The - - - -
REVISTA CANARIA DE ESTUDIOS INGLESES, 68; 2014, PP. 141-155 149 REVISTA CANARIA DE ESTUDIOS INGLESES, 68; 2014, PP. 141-155 150 the precarious product of the spider’s subtle craft. The simulacrum of the product “ ofof spider’s the precarious the The simulacrum subtle craft. contingent like and it picture constructed presents the is that ofreminder fact the The spider’sin creates. is a poem, Chuilleanáin’s Ní gles twice web, appears which an and manipulation of spaces the effect alienating the Coolin,” “The enhances Moore’s Thomas singer and poet fromits one title Irish of 19th-century melodies, “The Merchant’sRathaille’s Son” demonstrates. of Ó example the as hypostasize, convention, and “aisling” to tends simplify which of the vision, aesthetics the echoing dream-like into apassive, mainland from the receding athlete of an image dynamic original the man’s moulding the in gaze, submerged gradually are swimmer and land Both Ireland. in oftions nationalism tradi the poetic women reified in has that process aesthetic the poem, highlighting centrethethe at of emerges figure of asubmissive maternal image an land, from the dream vision, as well as the juxtaposition of images of woman and land are merged merged are land and of woman of juxtaposition images the as well vision, as dream poetry. Elements of from “aisling” a aspects familiar distort and echo that images Erin”of multi-layered,Glimpse offers fragmented Last complex and “The mimesis. from detached similarly Ní are does, poems Chuilleanáin’s McGuckian as sensations, bodily foregrounding of object the world, than rather realm to the pertain that images drawing poetry. While of “aisling” representation her of aesthetics in revision the literary in attentioncontingenciesthe draws to also Erin”of Glimpse Last “The a tool representation. for as mimetic Ní Chuilleanáin’s of language a core function conventionally designates other that and self between delimitation the questioning Colony thus “The Room” sensations, the speaker’s to corporeal blend with references in objects of McGuckian’s many in descriptions of external poems, poetry. Like ofaisling images hypostasized and the simplified Colony “The Room” sensualizes 173). Boland’s work (Batten does as tradition, often cultural Irish the McGuckian’s in of nationalism tropes voice on female or the acritical agency bestowing than of women, objectification the rather Ní implicitly challenge poems Chuilleanáin’s based. are of nationalism discourses upon the which myths foundation the in for example, manifest, are of concept,dimensions which the of “origin,” body,aspects collective relation maternal to in concerning the but also personalized inherent notions in individualized, ofto “origin.” with regard so is This dimensions (my attentionnavel cord” mythic to emphasis), the draws furthermore, The recurrent reference to spiders in “The Last Glimpse of Erin,” which takes takes Erin,” Glimpse of Last which reference The“The to recurrent spidersin away Ní moving in is poem Chuilleanáin’s swimmer male dynamic, the As ( dream. his in lost swimmer The sea, the in is lost waves with trimmed island The hand. other on his awristbutton sews wife his While finger abrownstained with her cheek He strokes laughing, and baby his holding is A man spider’sof a cadences and web. depths The crates and scratches small with riddled Glass cloudthe pierces skirting light white The ToBatten’s confirm aforementioned both McGuckian’s and observation, Ní Chuilleanáin 24) spider’s - -
as it casually calls this once-revered figure of Irish nationalism by her first name: first by her nationalism Irish of once-revered figure this calls it casually as description the of Poorin the Old Woman, echoes of atone poem title the the which ing Irish Nationalism ( selfhood” definition of specular this except exists else nothing which in dyad delusory mirror, this “serve to of this create identity, which national mechanisms the constitutionthe of of the O’Brien Eugene heart at identifies dynamics acentral echoes “Cathleen” Ní respect Dhomhnaill’s this In self-image. her idealized confirms what notice of only takes and maiden young to abeautiful be herself believes nevertheless and self-deceit widowed a oldwhoin woman, hervanity casting Yeatsianthe figure, of aqueen” 431). Gregory walk “a (Yeats the and shePatrick had and sees girl, young brother Michael’s younger Poorrebellion, the instead and Old Woman disappears, to join 1798 the bridegroom-to-be Gillane convincing in Michael succeeded leen has end the of play, At the recent past. and loversher when distant Cath many from the Poor the Old Woman swing, to refers recurrently full in are preparations wedding the home, where Gillanes’s the she in family is independence. for While Irish martyrdom into and one marriage prospective family, sons luring away of from his Irish their an thelives of upon intrudes nationalism cultural Irish play,of the In woman. figure this Bhean Bhocht Bhean Yeats’s Gregory’s Lady 1902 and play Ní Cathleen Houlihan trakhan so by assuming an ironic distance from the convention from the represent. they ironic distance an byso assuming do poets of femininity. These image an nation through the of allegorizing tradition cultural Irish from the reader the alienate also Higgins Ann Rita and Dhomhnaill Ní Nuala poems, following the In possibilities. alternative way forthe envisaging thuspaves and attention to its artificiality draws she also of womanhood image this of of making the process the in implicated who are those visualizes Ní Chuilleanáin “The Merchant’s ÓRathaille’s in Son.” maiden the for instance, However,izes, as character that passivity and silence the mother Ní in retains poem Chuilleanáin’s spider’s other, the with as such conventional less motifs, navel cord. web The and aige féin í, go bhfuil na laethanta san thart. / Cuirfidh mé geall síos leat nár chuala sí leis / mar tá sé tá mar / sí leis chuala nár leat síos geall mé /Cuirfidh thart. san laethanta na bhfuil í, go féin aige Ní Dhomhnaill’s poem, translated by Paul Muldoon, mockingly debases debases by Paul Muldoon, poem, mockingly Ní translated Dhomhnaill’s The woman portrayed in Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill’s “Caitlín”/“Cathleen”Ní in Dhomhnaill’s Nuala portrayed ( The woman 5 ( of her blinkers. head-band the her in ear, behind tucked proud or canker rose rose, red the and her honey-nubile of herself, sense her own form confirms what only of hearing knack of her uncanny because on board none of this taken has Granny Old Gummy Ibet And over. truly as just are days those lover, true own his as she appeared which in adream-vision had once slubberdegullion every if even 38-42), shares her first name with the main protagonist in William Butler in William protagonist themain with name her first 38-42), shares n the Irish original: “is fiú dá mba dhóigh le gach spreasán an uair úd / go mba leannáin leannáin mba go úd / uair an spreasán gach le dhóigh mba dá fiú “is original: Irish n the I or Poor Old Woman, one of the literary manifestations of Ireland as a a or Poor as of Ireland Old Woman, manifestations one of literary the 55). This effect is enhanced by the colloquialisms and sarcasms sarcasms and colloquialisms the by 55).enhanced is effect This Sean aSean features , which Astrakhan 38-42) Examin 5 As - - - -
REVISTA CANARIA DE ESTUDIOS INGLESES, 68; 2014, PP. 141-155 151 REVISTA CANARIA DE ESTUDIOS INGLESES, 68; 2014, PP. 141-155 152 Uí Laoghaire” ( Uí Laoghaire” m’aithne bhodhaire /de ar fearr íis sampla ían Is héadan. /ina breá rós agus léi, dar aici, ógbhean an /Tá ar íféin. mil a’ riúníonn rud an ach achloisint ní aon /gan dheis de agus aici mhórbhua de overly moralizing speaking voice emphatically denies to have seen during the dance: the to during have seen denies voice emphatically speaking overly moralizing of woman’s the of nation the and the which those are suspender stockings, examines poem “borders” Accordingly, the the of colonization Ireland. the stronghold during a was Ennis for Catholicism, which within up, set of for proprietyand as instance, of trope representation of woman-as-nation the codes the for conventional images of boundaries the Higgins’s in stretches poem woman the Cathleen, Dhomhnaill’s Siege (34). of the Ennis” Ní dancing Like awoman as Writing ceilí conference Form,” and Formalism Republic the of and Ireland: “entersPoetry a Texas Irish Women’s “Irish in Clutterbuck Catriona who, observes Ní as Houlihan, Cathleen Borders,” published1996 in Purchase Higher in identity. cultural Irish as well as on trope negotiation of the female of literary the impact detrimental to the drawn is reader’s the it that preceding attention nationalism cultural of songs Irish many the Poor the Old Woman characterize of Yeats’s that values the Gregory’s and play and of many embraces distortingly inherent adescription in that sarcasm the through Rather, nor it self-awareness. is agency of neither poem Ní acquires Dhomhnaill’s “Old the Granny” Gummy Boland’s writings, in trope woman-as-nation the Unlike that was hardly aborder atall. hardly was that embroidered border lace with no slither belt, thigh no luscious no knee I saw nothing. I saw no, knee, thigh, Me, aback. taken I was swing?’ the Idid as belt my stocking you see ‘Could me, asked a woman of Siege Ennis the After everyone. knew everyone jig time In Margarita’d. of us a few danced, everyone nearly put on acéilí, they a conference after Texas In Higgins’s “Remapping the “Cathleen,” Ní Ann Dhomhnaill’s Like Rita Poor Ní lamb. Dhomhnaill’s of as mutton Old Woman image dressed an is Astrakhan
38-40).
, also portrays a debased version adebased of portrays , also fertility goddesses, such as the Morrígan, in her work, thus exploring an alternative alternative her in an work, exploring Morrígan, thus the as such goddesses, fertility until the last Magdalene Laundry closed in 1996. in closed Laundry Magdalene last the until gious institutions in Ireland to which unmarried mothers were confined from the mid-19the from confined were mothers unmarried which to Ireland in institutions gious traditions. cultural of women Irish the in generic images stereotyped, to the a reaction as seen be also can which of women lives past, silenced the representing of Irish the with with You’: Medbh McGuckian and the Theatre Dreams.” of Theatre the You’: and with McGuckian Medbh explicitly. trope woman-as-nation the McGuckian’s address in of poems that oeuvre examples Hat” (from McGuckian’s 1994 Captain collection Lavender Room,”Soil-Map” “The (publishedin Master Flower in The 1984 Colony from “The Apart women poems. conventions their in of portraying stylistic and aesthetic level the at amore questioning fundamental through perspectives new explicitly, interesting nationalism offer cultural of Irish allegories female the dressing ad only occasionally while Ní Chuilleanáin, Eiléan and Medbh McGuckian like Poets theme. a recurrent of nation are the allegories female Boland, of Eavan poetry women’s silencing and the in corporeality female voices. Especially fortrope reifying woman-as-nation the with issue takes women that Irish poets by contemporary ing reference to contingent poem. borders the in recurrent the echoing thus images, two the between boundaries blurs the drinking of tequila luscious pleasure to the lines closing the reference ambivalent dancer, in the céilí licentious from the herself dissociates emphatically 120). speaker the While Postnationalist in Ireland addresses of nationalism (119- of discourses the analysis categorization of womencategorization into the binary defies and mirrors speaker, both prudish the and woman sive dancing - permis thesexually that of figures, opposed female Borders” diametrically of two the in “Remapping The juxtaposition Cheannaí’s. of an Mac amere function as “The Merchant’s ÓRathaille’s Son,” like Éire’s poems up in views which sexuality for behaviour womenof codes the set therefore defies and available sexually who is awoman as Ní Houlihan Cathleen of woman’s the portraying belt, thus stocking of “border” the speaker’s by on the permeability emphasis the recurrent enhanced is that effect This “Cathleen,” discourses. of points contingencies to nationalist the perception, limited Ní Higgins’s speaker’s and the poem, Dhomhnaill’s like biased The poems discussed in this essay form part considerableof a writbody formpart of essay this in discussed Thepoems ( my tongue. to penetrate waiting back on his lying worm the not even nothing, I saw to you I swear 7 6 of event Texas the and céilí reality the tension the between Highlighting or a further discussion of this poem, see Moynagh O’Sullivan’s “ ‘Dreamin’ My Dreams My Dreams “‘Dreamin’ O’Sullivan’s Moynagh see poem, of this discussion or afurther is is particularly true of true particularly is is 6 F Th 7 Some of Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin’s work shares with Boland’s aconcern Ní with work Some Chuilleanáin’s of shares Eiléan Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill often revisits the pre-colonial, Celtic war-and- Celtic pre-colonial, the revisits often Ní Dhomhnaill Nuala meirdreach The Magdalene Sermon Magdalene The Higgins versus 38-39) spéirbhean , an entire collection dedicated to reli to dedicated collection entire , an ) are among the foremost the among ) are that Richard Kearney’s that Richard ) and “The Aisling Aisling “The ) and th century - - -
REVISTA CANARIA DE ESTUDIOS INGLESES, 68; 2014, PP. 141-155 153 REVISTA CANARIA DE ESTUDIOS INGLESES, 68; 2014, PP. 141-155 154 Kristeva Kiberd McGuckian Longley The AstrakhanCloak The Nuala. Ní Dhomhnaill, Ní Chuilleanáin Meaney Gilsenan-Nordin Kearney Hartnett Higgins Braidotti Clutterbuck Böss Boland Batten foremost their strength. as regarded be can trope of woman-as-nation the renditions contemporary these in of styles voices and representation, plurality the content both by mode ahegemonic of concerning prescriptive and and attitude versions object contemporary of characterized to is Hibernia these history cultural the Given that Higgins’s and Nítexts. in Dhomhnaill’s case the is as sarcasm and irony with tinged be may or McGuckian’s they in Ní and writings, Chuilleanáin’s as level aesthetic at an image of this limitations exploration and of possibilities the work. Alternatively, Boland’s early offer in may a moreimplicit poems as to change it which seeks to that attached closely form of remains the aprotest that take may nationalism. representationsthe of cultural women Irish in more and than ambivalent of desexualized women, less are of which images strand , Michael. “The Naming of Loss and Love: Eavan Boland’s ‘Lost Land’.” Nordic ‘Lost IrishBoland’s Studies Eavan Love: and Loss of Naming “The , Michael. Received for Publication: September 14, 2013; Acceptance for Publication: March 31, March 2014 Publication: for 14, 2013; September Acceptance Publication: for Received , Declan. Inventing Ireland: The Literature ofthe , Declan. Modern Nation Contemporary Nation.” of the Contemporary Body the and Ní Chuilleanáin McGuckian, “Boland, , Guinn. , Eavan. New Collected Poems, Eavan. A Dozen Lips Politics.” ADozen and Culture Women Nation: Irish in and “Sex , Gerardine. , Rita Ann , Rita A Dozen Lips ADozen Irelands.” of Breakdown The Anorexia: to “From Cathleen , Edna. , Richard. Postnationalist Ireland: Politics, Culture, Philosophy , Richard. Attic, 1994. 162-187.Attic, Attic, 1994.Attic, 188-204. smills: Macmillan, 2000. 17-43. 2000. Macmillan, smills: Writing in the Irish Republic: Literature, Culture, Politics 1949-1999 Edwin Mellen,Edwin 2008. 3.1 127-135. (2004): Contemporary Irish women poets’ responses to the woman-as-nation trope trope woman-as-nation to women the responses Irish poets’ Contemporary Irish Poetry Irish , Julia. The Kristeva Reader, Julia. , Michael. O Rathaille. , Michael. , Rosi. Metamorphoses:, Rosi. Towards a Materialist ofBecoming. Theory , Medbh. Drawing Ballerinas , Medbh. , Catriona. “Irish Women’s Poetry and the Republic of Ireland: Formalism as Form.” as Formalism of Ireland: Women’s Republic the “Irish and Poetry , Catriona. The Rose-Geranium The , Eiléan. . Philomena’s Revenge Reading Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin: A Contemporary Irish Poet Irish AContemporary Ní Chuilleanáin: Eiléan Reading , Irene. . Ed. Matthew Campbell. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 169-188. 2003. Cambridge Cambridge: Campbell. Matthew . Ed. Loughcrew: Gallery, 1998. Gallery, Loughcrew: . Ed. Toril Moi. Oxford: Blackwell, 1986. Blackwell, Toril. Ed. Moi. Oxford: WORKS CITED WORKS . Manchester: Carcanet, 2005. Carcanet, . Manchester: . Galway: Salmon, 1992. Salmon, . Galway: . Loughcrew: Gallery, 2001. Gallery, . Loughcrew: . Loughcrew: Gallery, 1992. Gallery, .Loughcrew: . Lougcrew: Gallery, 1981. Gallery, . Lougcrew: . London: Routledge, 1997. Routledge, . London: . London: Vintage, 1996. Vintage, . London: Cambridge: Polity, 2002. Cambridge: . Ed. Ray Ryan. Hound Ryan. Ray . Ed. . Lewiston: . Lewiston: . Dublin: . Dublin: . Dublin: . Dublin: -
O’Brien —— Selected Poems. Rogha Dánta Sullivan Ó Tuama Yeats , William Butler and Augusta Gregory Augusta and Butler , William , Eugene. Examining Irish Nationalism, Eugene. in the of Context Literature, Culture and Religion: Dreams.” Metre Dreams.” Nationalism of Structure Epistemological the of A Study 1939. , Moynagh. “Dreamin’ My Dreams with You: Medbh McGuckian and the Theatre of Theatre the and You: McGuckian Medbh with My Dreams “Dreamin’ , Moynagh. Repossessions: Selected Essays on the Irish Literary Heritage Literary Irish the on Essays Selected Repossessions: , Sean. Ed. Stephen Regan. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2004. 421-432. UP, 2004. Oxford Oxford: Regan. Stephen Ed. 17 (2005): 100-111. (2005): 17 . Dublin: New Island, 1988. Island, New . Dublin: . “Cathleen Ni Houlihan (1902).” Ni Houlihan 1798- Writing . “Cathleen Irish . Lewiston: Edwin Mellen, 2002. Mellen, Edwin . Lewiston: . Cork: Cork UP, Cork 1995.. Cork:
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