Sympathetic Ink Intertextual Relations in Northern Irish Poetry

Northern Irish poets have been notably reticent when addressing political issues in their work. InSympathetic Ink, Shane Alcobia-Murphy traces that tendency through the works of Seamus Heaney, Paul Muldoon, and Medbh McGuckian. Using collections of the poets' papers made only recently available, Alcobia-Murphy focuses on the oblique, subtle strategies they apply to critique contemporary political issues. He employs the concept of sympathetic ink, or invisible ink, arguing that rather than avoiding politics, these poets have, via complex intertextual references and resonances, woven them deeply into the formal construction of their works. Acute and learned,Sympathetic Inkwill serve as a perfect introduction to these crucial figures of Irish poetry.

Shane Alcobia-Murphy is a lecturer in the Department of English at the University of Aberdeen and the author of Governing the Tongue: Essays on Northern Irish Culture.