"Ocean's Love to Ireland": Imagery of the Sea in Contemporary Irish Poetry
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The literary imagination of Ireland, placed in the Atlantic between England and America, has been shaped by the sea from the very beginning, and images and conceptualisations of the sea occur continuously in Irish literature, from the old myths and immrama to contemporary writing. While reflecting some of these older traditions, this paper intends to discuss the use of the sea in contemporary Irish poetry, how Desmond Egan draws upon the sea as a source of consolation and artistic inspiration, how Nobel Laureate Seamus Heaney deploys the littoral landscape for a committed and politicised type of poetics, and how voyages across and new locations beyond the seas offer complex visions of identity in the poetics of Paul Muldoon. The cadence and candescence of the sea tend to stimulate the poetic language of all three of these poets.