The Cambridge Companion to Irish Poets
Cambridge Companions to Literature Series

The Cambridge Companion to Irish Poets offers a fascinating introduction to Irish poetry from the seventeenth century to the present. Aimed primarily at lovers of poetry, it examines a wide range of poets, including household names, such as Jonathan Swift, Thomas Moore, W. B. Yeats, Samuel Beckett, Seamus Heaney, Patrick Kavanagh, Eavan Boland and Paul Muldoon. The book is comprised of thirty chapters written by critics, leading scholars and poets, who bring an authoritative and accessible understanding to their subjects. Each chapter gives an overview of a poet's work and guides the general reader through the wider cultural, historical and comparative contexts. Exploring the dual traditions of English and Irish-speaking poets, this Companion represents the very best of Irish poetry and highlights understanding that reveals, in clear and accessible prose, the achievement of Irish poetry in a global context. It is a book that will help and guide  general readers through the many achievements of Irish poets.

Introduction Gerald Dawe; 1. Prolegomena – 'Spenser's Island' Sean Lysaght; 2. Jonathan Swift 1667–1745 James Ward; 3. Aogan O'Raithille c.1670–1729 Aodan MacPoilin; 4. Oliver Goldsmith 1728–1774 Michael Griffin; 5. Thomas Moore 1779–1852 Jeffrey Vail; 6. James Clarence Mangan 1803–1849 John Mc Auliffe; 7. W B Yeats 1865–1939 Nicholas Grene; 8. Francis Ledwidge 1887–1917 Fran Brearton; 9. Thomas MacGreevy 1893–1967 David Wheatley; 10. Austin Clarke 1896–1974 Lucy Collins; 11. Patrick Kavanagh 1904–1967 Tom Walker; 12. Samuel Beckett 1906–1989 Gerald Dawe; 13. Louis Mac Neice 1907–1963 Chris Morash; 14. John Hewitt 1907–1987 Guy Woodward; 15. Séan Ó Ríordáin 1916–1977 Louis de Paor; 16. Richard Murphy 1927 Benjamin Keatinge; 17. Thomas Kinsella 1928 Andrew Fitzsimons; 18. John Montague 1929 Maurice Riordain; 19. Brendan Kennelly 1936 Richard Pine; 20. Seamus Heaney 1939–2013 Terence Brown; 21. Michael Longley 1939 Florence Impens; 22. Michael Hartnett 1941–1999 Peter Sirr; 23. Derek Mahon 1941 Matt Campbell; 24. Eilean Ni Chuilleanain 1942 Hugh Haughton; 25. Eavan Boland 1944 Justin Quinn; 26. Paul Durcan 1945 Alan Gillis; 27. Ciaran Carson 1948 Nicholas Allen; 28. Medbh McGuckian 1950 Maria Johnston; 29. Paul Muldoon 1951 Peter Mc Donald; 30. Nuala Ni Dhomhnaill 1952 John Dillon.

Gerald Dawe is an Irish poet, and Professor of English and Fellow of Trinity College, Dublin. He has published eight volumes of poetry including Selected Poems (2012) and Mickey Finn's Air (2014). Among his many other publications, he has edited Earth Voices Whispering: An Anthology of Irish War Poetry (2009) and also Of War and War's Alarms: Reflections on Modern Irish Writing (2015). A recipient of the prestigious Macaulay Fellowship in Literature, Dawe has been a visiting scholar at Boston College, Villanova University, Philadelphia and Pembroke College, Cambridge.