- Title Pages
- Dedication
- Notes on contributors
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
-
1 Gaelic and Catholic in the early middle ages -
2 Island of saints and scholars -
3 The devotional landscape of medieval Irish cultural Catholicism inter hibernicos et inter anglicos, c.1200–c.1550 -
4 Irish political Catholicism from the 1530s to 1660 -
5 The ‘absenting of the bishop of Armagh’ -
6 Henry Fitzsimon, the Irish Jesuits and Catholic identity in the early modern period -
7 Gaelic Catholicism and the Ulster plantation -
8 Irish-language sources for Irish Catholic identity since the early modern period -
9 The penal laws against Irish Catholics -
10 Irish Catholic culture in the nineteenth century -
11 The voices of Catholic women in Ireland, 1800–1921 -
12 Irish diaspora Catholicism in North America* -
13 Brethren in Christ -
14 The ‘greening’ of Cardinal Manning -
15 Power, wealth and Catholic identity in Ireland, 1850–1900 -
16 The Esmonde family of Co. Wexford and Catholic loyalty -
17 Catholic Unionism -
18 Identity and political fragmentation in independent Ireland, 1923–83 -
19 Secular prayers -
20 Catholic-Christian identity and modern Irish poetry -
21 Northern Catholics and the early years of the Troubles -
22 Irish identity and the future of Catholicism - Index
Catholic-Christian identity and modern Irish poetry
Catholic-Christian identity and modern Irish poetry
- Chapter:
- (p.333) 20 Catholic-Christian identity and modern Irish poetry
- Source:
- Irish Catholic Identities
- Author(s):
Bernard O’Donoghue
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
The idea of the transcendent, the relationship between time and eternity, between the numinous and the immanent is a central theme in the poetry of many contemporary Irish writers. But in many instances what appears in such poetry is the spiritual urge towards faith rather than dogmatic Christianity as such. We are presented by poets, such as Heaney, Muldoon, Deane, with a redefinition of the religious going beyond the categories of a particular belief system. Nevertheless, the Irish poet is representative of a culture in which religious images have been so pervasive that the poet can hardly be expected to avoid theme. But such imagery has been used not only for liberation but also oppression – witness the recent Troubles. The themes of identity and religion are central to a group of Irish poets whose work is examined here, some of whom, paradoxically are no longer practicing Christians.
Keywords: Religion poetry the Troubles transcendence imagination faith
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- Title Pages
- Dedication
- Notes on contributors
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
-
1 Gaelic and Catholic in the early middle ages -
2 Island of saints and scholars -
3 The devotional landscape of medieval Irish cultural Catholicism inter hibernicos et inter anglicos, c.1200–c.1550 -
4 Irish political Catholicism from the 1530s to 1660 -
5 The ‘absenting of the bishop of Armagh’ -
6 Henry Fitzsimon, the Irish Jesuits and Catholic identity in the early modern period -
7 Gaelic Catholicism and the Ulster plantation -
8 Irish-language sources for Irish Catholic identity since the early modern period -
9 The penal laws against Irish Catholics -
10 Irish Catholic culture in the nineteenth century -
11 The voices of Catholic women in Ireland, 1800–1921 -
12 Irish diaspora Catholicism in North America* -
13 Brethren in Christ -
14 The ‘greening’ of Cardinal Manning -
15 Power, wealth and Catholic identity in Ireland, 1850–1900 -
16 The Esmonde family of Co. Wexford and Catholic loyalty -
17 Catholic Unionism -
18 Identity and political fragmentation in independent Ireland, 1923–83 -
19 Secular prayers -
20 Catholic-Christian identity and modern Irish poetry -
21 Northern Catholics and the early years of the Troubles -
22 Irish identity and the future of Catholicism - Index
