A Chastened Communion: Modern Irish Poetry and Catholicism

A Chastened Communion traces a new path through the well-traversed field of modern Irish poetry by revealing how critical engagement with Catholicism shapes the trajectory of the poetic careers of Austin Clarke, Patrick Kavanagh, John Montague, Seamus Heaney, Eil an N Chuillean in, Paul Durcan, and Paula Meehan. Underlying their divergent poetic styles and thematic concerns, Auge discerns a common pattern. He shows how a demythologizing critique of some elemental features of Irish Catholicism--the sacraments of confession and the Eucharist, the pilgrimages to holy wells and Lough Derg, the veneration of the Blessed Virgin, the imperative to self-sacrifice, the narrowly patriarchal nature of the institution--elicit, for each of these poets, a radical reshaping of these traditional religious phenomena. Auge provides compelling new readings of major Irish poets and establishes a basis for distinguishing modern Irish poetry from its Anglophone counterparts.

Author: Andrew Auge
Publisher: Syracuse University Press
Published: 12/03/2013
Pages: 304
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.20lbs
Size: 9.10h x 6.40w x 1.00d
ISBN: 9780815633297

Review Citation(s):
Choice 07/01/2014

About the Author
Andrew J. Auge is professor of English at Loras College in Iowa. His articles have been published in numerous journals, including New Hibernia Review and Contemporary Literature.