The Corncrake in the Aftergrass: poetry practice, cultures and contexts in post-conflict Northern Ireland

How do I, as a poet living and working in Northern Ireland, transcend the polemics and pietism of difference in a sustained contribution to ongoing conversations of conviction within and beyond Northern Ireland’s cultures and contexts? My thesis investigates whether contemporary poetry practice can go beyond the polemics and pietism of difference in contributing to conversations of conviction both within and outside cultures and contexts in Northern Ireland. It explores how I find my voice and vocation in poetry amid the culture of poetry in post-conflict Northern Ireland. I situate my work creatively, culturally, and experientially, drawing on the lives and works of Seamus Heaney, Michael Longley, and W.R. Rodgers. Their work serves as an overarching narrative to my life and work against the backdrop of conflict and post-conflict life in Northern Ireland. My primary sources are my poetry; I reflect on the development of my creative writing and how my poetry functions as public work within the canon of Ulster poetry. I examine my poetry practice as my response to life in Northern Ireland beyond the Belfast Agreement of 1998. Therefore, this thesis analyses how my poetry functions as public work, within an established canon and in contemporary cultures and contexts. I analyse my poetry practice as public work through the lenses of Semiotics and Reader Response Theory, which I compare and combine to create meaningful intersections exploring: text beyond the author, creativity beyond conflict, readers’ contexts beyond the writer’s contexts, and the reader’s role in making meaning of the text. This is an exploration of contradictions and intersections. Beyond Good Friday, there is the uneasy silence, the void that characterizes the in-camera acts of Holy Saturday. Similarly, beyond the Good Friday Agreement, there is an uncomfortable silence, the void representing the in-camera acts of peace where people say nothing, aware of the need to ‘whatever you say, you say nothing’ (Heaney). This narrative includes ‘The Corncrake in the Aftergrass’ (Heaney), in which the research aims to uncover some of the reasons behind the rhyme.

Name dc:type.qualificationname

PhD by Public Works

Level dc:type.qualificationlevel

PhD thesis

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

Middlesex University

Year dc:date.issued

2024

Author dc:creator

• Gilmore, P.H.

Identifier

oai:repository.mdx.ac.uk:340vvz

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:repository.mdx.ac.uk:340vvz