NEW POETRY CRITICISM FROM GERALD DAWE CHARTS LAST 30 YEARS OF IRISH POETRY
The new literary criticism Conversations from poet, critic and lecturer Gerald Dawe reveals his lifelong devotion to his craft by his examination of Irish poetry over the last 30 years.
Described by novelist Dermot Bolger as a ‘constantly alert and probing presence within Irish poetry’, in this essay collection Dawe discusses his sense of Irish poetry; the place of poetry in present day society; his own cultural roots and influences from his Protestant Belfast background against the background of wider European social and political contexts.
From the 1916 poets to Derek Mahon, Van Morrison, Paul Durcan and Ciaran Carson, Conversations is more than insightful, expert literary critique and observation. Published by Lagan Press with support from the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, the essays represent the facets of Dawe’s own life and personality; his great passions, for example, his enduring love and respect for Van Morrison’s music and lyrics, and from time to time, his own pet peeves and disappointments. He honestly dissects and assesses poetry collections or anthologies with the assured tone of an expert who knows what he’s doing and how everything is meant to work. These short essays are not dry, humourless literary critique but extremely personable, astute examinations of the body of work that has exemplified Irish poetry since the 1980s.
Conversations will appeal to any poetry lover or literary student but in many ways it is so much more personal and picks up in parts from Dawe’s other successful prose books, My Mother City and The World as Province, also published by Lagan Press.
“Conversations is one poet’s voice of the world of poetry, reading and talking about poetry in the world,” explains Dawe.
“I started writing poems when I was a teenager and despite various ups and downs kept at it, reading and writing and eventually teaching poetry. So poetry has been the mainstay of my life.
“Writing poetry though has always been a fairly unpredictable thing for me. I’ve never really known what the next step would lead to so poetry is identified in my own mind with discovering things, the look of things mostly.
“And writing about poetry is really my way of finding out what I think. But if I didn’t enjoy poetry, get pleasure in reading it, I’d stop right now.”
Dawe has published more of his own poetry collections that literary criticism and so stands as one of the more influential contemporary Irish poets. Some of the enduring themes in Dawe’s life are his childhood and times spent as a young Protestant in Belfast in the early years of the conflict; his questioning of where home really was after he spent much of his married life and academic career living and working in the West of Ireland and then presently now in Dublin. His observations of a poet and critic looking from onwards in, made possible from his extensive literary tours in Europe, has earned him the accolade from WB Yeats biographer Terence Brown as having ‘an imagination of European scope’.
Dawe also has a wry sense of humour and a patient and understanding tolerance as to how poetry is received and treated today.
“Trends in poetry come and go like fads. The current ‘open mic’ and poetry slams are big all over the country, along with readings, festivals. Maybe there’s too much going on on-stage and not enough serious reading and appreciation of books of poetry, but that’s the way it is.
“The bookshops that used to foster and promote poetry are closing in various parts of the country which is a shame. When commercial visibility goes, it makes publishing poetry much more difficult and the prestige of being bought and read slips further into the margins.
“I enjoy reading my poems to audiences at home and abroad but it’s not the be-all and end-all of ‘being a poet” added Dawe
His searching and questioning about poets and poetry is likely to continue, as will Dawe’s own development as a poet. Once described by a critic as ‘the dark horse of Irish poetry’, Dawe says he in this essay collection is content with this.
Conversations Poets & Poetry, published by Lagan Press, costs £9.99 and is available online at www.lagan-press.org.uk and all good book shops.
