Ambivalent Déjà-vu: World War II in the poetry of the Northern Irish Troubles

Charles I Armstrong

doi:10.1177/1750698020976461

Abstract

This article addresses how the poetry of the Northern Irish Troubles enters into a dialogue with the memory of World War II. Poems by Michael Longley, Seamus Heaney, Derek Mahon, and Sinéad Morrissey are analysed, showing how World War II is a controversial source of comparison for these poets. While World War II provides important ways of framing the suffering and claustrophobia of the Northern Irish conflict, evident differences also mean that such comparisons are handled warily and with some irony. The poems are highly self-conscious utterances that seek to unsettle and develop generic strategies in the light of traumatic suffering. This essay draws on Michael Rothberg’s concept of multidirectional memory, and it also makes use of Alison Landsberg’s notion of prosthetic memory in order to highlight how Seamus Heaney in particular makes use of the World War II memories mediated by popular culture to respond to the Troubles.

Highlights

In June 2011 the Peace Bridge was opened in Derry, Northern Ireland
Proceedings were disrupted by a demonstrator who persisted in shouting ‘SS Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC)!’
From Longley’s poems comparing the conflict with World War I and the Trojan War, little attention has been paid to the way in which these poets at times make use of a comparative prism to make sense of the bloodshed and terror that long permeated Northern Irish society

Summary

Introduction

In June 2011 the Peace Bridge was opened in Derry, Northern Ireland. Crossing the river Foyle, the bridge linked together areas of the city generally identified as having republican Catholic and loyalist Protestant sympathies. From Longley’s poems comparing the conflict with World War I and the Trojan War, little attention has been paid to the way in which these poets at times make use of a comparative prism to make sense of the bloodshed and terror that long permeated Northern Irish society.

Results

Conclusion