"The North-West and the East": Russian Influence on Northern Irish Poetry

Abstract

In Irish literature, there are numerous examples of writers who have become attracted by Russia. Poets especially seize upon the differences and similarities between Ireland and Russia in order to draw attention to the two countries' political and historical parallels. Through translation of Russian poems as well as allusions to Russian authors, literary figures, politicians and cities, they attempt to reconstruct the Russian situation in Irish terms. In particular, poets from Northern Ireland choose to communicate the Northern Irish experience through a Russian framework. This study examines the different ways in which three contemporary poets – Seamus Heaney, Tom Paulin and Medbh McGuckian – establish a connection between Northern Ireland and Russia. I shall explore how each addresses and echoes Russian masters such as Alexander Pushkin, Anna Akhmatova and Osip Mandelstam, and alludes to Russian politicians such as Vladimir Ilyich Lenin and Nadezhda Krupskaya in order to give voice to their personal vision of Northern Ireland.