Against piety

Widely regarded as one of Ireland's sharpest critics of poetry, Gerald Dawe provides a collection critical essays on modern Irish poets. Reading the work of each poet in his or her own right, Dawe questions the relationship between history and poetry in the context of the social and political issues of contemporary Ireland. What emerges is an intellectual portrait of each poet and his culture from the late 1970s through the end of the 20th century.