Az Eszterházy Károly Tanárképző Főiskola Tudományos Közleményei. 2002. Vol. 3. Eger Journal of English Studies.(Acta Academiae Paedagogicae Agriensis : Nova series ; Tom. 29)

Péter Dolmányos: An Outline of the Relationship Between Romanticism and Contemporary Irish Poetry

ROMANTICISM AND CON TEMPORARY IRISH POETRY 17 Every layer they strip Seems camped on before. The bogholes might be Atlantic seepage. The wet centre is bottomless.

8 The poem almost writes itself, as image yields image through associations. The last line of the poem, 'The wet centre is bottomless', is the culminating point: this is the epiphanic moment when the poem opens up to include the endless vertical dimension which, as it is also geology, is the past at the same time

—the depth brings together space and time in one image. The vision takes its origin in the isolation of the artist. The most extreme case of contemporary isolation is exemplified by Mahon

—he sees the world as a hostile place in which poetry has a limited sphere and an even more limited influence on events. A short quotation from his poem 'Rage for Order' may illustrate the case: Somewhere beyond The scorched gable end And the burnt-out Buses there is a poet indulging his Wretched rage for order Or not as the Case may be, for his Is a dying art.

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9 Mahon takes the phrase 'rage for order' from Wallace Stevens

— though in Stevens's late-Romantic concept it reads as 'blessed rage for order.' Mahon's replacement of 'blessed' with 'wretched' and the end of the passage are pessimistic enough as to the nature of poetry yet the fact that there is a poet present may be encouraging. Still, the idea that poetry is a 'dying art', similar to another activity, skinning a fairy, in another Mahon poem, shows his scepticism about the sphere of influence of his art. 8 Heanev, S. New Selected Poems 1966-1987, pp. 17-18. 9 Quoted by Longley, E. "The Singing Line: Form in Derek Mahon's Poetry." In: Poetry in the War. Newcstle: Bloodaxe, 1986, p. 172. Í ESZTERHÁZY KÁROLY FŐISKOLA j KÖNYVTÁRA-EGER I Könyv: k 3 "{