Louis MacNeice’s Remote Houses

Houses at the peaceable north-western edges of Europe appear in several of MacNeice’s poems from the tumultuous second half of the 1930s, including ‘The Hebrides’, ‘Iceland’ and ‘The Coming of War’ (a series of poems set in Ireland). Though the remote houses in his poems seem unlikely locations for...

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Main Author: Adam Hanna
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: European Federation of Associations and Centres of Irish Studies 2016-07-01
Series:Review of Irish Studies in Europe
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.imageandnarrative.be/index.php/rise/article/view/1246
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author Adam Hanna
author_facet Adam Hanna
author_sort Adam Hanna
collection DOAJ
description Houses at the peaceable north-western edges of Europe appear in several of MacNeice’s poems from the tumultuous second half of the 1930s, including ‘The Hebrides’, ‘Iceland’ and ‘The Coming of War’ (a series of poems set in Ireland). Though the remote houses in his poems seem unlikely locations for engagements with wider issues, this article argues that MacNeice’s depictions of these private spaces reflect his own self-questioning about matters that include the ascendancy of rapacious, acquisitive materialism and the responsibilities engendered by the rise of European fascism. This article suggests that, while the houses that MacNeice depicts in England during the same years are both more closely linked to materialism and more vulnerable to war, remote houses represent the possibility of a necessary and salutary perspective on wider events. As such, remote houses, and especially ones in Ireland, are significant points.
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publisher European Federation of Associations and Centres of Irish Studies
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spelling doaj-art-7fd2f6b3d8644034991fccb4e57f36a42025-08-20T02:03:26ZengEuropean Federation of Associations and Centres of Irish StudiesReview of Irish Studies in Europe2398-76852016-07-0111Louis MacNeice’s Remote HousesAdam Hanna0University College CorkHouses at the peaceable north-western edges of Europe appear in several of MacNeice’s poems from the tumultuous second half of the 1930s, including ‘The Hebrides’, ‘Iceland’ and ‘The Coming of War’ (a series of poems set in Ireland). Though the remote houses in his poems seem unlikely locations for engagements with wider issues, this article argues that MacNeice’s depictions of these private spaces reflect his own self-questioning about matters that include the ascendancy of rapacious, acquisitive materialism and the responsibilities engendered by the rise of European fascism. This article suggests that, while the houses that MacNeice depicts in England during the same years are both more closely linked to materialism and more vulnerable to war, remote houses represent the possibility of a necessary and salutary perspective on wider events. As such, remote houses, and especially ones in Ireland, are significant points.https://www.imageandnarrative.be/index.php/rise/article/view/1246Louis MacNeiceHousesPoetryNorthern Irish LiteratureMemory
spellingShingle Adam Hanna
Louis MacNeice’s Remote Houses
Review of Irish Studies in Europe
Louis MacNeice
Houses
Poetry
Northern Irish Literature
Memory
title Louis MacNeice’s Remote Houses
title_full Louis MacNeice’s Remote Houses
title_fullStr Louis MacNeice’s Remote Houses
title_full_unstemmed Louis MacNeice’s Remote Houses
title_short Louis MacNeice’s Remote Houses
title_sort louis macneice s remote houses
topic Louis MacNeice
Houses
Poetry
Northern Irish Literature
Memory
url https://www.imageandnarrative.be/index.php/rise/article/view/1246
work_keys_str_mv AT adamhanna louismacneicesremotehouses