“Land-Minds” and “Soft Human Paws:” Animals in the Poetry of Derek Mahon
In this analysis of the Northern Irish poet Derek Mahon’s production, I will try to show how his poems convey the fundamental assumption that humans and animals are reciprocally sensitive to the encounter with the other, that there is a relationship of mutual implication and dependence between them....
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| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Presses Universitaires du Midi
2020-10-01
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| Series: | Caliban: French Journal of English Studies |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://journals.openedition.org/caliban/8919 |
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| Summary: | In this analysis of the Northern Irish poet Derek Mahon’s production, I will try to show how his poems convey the fundamental assumption that humans and animals are reciprocally sensitive to the encounter with the other, that there is a relationship of mutual implication and dependence between them. I will also try to show how this relationship has nonetheless ambivalent connotations in Mahon’s poems, for it holds both the possibility of misunderstanding and mutual fear, and of leading to a space if not of reconciliation, of a closer, however problematized, interaction, never excluding one or the other, but striving to acknowledge and celebrate this relationship’s ambiguous and at the same time rich complexity. |
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| ISSN: | 2425-6250 2431-1766 |