Detached Lyricism and Universal Rootedness: A Critical Introduction to the Poetry of Pat Boran

Abstract

Pat Boran is one of the most versatile, polyvalent and innovative voices in contemporary Irish poetry. In spite of his prolific career as a poet, editor, and fiction writer, and the positive reviews his work has received over the years (i.e. Smith 2007; Linke 2009; Dempsey 2011; Cornejo 2016; Kehoe 2018), Boran has received very little critical attention in Irish Studies. This critical introduction intends to cover this gap in academia, by offering a more detailed critical appraisal of a poetic voice largely underrated within Irish literary criticism, as O’Driscoll (2007, xiv-xv) laments in his introduction to his Selected Poems. In particular, I will offer a brief critical overview of Boran’s six collections of poetry, and I will concentrate on several aspects which seem to distinguish him as a writer: his sense of “detached lyricism” (that is to say, his intensive biographical but at the same time impersonal style); the importance that local rootedness exerts in his work; and his idiosyncratic way of handling themes such as masculinity.