Confronting Shadows

An Introduction to the Poetry of Thomas Kinsella

Thomas Kinsella s life and work spans almost the entire history of the Irish state. His life and work has engaged with some of the most fundamental ruptures, moments, scandals and developments in the history of this nation and its people. The fight for independence, the economic shift to liberalism in the sixties, the power of the Church, the changing Irish working class, the civil rights movement and the subsequent Troubles , Irish foreign policy in the age of Terror among many others. As a civil servant, academic, activist and a leading socially-engaged poet, much of our modern history can be read and reflected through his work and life. But his work also deals with the more universal and more elusive topics of mortality, love and loss. David Lynch s compelling introduction to one of this nation s most impressive poets anchors his work in his real life experience, and explores the development of his life and the effects this has had on his art. At once accessible and powerful it offers an overview of Kinsella s life s work and relevance.