The relationship between private and shared memory is a complex one and the search for a way of conceptualizing it has preoccupied theorists of memory in recent years. Maurice Halbwach's perception of collective memory is both a foundational and a controversial construct, especially in the ways that it links individual psychology and group practice. As Astrid Erll has acknowledged, however, ‘societies do not remember literally; but much of what is done to reconstruct a shared past bears some resemblance to the processes of individual memory’. In its layered construction of subjectivity, poetry has the potential to extend how the dynamics of self and other can be understood, offering new ways of reading the relationship between the emotional life of the individual and the larger social and political contexts that have shaped these perceptions. This chapter explores the role of private memory in the work of contemporary Irish women poets, examining it as a catalyst for philosophical and social enquiry. These poets use acts of remembering to investigate subjectivity in challenging ways; they reveal aspects of the personal past while problematizing its relationship with the lyric mode. This potential to move beyond individual experience without negating its importance can be traced in the way these poets situate deeply personal material in a larger cultural context, contemplating not only close personal relationships but also the capacity for empathic connection with the stranger. In doing so they confirm the representation of personal suffering as an important dimension of ethical reflection and a means of understanding one's place in the world.

Three poets explore these dynamics in important ways: the work of Mary O'Malley (b.1954) and Paula Meehan (b.1955) shares some important characteristics, including an understanding of the relationship between personal experience and collective responsibility. Close in age, yet drawing inspiration from very different environments – the streets of inner city Dublin and the coastal communities of Galway – these poets came to creative maturity at a time when the gap between the public perception and the actual experiences of women was coming under particular scrutiny. For both poets memory serves to investigate the bonds of family and community and to recognize these as the sites of both supportive and damaging relationships.