Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- Permissions
- Introduction: ‘Slow Tide on Tide of History’: Poetry by Women in Ireland, 1870–1970
- A Note on the Texts
- Elizabeth Varian (1821–1851–1896)
- Emily Hickey (1845–1881–1924)
- Katharine Tynan (1858–1885–1931)
- Dora Sigerson Shorter (1866–1893–1918)
- Eva Gore-Booth (1870–1898–1926)
- Emily Lawless (1845–1902–1913)
- Susan L. Mitchell (1866–1906–1926)
- Alice Milligan (1866–1908–1953)
- Winifred M. Letts (1881–1913–1972)
- Eileen Shanahan (1901–[1921]–1979)
- Mary Devenport O'Neill (1879–1929–1967)
- Blanaid Salkeld (1880–1933–1959)
- Sheila Wingfield (1906–1938–1992)
- Freda Laughton (1907–1945–?)
- Rhoda Coghill 1903–1948–2000
- Appendix 1: Irish Women Poets 1870–1970
- Appendix 2: Chronology
- Select Bibliography
- Index of Titles and First Lines
Alice Milligan (1866–1908–1953)
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- Permissions
- Introduction: ‘Slow Tide on Tide of History’: Poetry by Women in Ireland, 1870–1970
- A Note on the Texts
- Elizabeth Varian (1821–1851–1896)
- Emily Hickey (1845–1881–1924)
- Katharine Tynan (1858–1885–1931)
- Dora Sigerson Shorter (1866–1893–1918)
- Eva Gore-Booth (1870–1898–1926)
- Emily Lawless (1845–1902–1913)
- Susan L. Mitchell (1866–1906–1926)
- Alice Milligan (1866–1908–1953)
- Winifred M. Letts (1881–1913–1972)
- Eileen Shanahan (1901–[1921]–1979)
- Mary Devenport O'Neill (1879–1929–1967)
- Blanaid Salkeld (1880–1933–1959)
- Sheila Wingfield (1906–1938–1992)
- Freda Laughton (1907–1945–?)
- Rhoda Coghill 1903–1948–2000
- Appendix 1: Irish Women Poets 1870–1970
- Appendix 2: Chronology
- Select Bibliography
- Index of Titles and First Lines
Summary
Alice Milligan was a writer and political activist born in Belfast and educated there at the Methodist College. She studied for a year at King's College London before completing a teacher-training course in Ulster. Following the death of Parnell she became a committed nationalist, and in 1894 co-founded branches of the Irish Women's Association in Belfast, Moneyreagh and Portadown. As president of the IWA and vice-president of the Henry Joy McCracken Literary Society in Belfast—which she helped to found in 1895—she demonstrated her joint allegiance to political and literary matters. The following year, she and Anna Johnston (the poet and activist ‘Ethna Carbery’) founded the Shan Van Vocht, a nationalist journal that championed the work of the Gaelic League. Though the journal only ran for three years, Milligan had soon become involved in amateur drama and until 1908 devoted her time to the writing and staging of plays and tableaux vivants, and also to the role of travelling lecturer for the Gaelic League. Her poetry reveals the depth of her commitment to the materials of Gaelic history, and her skill in rendering them in rhythmic verse form. Her vivid realisation of scenes and characters emphasises the narrative strength of this work, but there is wit and irony to be found too, especially in the later poems. Milligan was in London during the Easter Rising, and, after living in Dublin for several years, moved to England in 1921 and then to Omagh in Co. Tyrone. She remained fiercely opposed to partition.
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- Information
- Poetry by Women in IrelandA Critical Anthology 1870–1970, pp. 157Publisher: Liverpool University PressPrint publication year: 2012