‘The Re-Tuning of the World Itself’: Irish Poetry on the Radio

doi:10.1017/9781009182881.009

Chapter 7 - ‘The Re-Tuning of the World Itself’: Irish Poetry on the Radio

from Part II - Infrastructures

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 19 January 2023

Ian Whittington

Edited by

Margaret Kelleher and

James O'Sullivan

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Margaret Kelleher: Affiliation:
University College Dublin
James O'Sullivan: Affiliation:
University College Cork

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Summary

The history of Irish poetry, like the history of Ireland itself, has long been bound up with the broadcast voices that radiate into, and out of, its shores and the walls of its homes. This essay registers the poetic resonances of radio on the island of Ireland by considering both the traces of the medium that appear in poetry and prose by Louis MacNeice, Eavan Boland, Leontia Flynn, Seamus Heaney, and others, and by examining the cultural role and aesthetic qualities of works produced for radio, with a particular attention to Austin Clarke’s weekly poetry broadcasts (made between 1939 and 1955) and his radio play ‘As the Crow Flies’ (1942). By merging Clarke’s interest in traditional Irish prosody and myth with the demands of writing for a mass medium, ‘As the Crow Flies’ offers an allegory of the futile search for meaning, and shelter, in a world convulsed by violence.

Keywords

Ireland radio literature; Radio Éireann (RÉ)Seamus Heaney Leontia Flynn Austin Clarke ‘As the Crow Flies’(radio play)Louis MacNeice Eavan Boland

Type: Chapter
Information: Technology in Irish Literature and Culture , pp. 118 - 134

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009182881.009 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2023

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