Noted northern Irish poets will read from works

For northern Irish poets Ciaran Carson and Michael Longley, a perusal of the original manuscripts of their award-winning collections of poetry would require more than a trip to their respective attics. Those draft manuscripts, as well as correspondence and other personal papers, are housed at Emory's Special Collections Depart-ment in Woodruff Library. The papers are some of the more recent acquisitions of what Ronald Schuchard, professor of English, describes as "the most impressive archives for the study of contemporary Irish literature anywhere."

The poets will be revisiting their papers during a special reading on Thursday, Feb. 23, at 5:30 p.m. in Special Collections. The papers include manuscripts, correspondence and personal papers and complement an Irish collection that boasts holdings representing other contemporary Irish poets such as Derrick Mahon, Seamus Heaney, James Simmons and Medbh McGuckian. Steve Enniss, manuscript librarian in special collections, concurred with Schuchard, noting that "Our Irish collection definitely puts us on the map nationally and internationally as an archive of contemporary Irish poets."

In a related event, Carson will lead an informal discussion on the peace negotiations in Northern Ireland on Wednes-day, Feb. 22, at 5 p.m. in 202 Cannon Chapel, sponsored by the W.B. Yeats' Drama Foundation and the English department. Although both poets share roots in troubled northern Ireland, Schuchard notes that they offer distinct voices and unique styles of poetry. He said, "Both poets are from Belfast and write out of a great sense of the turbulence and their troubles to record the shock of all that embodies it and yet transcends it."

Schuchard explained how Longley handled this issue in his recent collection, Gorse Fires (1991), which won the prestigious Whitbread Prize for Poetry. Longley's "The Butchers" is a rewriting of a scene from Homer's Odyssey. This use of the Homeric analog allows the poet to depersonalize the intensity of the immediate emotions. Longley's other collections of poetry include No Continuing City (1969), An Exploded View (1973), Man Lying on a Wall (1976), The Echo Gate (1979), Selected Poems (1981) and Poems 1963-1983 (1985).

Carson, who writes out of a traditon of storytelling, brings a musical quality to his poetry. He is a trained musician and often plays the tin whistle and flute at his readings. Much of his poetry has a ballad-like quality. Carson's collections of poetry include The New Estate (1976) and The Irish For No (1987), which won the Alice Hunt Barlett Award for the best second book of poetry published in Eng-land in 1987. The critically acclaimed Bel-fast Confetti (1989) won the prestigious Irish Times/Aer Lingus Irish Literature Prize for Poetry in 1990. His newest collection, First Language, won the first T.S. Eliot Prize for the outstanding book of poetry published in Great Britain in 1993.

One of the unique things about the Irish archives in Special Collections is that most of "the writers are still writing and in their prime. These poets are significant writers in an important literary movement." Schuchard further suggests that through this collection and other scholarship, "Emory will become a major center for the study of Irish literature in the 20th century."

For teaching undergraduate and graduate level classes, the collection provides a unique resource. Schuchard recalled his Irish poetry class that met in Special Collections and was able to examine the manuscripts of Gorse Fires. This access allowed the students "to view it in its embryonic stages." Describing the class session as "one of the best he has had in recent memory," Schuchard believes that "the experience humanized the poetry of all these poets for the students."

--Matt Montgomery