Mcguckian And Politics

As the reader unfolds the complexities of a written piece, clarity of subject, issue, vision, or aesthetic motivation can become revealed. However, at times, the unfolding process leads simply to the exposure of more folds, calling for more action from the reader, more sincere thought, more in-depth study, or more shoulder shrugging. Readings of Medbh McGuckian's poetry often result in all of these actions, proving that her work is one of complexity and character. But even though complexity can be a determined attribute of a writer's work, that doesn't necessarily mean that that writer's intention was simply to create a befuddling mess or problem. Within McGuckian's verse, themes of familial female presence, as well as that presence in the world, combined with concrete and symbolic images of domesticity and incidence of color come through to make her work both influential and accessible. Her societal position, being a female writer living in Northern Ireland during the late twentieth century, has caused some to refer to her as a political poet. Yet, it seems that much of her poetry, while reflective of situations and incidences of the state that many women, similar in caste to her, may be in, aren't distinctly political poems. The political poem should do more than just reflect. In a way, it should act like a speech, rather than a photograph. When an artist creates a portrayal, even if that portrayal in someway transcends the event or object that it is representing, the "politicalness" is often concluded not by the writer before the piece was created, but by the reader who is experiencing it. Does that mean that the work itself is political in nature? Does that mean that the writer himself or herself is politically motivated? Or does that just mean that the interpretation is what carries the societal implications?

McGuckian, being a woman in Northern Ireland, would find it hard to have a stage tall enough for her to stand on in order to be heard. While she doesn't particularly write much with a direct calling out of political events or a opinionated take on Socialism or Communism or Civil Rights, she still can very much be considered a political poet. A debatable subject, "political" writers don't have to express views, but can become political based upon who they naturally are and where they are naturally from and when it is they are naturally writing. Because of this, lines like "A man will keep a horse for prestige,/but a woman ripens best underground." carry a different sort of weight (McGuckian 22). Coming from her in her poem Gateposts, these words have a different look than it may for a male writing those same lines from the same geographical area. The lines hint at ownership, with the man being the owner and the horse and woman being a type of property. In fact, the horse seems to have a more respectable position here. It, at least, is desired, while the woman takes shapes of a crop. And her being a housewife affects the opening line from The Flitting: "'You wouldn't believe all this house has cost me--/in body-language terms, it has turned me upside down.'" (26). Many Irish women in Northern Ireland were housewives at this time. Most didn't have voices to reach the rest of the world. The fact that McGuckian, being much like other women in Northern Ireland, was speaking in the same way that they would, concludes her work as political. It's representative of a minority--a minority that isn't particularly happen with the way they are viewed and treated, and, therefore, becomes the voice of a mass.

Even though her poems don't read like pamphlets calling for the rise of voices backing the woman's cause, McGuckian does establish herself as a fine artist, a fine poet, which, in doing so, parallels an outward voice promoting support. In an interview, she responds to a question about her thoughts of what it would be like writing in the United States.