“Protectress of the land”: An Ecocritical Approach to Dairena Ní Chinnéide’s Poetry

Abstract

Dairena Ní Chinnéide is an Irish bilingual poet from County Kerry, namely from Corca Dhuibhne. The natural world, especially that of her homeland, is central to her poetry. The aim of this TFG is thereby to analyse the connections between nature and her Irish, female and poetic identity. More specifically, the aspects to be explored are the following: the connection of nature with the history, culture and everyday practices of Ireland; the connection of nature with femininity; and finally, the poetic voice's conception of the poetic creation. To this end, a selection of poems from Ní Chinnéide's literary works will be examined, specifically from The Warrior and Other Poems (2006), The Raven's Mother (2008), Spellbound (2016) and Deleted (2019), as well as from the multi-lingual poetry collection With Foxgloves on our Fingers (2023) and the British-Irish Council's poetic anthology Now the Sun Breaks Through (2023). Ecocritical approaches to nature, poetry and identity will provide the theoretical framework to this TFG. Iovino and Oppermann's book entitled Material Ecocriticism will serve to define the conception of the natural world that will be taken into consideration. Furthermore, references such as Eóin Flannery's book Ireland and Ecocriticism, Kate Rigby's article "Ecocriticism" or Estévez-Saá and Lorenzo-Modia's article "The Ethics and Aesthetics of Eco-Caring: Contemporary Debates on Ecofeminism(s)" will provide the conceptual perspectives on ecopoetry, postcolonialism, ecofeminism and posthuman identities that will guide the analysis.