Reimagining the Virgin Mary in Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin’s and Medbh Mcguckian’s Poems

Fekete-Nagy, Fanni (2026) Reimagining the Virgin Mary in Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin’s and Medbh Mcguckian’s Poems. In: Hungarian Perspectives on Ireland. Károli Könyvek. Tanulmánykötet . L'Harmattan Kiadó; Károli Gáspár Református Egyetem; Éditions L'Harmattan; L’Harmattan Open Access, Budapest, Paris, pp. 127-147. ISBN 9782336615448; 9789636465940

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Abstract

Religious themes and Catholic imagery often take center stage in both Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin’s and Medbh McGuckian’s poetry. Although the figure of the Virgin Mary is an inescapable and hugely influential presence in Irish Catholicism, both poets seem wary of representing her in their poetry due to her figure’s connections to misogynistic attitudes within the Church. The paper analyzes two ekphrastic poems, Ní Chuilleanáin’s Fireman’s Lift and McGuckian’s Red Angels in detail. Both poems are based on paintings about the death of the Virgin Mary by Correggio and Conrad von Soest respectively. The paper argues that the poems make use of vivid visual detail to represent the Virgin Mary as a mortal woman and to escape the negative connotations of her figure. The essay will draw on both traditional (James A. Heffernan, W. J. T. Mitchell) and more recent (Gabriele Rippl, Maria Iona Zirra) theories of ekphrasis in order to outline the multifaceted relationships between Marian dogma, the aesthetic appeal of religious art and the contemporary poets’ representations of the Virgin Mary in their work. In addition, the paper will emphasize Ní Chuilleanáin’s and McGuckian’s similar overall attitudes towards the figure of the Virgin despite their different poetic techniques and approaches to ekphrasis.

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