Ciarán Carson Summary

In the following excerpt, Wills describes how Carson demonstrates the connection between violence and language in The Irish for No. The use of physical force and verbal persuasion are at opposite e... Read more

In the following review, Craig describes how Carson writes about more than Irish traditional music in Last Night's Fun. There is a traditional Irish tune called “Last Night's F... Read more

In the following review, Eder argues that Carson's digressions and reminiscences are the heart of his Last Night's Fun. The places in this evocation of musical Ireland [found in Last ... Read more

In the following review, Nicholson concludes that, despite the lack of a Gaelic glossary, Carson's Last Night's Fun is an “otherwise delightful read.” “I cannot f... Read more

In the following review, Eagleton discusses how Carson's The Star Factory represents the next step in the literature of Northern Ireland. The fascination that Belfast has for its inhabitants... Read more

In the following excerpt, Wiman analyzes Carson's style in Opera et Cetera. Though Ciaran Carson's poems are […] weakened by a style which seems less a necessity than a handy m... Read more

In the following essay, Howard traces the gradual inward movement of Carson's poetry, culminating in Opera et Cetera. Among the leading writers of Northern Ireland, no one is more protean th... Read more

In the following excerpt, D'Aulaire asserts that music is the unifying theme of Carson's Last Night's Fun, but that the book is really about much more. Purportedly about Irish ... Read more

In the following review, MacFarlane discusses the structure and language of Carson's Fishing for Amber. Judging a book by its cover is generally agreed to be bad behaviour. But what about by... Read more

In the following review, Dart argues that the catholicity of Carson's Shamrock Tea is both the novel's greatest strength and its greatest weakness. Jan van Eyck's “Arnol... Read more

In the following review, Reale lauds Carson's Shamrock Tea and points out that it is the novel's journey, not its destination, that matters. Smoke it or drink it; the effects are the ... Read more

In the following excerpt, Ford argues that Carson establishes a particular political context in The Irish for No. [The Irish for No] is Ciaran Carson's second collection of poems. His first,... Read more

In the following review, Corcoran discusses Carson's style in Belfast Confetti. Ciaran Carson's last book, The Irish for No, published in 1987, was one of the most warmly received vol... Read more

In the following review, Glover explores how Carson uses language in First Language. The award of the first T. S. Eliot Prize for the poetry book of the year was, as one of the hot and overwrought ... Read more

In the following review, Bedient notes that the poems in Carson's First Language are uneven. In First Language, which won the T. S. Eliot Poetry Prize for the outstanding book of poetry publ... Read more