SOURCE: O'Brien, Peggy. “Reading Medbh McGuckian: Admiring What We Cannot Understand.” Colby Quarterly 28, no. 4 (December 1992): 227-38.

In the following essay, O'Brien defends the obscurity of McGuckian's poetry, comparing her thematic and stylistic treatment of female sexuality and sex to other major poets of the traditional canon.

When detractors speak of Medbh McGuckian, the first sin they name is an unwarranted obscurity. My purpose here is double: to defend that obscurity as necessary within the terms of McGuckian's poetic by looking at a few poems closely; and to place that poetic within the canon by making some broad comparisons with other major poets. It strengthens the case for McGuckian to discover that she has venerated precursors, not all of whom are female, as is often assumed. The point of similarity that bonds her with respected poets of both sexes is a content, often erotic, that encompasses what is nearly...