Customer Reviews

Pharaoh's Daughter

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I cannot reccomend Ni Dhomhnaill's work highly enough. She is continuing in the tradition established by women like Eavan Boland, Peig Sayers, and Medbh McGuckian--teaching the world that Irish women can write with a beauty and an intensity that must not--and cannot--be overshadowed by their male colleagues. I first read Ni Dhomhnaill in a class in grad school, and have continued to read her work constantly. Her poems are well grounded in the technique of true poetry, and her gift for her native Irish shines through each work. For those readers who haven't had the luxury to learn Irish, the poems in her volumes are translated by some of the most talented Irish poets alive--Seamus Heaney, Medbh McGuckian, John Montague, and Paul Durcan have all lent a hand in the translations. The work itself is steeped in Irish mythology, which Ni Dhomhnaill understands and alludes to deftly, but without overpowering sentimentality. Some shining examples of her talent that appear in the volume are "The Language Issue," "Blodewedd," "Aubade," and "Island." Ni Dhomhnaill is sure to prove herself one of the great writers of the era.