“History, Memory and Poetry: Richard Murphy's The Battle of Aughrim”

This essay investigates the relationship of history, memory and poetry in Richard Murphy’s long poem The Battle of Aughrim, published in 1968. The battle, fought in 1691, marked the ultimate defeat of the Irish Catholic forces in the Williamite wars, whose consequence was the rise of the Protestant nation in Ireland. In the long poem the author stages the contrasting voices and points of view of the opposing sides in order to render both the battle and its aftermath. This work represents Richard Murphy’s answer to the need to contribute to create an Irish national epic to imaginatively explore the complexities of Irish history.