Drawing on feminist, postcolonial and queer theory, McKibben (Irish language and literature, Notre Dame) examines the response to impinging English colonialism by early modern Ireland's
hereditary bardic professional poets. When, under the rule of King Henry VIII, England increased its encroachments into Irish land and its destruction of Irish culture, Ireland's poets
responded by warning, in verse, of English falsity and ill intent, and portraying new colonial relationships as shameful and emasculating. Meanwhile, they increasingly portrayed Ireland itself
as a shamed, fallen, female figure. McKibben analyzes colonial power and gender relationships in many genres of traditional Irish poetry including elegy, satire, aisling (or "vision" poem),
accentuated verse, song, oral lesson, and comic verse. Distributed by Dufour Annotation 穢2011 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
