Northern Irish poets have been accused of reticence in addressing political issues in their work. In Sympathetic Ink, Shane Alcobia-Murphy challenges this view through a consideration of the works of Seamus Heaney, Paul Muldoon and Medbh McGuckian. Making use of substantial collections of the poets' papers which have only recently become available, Alcobia-Murphy focuses on the oblique, subtle strategies employed by these poets to critique contemporary...