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Abstract
Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill, a critically acclaimed Irish poet, often explores women’s subordination, nature, mythology, and language politics in her work. Yet few scholars have interpreted her texts from an ecofeminist perspective, while these theories connect well to the themes they address. For ecofeminists, the exploitation of nature and the subordination of women are closely related due to traditionally stereotypical, male-dominated binarism. In line with an ethics of care approach, ecofeminism suggests that women better protect nature in their interactions with flora and fauna. This essay examines relevant ecofeminist views and investigates how ecofeminism facilitates our advanced understanding of Ní Dhomhnaill’s synergistic integration of women and nature.
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- Ecocriticism
- Literature and the Environment
- Feminist Literary Theory
- Feminist Anthropology
- Philosophy of Nature
- Feminist Theology
Notes
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Ní Dhomhnaill’s Irish-language poetry that is discussed in this paper has been translated into English by several translators. Michael Hartnett translated most poems in Selected Poems: Rogha Dánta, including the poems “We Are Damned,” “Poem for Melissa,” “Island,” “Flowers.” A few poems in this selected book, such as “The Shannon Estuary Welcoming the Fish” and “A Journey” are translated by the poet. Medbh McGuckian translated “Daphne and Apollo.” Paul Muldoon translated The Astrakhan Cloak, including the poems “The Whitehorn Bush” and “The Lay of Loughadoon” and The Fifty Minute Mermaid, including the poem “A Remarkable Admission”.
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In her essay “Unalive Beings and Things That Don’t Exist,” Ní Dhomhnaill states how her uncle, Tomás Ó Murchú or Thomas Murphy, and some other friends, such as Joe Daly and Bab Feiritéar, initiated her into the world of Irish folklore and storytelling (203–10).
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Chang, H. Women and Nature in Harmony: An Ecofeminist Reading of Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill’s Poetry. Neophilologus (2025). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11061-025-09840-4
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- DOI https://doi.org/10.1007/s11061-025-09840-4
Keywords
- Irish women
- Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill
- Women
- Nature
- Environmental humanities
- Ecofeminism