Mount Eagle

Derek Mahon called John Montague 'the best Irish poet of his generation'. He commanded a pivotal place in contemporary Iris poetry: a vital link between the generation of Patrick Kavanagh and younger poets like Heaney, Mahon and Muldoon, whose style and internationalism owe much to his example. Mount Eagle, his eighth collection, showed him moving into new territory: Native American legends, fish-eye and bird-view perspectives. It is infused with richness, warmth and maturity, and begins and ends with the myth of the reborn salmon. Inbetween are poems on his persistent themes: the Ulster where he was reared, the healing force of nature, family and children, and 'erotic poems of charged sexual encounter' (Terence Brown).