Leading Irish poet Derek Mahon has written some of the key poems of our age. In this landmark study, Hugh Haughton opens up Mahon's work before our eyes, balancing critical overview with illuminating close readings. It will be come to be seen not only as the standard work on Mahon but as one of the critical cornerstones for the understanding of Northern Irish poetry. - ;Derek Mahon is one of the leading poets of his time, both in Ireland and beyond, famously offering a perspective that is displaced from as much as grounded in his native country. From prodigious beginnings to prolific maturity,