It seems that macro-history has no relationship with family history at first glance. A close look at macro-history reveals that people in the micro-history are helplessly governed by macro-history regardless of their willingness. John Montague, a contemporary Northern Irish poet, has sought to investigate his tragic, painful familial history resulting from the macro-history of Northern Ireland which also turns out to be in predicament in political, religious, and educational terms. He was born in Brooklyn, New York, where his father had to be in exile because of his involvement in political activities in Ulster, Norther Ireland. Yet when Montague was quite young, he was sent to Garvaghey, Northern Ireland, his father's hometown. He was brought up there under the tutelage of his aunt. His early experience of separation from his parents has become the central theme of his poetry along with the political turmoil in Belfast. Thus, a number of his poems address his familial distress as well as his own. This essay seeks to examine how the poet recreates in his poems his painful experience involved in his family members, the victims of Northern Ireland's history. Many poems in Rough Field and Dead Kingdom are evaluated to be successful in terms of maintaining his temper even if they deal with painful matters of his family. As Montague himself reveals in his proses and interviews, his poetry seems to place its focus not only on praise but on liberation from his burdensome family history. To Montague, writing poetry is an inevitable means to overcome harsh realities given to his own family, himself and Northern Irish history. Particularly in his later poems, Montague arrives at reconciliation with the two corresponding histories he had to face.

• 이홍필(전남대) | Lee, Hong-Pil