Climate change in contemporary British and Irish poetry and poetic criticism: Literary representation and environmental activism

Abstract

Much ink has been spilt on the study of climate change fiction (cli‐fi), whereas relatively less attention has been devoted to the burgeoning growth of climate change poetry. As a sub‐genre of ecopoetry which aims at dealing with realistic environmental issues and raising readers' awareness to protect the earth, climate change poetry not only represents the ongoing climatic crises in varied ways, be they realistic or imaginative, but also actively engages in provoking ecological responsibilities and environmental activism. This article is an overview of contemporary British and Irish climate change poetry and its literary criticism. Having emerged at the end of the 20th century in the United Kingdom, this poetic genre cuts across literature and environment, rising both as a prominent literary mode and an important environmental phenomenon. Interdisciplinarity, multiple topics, environmental activism, and experimentation are its primary characteristics. Current scholarship on contemporary British and Irish climate change poetry is limited and it mainly adopts theories of ecocriticism and the Anthropocene. Climate justice, poetry and activism, and comparative literary perspective are among promising avenues for the future study of this new poetic genre. Contemporary British and Irish climate change poetry, and its criticism, indicate both poets and critics' efforts to represent and, more importantly, to grapple with ongoing climate change.