Over the past twenty years Paul Durcan has become an essential presence in Irish life. His poems have ranged from risk-taking explorations along the tragi-comic fault lines in contemporary Ireland to brave and painful studies of the private self. Taking its title from one of his most famous poems, The Kilfenora Teaboy is the first full-length study of Paul Durcan's work. It includes an analysis of his relationship with the political world be inhabits, a study of the connection between his own background and poetic vision, and critical evaluation of the essential themes which underpin his extraordinary body of work.