Cromwell. A Poem. Illustrated with Six Plates in Colour by Brian Kelly. Dublin: Beaver Row Press, 1983. First Edition. Pp, 146. A nice bright copy in pictorial dust jacket.

Inscribed by Kennelly on the front free endpaper.

Kennelly’s comic-grotesque historical ‘epic’ Cromwell immediately received both critical acclaim and popularity on publication, spending several months on the bestseller lists in Ireland.

With its central focus upon one of Irish history’s hate-figures, Kennelly’s book raises crucial questions about the nature of the determining role which history plays within contemporary Irish poetry.