This critical work asks whether the formation of a poet's oeuvre must involve artistic aberration. With introductory statements exploring the nature of aberration, these fourteen essays investigate the body of work of major contemporary poets from the U.S., Britain, Australia and New Zealand. Aberration is considered from the standpoint of both the artist and the audience, which ultimately forms the canon. The essays are concerned with the status of the aberrant work and the ways in which it challenges, enlarges or supports the overall perception of the poet.

2016 marks the centenary of the Easter Rising, known as "the poets' rebellion", for among their leaders were university scholars of English, history and Irish. The ill-fated revolt lasted six days and ended ignominiously with the rebels rounded up and their leaders sentenced to death. The signatories of the Proclamation of the Irish Republic must have known that the Rising would be crushed, must have dreaded the carnage and death, must have foreseen that, if caught alive, they would themselves be executed. Between 3 and 12 May 1916, the seven signatories were among those executed by firing squad in Kilmainham Gaol. Now 100 years later, eight of Ireland's finest writers remember these revolutionaries in a unique theatre performance. The forgotten figure of Elizabeth O'Farrell - the nurse who delivered the rebels' surrender to the British - is also given a voice. Signatories comprises the artistic responses of Emma Donoghue, Thomas Kilroy, Hugo Hamilton, Frank McGuinness, Rachel Fehily, Eilis Ni Dhuibhne, Marina Carr and Joseph O'Connor to the seven signatories and Nurse O'Farrell.They portray the emotional struggle in this ground-breaking theatrical and literary commemoration of Ireland's turbulent past. A performance introduction on the staging of the play is given by Director Patrick Mason, and an introduction by Lucy Collins, School of English, Drama and Film, UCD, sets the historical context of the play.

Arrangements have been made for Smudge to stay with Mr and Mrs Butt and their obnoxious son Billy, whilst his parents go on holiday. Billy Butt is a naughty, greedy bully and a food worshipper. The boys hate each other. On a day out, Billy runs off to explore, and Smudge chases after him into a dark forest where they get hopelessly lost. It is there where they fall into the evil hands of Madge and Reggie Stinkhorn, who lure them into their home with the promise of tasty treats. It is also there where the boys are trapped and made to work as slaves in an underground factory, run by two nasty henchmen, Limpitt and Muscles. They eventually discover a sinister trade involving monstrous creatures, where secrets lurk around every corner. They must escape to tell the world. 'What they encountered next was something too hideous to mention, but it will be mentioned, because it was hideously fascinating.'