Mahon, Derek (1941– )

Northern Irish poet, born in Belfast and educated at Belfast Institute and Trinity College, Dublin. Together with Seamus Heaney and Michael Longley (1939– ), he was associated with the Northern Poets in Belfast in the 1960s. His poetry, such as Night-Crossing (1968) and The Snow Party (1975), is characterized by squalid landscapes and desperate situations.

After a brief teaching career, Mahon turned to journalism and creative writing. His early works, such as Twelve Poems (1965), show the influence of Louis MacNeice and W H Auden. Later publications include The Hunt by Night (1982), A Kensington Notebook (1984), and Antarctica (1985). The anthology Poems 1962–1978 (1979) contained some revised versions of earlier works, and a new collection Selected Poems appeared in 1991.