Paul Muldoon's poem ''Meeting the British'', first published in the 1987 collection of the same name, is an account of Pontiac's Rebellion of 1763 in the aftermath of the French and Indian War, presumably written from the perspective of a Native American. The poem is thematically a

post-colonial Postcolonialism is the critical academic study of the cultural, political and economic legacy of colonialism and imperialism, focusing on the impact of human control and exploitation of colonized people and their lands. More specifically, it is a ...

one that draws on stylistic aspects from the modernist tradition. Written in nine couplets, its language and structure operate on dual levels catering for both 'quick' readings that evoke direct feeling and more deliberated 'slow' readings, which in absorbing an historical sense deeper emphasises timeless temporal presence. Muldoon critic John Redmond suggests that the 'quick' and the 'slow' are 'the most desirable ' when considered together and in relation to one another.

References

British poems Poetry by Paul Muldoon 20th-century Irish literature Poems about diseases and disorders Works about American history Pontiac's War Anti-war works Postcolonial poetry Native Americans in art Fiction about smallpox 1987 poems Irish poems {{poem-stub