In Drunken Sailor, Montague explores the political divide in his native County Tyrone, his own rural Catholic upbringing, the changing face of modern Ireland, the landscape of Ireland as historical palimpsest, and his own fascination with the sea. Many of these themes are familiar to readers of Montague, but here they are handled with the amplitude and unhurried artistry of one deeply practiced in his craft. In this volume the poet grapples with mortality, his own and others, creating images that haunt the imagination."