To Paradise
A film poem celebrating some of Nobel Poet WB Yeats’ most beautiful poems and their links with Sligo – his spiritual home.
60th Year Celebrations
President, Poets and People celebrate a great birthday
Yeats Society Sligo celebrated the 60th birthday of its Yeats International Summer School in 2019. It was a momentuous achievement, especially as it is now the longest running literary school in the world. And it retains its independence, ensuring support from a wide range of colleges, universities, lecturers and students.
The School has provided unforgettable memories for visitor across the decades. It has supported and encouraged writers, academics and poets and it retains its authentic links with the landscape and people of Sligo. As part of this landmark occasion, we invited local, national and international figures to share with us their choice of Yeats poem. Sixty poems for sixty years with sixty people.
Sailing to Byzantium
Chosen by: Leo Varadkar, An Taoiseach
High Talk
Chosen by: Professor Matthew Campbell, Director of the 60th Yeats International Summer School (2019)
Cuchulain Comforted
Chosen by: Marie Heaney, Wife of the late Seamus Heaney
Among School Children
Chosen by: Professor Helen Vendler, American literary critic
Lapis Lazuli
Chosen by: Margaret Harper, Director of the Yeats International Summer School
The Indian Upon God
Chosen by: Paul Muldoon, Irish poet
Sixteen Dead Men
Chosen by: John Mullaney, Mullaney Brothers, O’Connell Street, Sligo
IV There’ from Supernatural Songs 1934
Chosen by: Michael Quirke, Woodcarver and Storyteller, Wine Street, Sligo
The Cold Heaven
Chosen by: Joseph M Hassett, Washington lawyer, author of W.B. Yeats and the Muses, first attended the Yeats Summer School in 1963
No Second Troy
Chosen by: Maureen Kennelly, Director, Poetry Ireland
Under Ben Bulben
Chosen by: Eily Kilgannon, Eily Kilgallon School of Speech & Drama
Vacillation
Chosen by: Gerald Dawe, Author and Poet
Man And The Echo
Chosen by: Professor Seán Golden, Academic advisor to the board of Yeats Society Sligo
Politics
Chosen by: Peter Fallon, Poet
Sailing to Byzantium
Chosen by: Maura McTighe, Former President of Yeats Society Sligo
The Second Coming
Chosen by: Emer McGarry, Acting Director, The Model, Sligo
A Prayer for my Daughter
Chosen by: Deaglán de Bréadún, Author, journalist and former Yeats Summer School student
The Song of Wandering Aengus
Chosen by: Una Mannion, Lecturer in Performing Arts and Chair of the new Writing and Literature BA at IT Sligo
Aedh Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven
Chosen by: Eileen Magnier, RTÉ North West Correspondent
The Fiddler of Dooney
Chosen by: Robert Fitzpatrick & the Fitzpatrick family
In memory of their mother Joan
Adam’s Curse
Chosen by: Susan O’Keeffe, Yeats Society Sligo Director
Prayer for My Son
Chosen by: Professor Frank McGuinness, UCD poet and playwright
Broken Dreams
Chosen by: Rosaleen O’Grady, Mayor Municipal District Sligo
In Memory of Eva Gore-Booth and Constance Markievicz
Chosen by: Marian Richardson, RTÉ Radio Broadcaster
Mohini Chatterjee
Chosen by: Warwick Gould, Emeritus Professor, University of London
September 1913
Chosen by: Auriel Robinson, Director of Sligo-based heritage trails company Seatrails
The Wild Swans at Coole
Chosen by: Martin Enright, Honorary President of Yeats Society Sligo
On a Political Prisoner
Chosen by: Kevin Connolly, Author ‘Yeats and Sligo’
Chosen by:
Stella Mew, Yeats scholar and former CEO of Yeats Society Sligo
The Circus Animals’ Desertion
Chosen by: Alice Lyons, Poet-in-Residence Yeats Society Sligo
