Love Poet, Carpenter: Michael Longley Celebrated! ~ Ní Síocháin go Saoirse!

Love Poet, Carpenter: Michael Longley Celebrated!

'A keeper of the artistic estate, a custodian of griefs and wonders.' ~Seamus Heaney~

Love Poet, Carpenter: Michael Longley at Seventy (Enitharmon Press) is a festschrift from over 50 literary figures, celebrating the life and works of renowned contemporary Irish poet Michael Longley. Born in Belfast (1993), Longley after being educated at the Royal Belfast Academical Institution went on to read classics at Trinity College, Dublin where he was awarded the prestigious position of Writer Fellow at Trinity in 1993. He is one of the triumvirate of important Northern Irish poets (with Heaney and Mahon) who emerged in the 1960s to collectively bring a new 'renaissance' in Irish writing.

In 1970, he joined the Arts Council of Northern Ireland as Combined Arts Director where he devoted his time to promoting literature and the traditional arts before taking early retirement from the post in 1991. Among the numerous awards he received for his literary, the accolade of Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry was given to Michael Longley in 2001.

He is one of the founding fathers of Aosdána, established by The Arts Council in 1981, and is an affiliation of Irish artists engaged in literature, music and visual arts.

Some of Michael Longley’s celebrated works and achievements include;

No Continuing City: Poems 1963-1968, (Pub.1969)
Poems, 1963-1983, (Pub. 1985)
The Echo Gate: Poems 1975-1979, (Pub. 1979)
Gorse Fires (1991), Whitbread Poetry Award winner
The Weather in Japan (2000), - awarded the Hawthornden Prize, T. S. Eliot Prize and the Belfast Arts Award for Literature.
Editor of 20th Century Irish Poems, (2002)
Collected Poems, (Pub. 2006)
Appointed Professor of Poetry for Ireland 2007 - His inaugural lecture, A Jovial Hullabuloo, was published in pamphlet form in the same year.

On the eve of PIRA ceasefire (1994), The Irish Times, published the poignant and thought-provoking Homeric poem ‘Ceasefire’ which addresses the difficulty of overcoming the past, of trying to break a cycle of violence;

“Ceasefire”

Put in mind of his own father and moved to tears

Achilles took him by the hand and pushed the old king

Gently away, but Priam curled up at his feet and

Wept with him until their sadness filled the building.

Taking Hector's corpse into his own hands Achilles

Made sure it was washed and, for the old king's sake,

Laid out in uniform, ready for Priam to carry

Wrapped like a present home to Troy at daybreak.

III

When they had eaten together, it pleased them both

To stare at each other's beauty as lovers might,

Achilles built like a god, Priam good-looking still

And full of conversation, who earlier had sighed:

'I get down on my knees and do what must be done

And kiss Achilles' hand, the killer of my son.'

Interesting in this collection of poems is the revelation by John Banville that Longley's contribution to the Northern Ireland peace process was the suggestion that the province's linen business should be put to the manufacture of "peace pants", with the union flag at the front, the tricolor at the back and the red hand of Ulster in the gusset. ~The Guardian~

This festschrift, Love Poet, Carpenter: Michael Longley at Seventy, is both a formal salute and warm-hearted tribute to one of Ireland’s distinguished poets career which spans over 40 years. Over this time period Longley produced poetic works spanning a multitude of genres including love poetry, war poetry, nature poetry, elegies, satires, verse epistles, and poems that reflect on art and the art of poetry.

Some among the 50 celebrated literary contributors include; Seamus Heaney, Caitriona O’Reilly, Frank Ormsby, Paul Muldoon and James Fenton et al. There is also a surprise entry from world renowned BBC Foreign correspondent, Fergal Keane. Keane has recently produced a BBC One NI programme entitled ‘Keane on Longley’, which was given its first airing on January 22nd of this year. The 40 minute revelatory documentary explores the inspirations behind many of Longley’s esteemed works including “Butchers” (an allusion to the ‘Shankill Butchers’). Keane expresses how this poem in particular gained a special personal significance whilst he was reporting on the Rwanda genocide in 1994.

We will leave the final words of this post to Michael Longley himself;

‘If I knew where poems came from, I’d go there.’

P.S. For the discerning book collector a Love Poet, Carpenter (Limited Edition), signed by 39 contributors (including Seamus Heaney; Paul Durcan and Gerald Dawe) is available from QUB Book Shop . (Limited to 195 copies)