One Wide Expanse: Volume 4 (The Poet's Chair: Writings from the Ireland Chair of Poetry) - Hardcover

Longely, Michael

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 190635989X ISBN 13: 9781906359898

Publisher: University College Dublin Press, 2015

Synopsis

One Wide Expanse is the first volume in The Poet's Chair series, which will publish the public lectures of the Ireland Professors of Poetry. The Ireland Chair of Poetry was established in 1998 following the award of the Nobel Prize of Literature to Seamus Heaney and is supported by Queen's University Belfast, Trinity College Dublin, University College Dublin, the Arts Council of Northern Ireland and the Arts Council/An Chomhairle Ealaion. The next two volumes will contain the lectures of Harry Clifton and Paula Meehan. This series follows on from the publication of the lectures of John Montague, Nuala Ni Dhomhnaill and Paul Durcan in The Poet's Chair, published in 2008. In this volume, the distinguished Irish poet Michael Longley - whose poetry has transcended political and cultural boundaries throughout his career - reflects on what has influenced his craft. Longley opens with an 'autobiography in poetry' where he recounts the poets and poems that have influenced him as both a reader and writer of poetry. He discusses his intimate relationship with Derek Mahon and Seamus Heaney along with other poets from around the world.The second lecture explores how influential the classical literatures of Greece and Rome have been on English poetry, highlighting how he has used these literatures in his own work, often to portray the Troubles in his native Northern Ireland. Longley closes with a very personal discussion of the influence that the west of Ireland has had on his poetry, his life, and his 'spiritual education'. The poet's love of nature and the environment shines through and extracts from his poems portray his deep understanding of the West. This illuminating volume gives readers a rare insight into the creative process of one of Ireland's leading contemporary poets who was Ireland Professor of Poetry from 2007 to 2010.

About this title

Review

'This beautifully produced book is part of the series The Poet's Chair: Writings from the Ireland Chair of Poetry, which collects the lectures given by the holder of the Chair during his or her tenure. This volume collects the lectures delivered by Michael Longley, a poet whose dedication and rigorous approach to poetic composition, together with his wit and modesty as a man, have made him an exemplary figure for generations of Irish poets.'Michael O'Loughlin, The Irish Times, 14 November 2015 'Michael Longley takes a quasi-religious view of poetry, believing that it is a 'calling', not a profession ... "It's my life, it's my religion, it's the way I make sense of the world". That world has encompassed growing up in Belfast before the Troubles, an education in Classics at Trinity College Dublin, and time divided between two homes, in Belfast and Carrigskeewaun ... where the landscape and nature have inspired much of his verse.' Hugh McFadden, Books Ireland, November/December 2015 'The slim hardback, One Wide Expanse, has been beautifully produced by UCD Press and contains Longley's three formal lectures.' 22 June 2015, The Irish Times 'What goes on inside a poet's head? In this first volume of UCD Press's The Poet's Chair, the distinguished Irish Poet Michael Longley ... reflects on what has influenced his craft.' The Irish Voice, August 2015 'Longley's love of nature and the environment shines through and extracts from his poems portray his deep understanding of the West.' Connacht Tribune, 3 September 2015'Opinionated yet calm, cushioned within the Ulster establishment yet as liberal as any dissident, [Longley] has drawn thousands of readers to his poetry of fearsome integrity ... These books from the Ireland Chair of Poetry will, over time, constitute a prodigious handbook of poetic craft ... What may have begun as a very fine idea to record the voices of these distinguished poet-Professors has now developed into a UCD master-class on the craft of poetry.' The Irish Examiner, 29 August 2015 'This illuminating volume, beautifully produced by UCD Press, gives readers a rare insight into the creative process of one of Ireland's leading contemporary poets ... A must-read for fans of literature, in particular poetry.' Ulster Tatler, September 2015

Edition details

• Publisher: University College Dublin Press
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 190635989X
• ISBN 13: 9781906359898
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 80