He was very part of our school curriculum. No doubting his skills as a poet. Hated his vision of Ireland.
Yes, but I think he was very divided in his own vision - on the one hand very influenced by the romanticism of the revolutionaries (and in love with one) on the other hand personally conflicted. I think this led to a vision that wasn't supported by any of the realities out there. But, even when talking of Ireland, he had a turn of phrase that resonates (how often is the line 'a terrible beauty is born' used?)
Of his poems, I have a couple of personal favourites:
some of the well known ones I like:
The Stolen Child - I think it reflects his knowledge of the fairy folklore so well, and it trips along (I've nicked one of my book titles from it)
He Wishes for the cloths of heaven - quite simply, one of the most beautiful love poems I know of. So hopeless and yet beautiful.
When you are old - which is really another love poem, but I think the reflection in it is lovely
The lake Isle of Innisfree - something about the simplicity in this one is very relevant to our modern world.
The Wild Swans at Coole - my brother read this at my father's funeral, so it's a personal one. I've been to Coole park, though, and it's a very reflective place so this poem suits is well.
Leda and the Swan - very, very sensual. He captures the violence and the passion so well. If anyone knows the Leda myth, it's well worth reading.
A few less well known:
Down by the Sally Gardens - a nice one with a great Irish voice to it.
To a Child Dancing in the Wind - this is my favourite by him, especially the first verse:
DANCE there upon the shore;
What need have you to care
For wind or water’s roar?
And tumble out your hair
That the salt drops have wet;
5
Being young you have not known
The fool’s triumph, nor yet
Love lost as soon as won,
Nor the best labourer dead
And all the sheaves to bind.
10
What need have you to dread
The monstrous crying of wind?
For anyone who hasn't explored Irish poetry, but might like to at some stage (I'd also recommending reading some Irish drama works, such as the like of Synge and Beckett, as also very lyrical), the following poets are some of my favourites (as it happens, they're all Northerners - that may be just what I've been most exposed to, but most of the playwrights I read are Irish, so it may just be that the North is strong in poetry - we do have great conflict!):
Seamus Heaney - I'm not the biggest fan of all his work but when he nails it, he really does. Intelligent and challenging.
Michael Longely - Not as well known as Heaney, but his poems about the Burren are terrific, as are some of his work about the Troubles and the understanding of Northern Ireland (The IceCream Man is a great poem - made all the more poignant that the icecream man who was murdered was a member of my family, and Wounds is a terrific poem, capturing the poignancy of the Somme (the Ulster division were devastated it) and contrasting it against the Troubles - the final line "Sorry, Missus," is what he said, is tragic)
Louis MacNeice - overshadowed by his contemporary Auden, MacNeice is a lovely poet (he's from my town, originally, but moved to England at an early age). Autumn Journal is lovely and the poem were he talks about his mother leaving (she had a mental illness iirc) is unbelievably hard-hitting ("Come back early, or never come at all"). One of my first challenge entries was a story about him.
I also really like Padraic Fiacc's work, but he is not that well known.
