One Wide Expanse

One Wide Expanse
by Michael Longley

The Poet's Chair: Writings from the Ireland Chair of Poetry
University College Dublin Press
Publication date: 11th June 2015
ISBN-13: 9781906359898
Discount Price: €18.00

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.