Ireland Poetry

In this Very Short Introduction, Bernard O'Donoghue provides a fascinating look at the many different forms of writing which have been called "poetry" - from the Greeks to the present day. As well as questioning what poetry is, he asks what poetry is for, and considers contemporary debates on its value. Is there a universality to poetry? And does it have a duty of public utility and responsibility?

It might be said of his words such are legends born. As Shakespeare is to England and Burns to Scotland then WB Yeats is to the Emerald Isle. In this audiobook we bring you not only some of his greatest works read by Cyril Cusack and Siobahn McKenna but also some narrated by the great man himself. He speaks as he would want his work to be heard.

William Butler Yeats (1865-1939) was one of the greatest poets of the 20th century. Born in Dublin, a leader of the Irish Renaissance, he dreamed of creating a new cultural identity for his country. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1923. This compelling collection spans his career.

The beautiful island of Ireland has endured a history that is pock-marked with struggle and oppression, with religious division and self-serving administrations. It has sacrificed its youth in wars, its generations in famines and emigration, but it has never forsaken its calling that Ireland is a beacon of dignity, humanity and a home for words and literature of every description. Across the centuries, whatever its joys or torments, its poets have assembled verse that speaks from its soul.

This selection of Seamus Heaney's poems is drawn from nine collections, including The Spirit Level, and provides a perfect introduction to the full breadth of Heaney's poetic concerns.

This is a selection of works by three famous Irishmen: Oscar Wilde, W. B. Yeats and Bram Stoker. It includes: the short story by Bram Stoker, "Dracula's Guest"; Oscar Wilde's poem "Humanitad" and three versions of his "The Ballad of Reading Gaol"; and finally, an early collection of poetry called The Rose by W. B. Yeats. There is a general introduction by the writer and actor Tim Dalgleish and other additional material.

With tremendous amounts of insecurity and a gratefulness for a healthy fun-loving dose of courage (as well as some Inner Eco 85 percent Organic Dark Chocolate), I gift to you my first book, with gratitude for all the visible and invisible human, plant, and animal teachers I have had, and their teachers as well.