Want to create an interactive transcript for this episode?
Podcast: The Essay
Episode: Poems of Mayo
Description: The Irish poet Michael Longley, who died on 22nd January 2025, was described by Seamus Heaney as 'a keeper of the artistic estate, a custodian of griefs and wonders.' He devoted a lifetime to the art of poetry and won numerous poetry prizes.In this episode of The Essay, first broadcast in 2024, he described his refuge from the city streets of Belfast in County Mayo, in one of the most remote and beautiful parts of the west of Ireland. He had been writing about its nature and landscape for over 50 years and it provided endless inspiration for...