The complete list of the 100 favourite Irish poems, as chosen by readers of the
Irish Times in 2000. It was subsequently published as a collection in association with
Poetry Ireland. Worth owning for
Colm Tóibín's introduction alone.
Personally, I find it interesting simply to read the list of titles - it's a incredible window into the thoughts and moments that captured a poet and entered the mind of a people.
The List
1. The Lake Isle of Innisfree, by W. B. Yeats
2. He Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven, by W. B. Yeats
3. Mid-Term Break, by Seamus Heaney
4. The Song of Wandering Aengus, by W. B. Yeats
5. On Raglan Road, by Patrick Kavanagh
6. Easter, 1916, by W. B. Yeats
7. When You are Old, by W.B. Yeats
8. Canal Bank Walk, by Patrick Kavanagh
9. Stony Grey Soil, by Patrick Kavanagh
10. The Stolen Child, by W. B. Yeats
11 - 14. * An Old Woman of the Roads, by Padraic Colum
* In Memory of my Mother, by Patrick Kavanagh
* Sailing to Byzantium, by W. B. Yeats
* The Wild Swans at Coole, by W. B. Yeats
15. The Deserted Village, by Oliver Goldsmith
16 - 17. * The Ballad of Reading Gaol, by Oscar Wilde
* September, 1913, by W. B. Yeats
18 - 20. * Digging, by Seamus Heaney
* A Christmas Childhood, by Patrick Kavanagh
* The Wayfarer, by Padraic Pearse
21 - 22. * Advent, by Patrick Kavanagh
* I See His Blood upon the Rose, by Joseph Mary Plunkett
23. The Great Hunger, by Patrick Kavanagh
24 - 25. * Thomas McDonagh, by Francis Ledwidge
* The Mother, by Padraic Pearse
26 - 29. * The Planter's Daughter, by Austin Clarke
* Caoineadh Áirt Úi Laoghaire, by Eibhlín Dubh Ní ` Chonaill
* Among Schoolchildren, by W. B. Yeats
* The Second Coming, by W. B. Yeats
30. Inniskeen Road, July Evening, by Patrick Kavanagh
31 - 32. * Lines Written on a Seat on the Grand Canal, Dublin, 'Erected to the Memory of Mrs Dermot O'Brien', by Patrick Kavanagh
* An Irish Airman Foresees his Death, by W. B. Yeats
33 - 35. * Clearances, by Seamus Heaney
* Epic, by Patrick Kavanagh
* Another September, by Thomas Kinsella
36 - 37. * The Lost Heifer, by Austin Clarke
* A Disused Shed in Co Wexford, by Derek Mahon
38 - 39. * June, by Francis Ledwidge
* Snow, by Louis MacNeice
40 - 41. * Personal Helicon, by Seamus Heaney
* Mise Raifteirí an File, by Antoine Ó Raifteirí
42 - 45. * Mirror in February, by Thomas Kinsella
* Cuírt an Mheán Óiche, by Brian Merriman
* Cill Chais, by Aodhagán Ó Rathaille
* The Fiddler of Dooney, by W. B. Yeats
46 - 52. * The Blackbird of Derrycairn, by Austin Clarke
* Blackberry-Picking, by Seamus Heaney
* Spraying the Potatoes, by Patrick Kavanagh
* A Pint of Plain is Your Only Man, by Flann O'Brien
* Anois Teacht an Earraigh, by Antoine Ó Raifteirí
* The Circus Animals' Desertion, by W. B. Yeats
* The Fisherman, by W. B. Yeats
53 - 57. * Ecce Puer, by James Joyce
* Incantata, by Paul Muldoon
* Cúl an Tí, by Seán Ó Ríordáin
* To a Child Dancing in the Wind, by W. B. Yeats
* The Tower, by W. B. Yeats
58 - 68. * Night Feed, by Eavan Boland
* She Moved Through the Fair, by Padraic Colum
* Death of a Naturalist, by Seamus Heaney
* Requiem for the Croppies, by Seamus Heaney
* Autumn Journal, by Louis MacNeice
* Dublin, by Louis MacNeice
* Dark Rosaleen, by James Clarence Mangan
* The Meeting of the Waters, by Thomas Moore
* Bean Sléibhe ag Caoineadh a Mhac, by Pádraig Mac Piarais
* The Ballad of Father Gilligan, by W. B. Yeats
* Red Hanrahan's Song about Ireland, by W. B. Yeats
69 - 79. * The Faeries, by William Allingham
* Pangur Bán, Anonymous
* Follower, by Seamus Heaney
* Padraig Ó Conaire, Gaelic Storyteller, by F.R. Higgins
* To My Darling Daughter Betty, by Tom Kettle
* The Fool, by Padraic Pearse
* The Splendour of God, by Joseph Mary Plunkett
* Sheep and Lambs, by Katharine Tynan
* Broken Dreams, by W. B. Yeats
* Down by the Sally Gardens, by W. B. Yeats
* Under Ben Bulben, by W. B. Yeats
80 - 99. * Valparaiso, by Pádraig de Brún
* A Cradle Song, by Padraic Colum
* A Drover, Padraic Colum
* Woodman, Patrick Deeley
* Christmas Day, Paul Durcan
* Going Home to Mayo, by Paul Durcan
* Death of an Irishwoman, by Michael Hartnett
* Postscript, by Seamus Heaney
* Station Island, by Seamus Heaney
* Father and Son, by F.R. Higgins
* For Rita With Love, by Pat Ingoldsby
* Pegasus, by Patrick Kavanagh
* An Bonnán Buí, by Cathal Buí Mac Giolla Ghunna
* 'Tis the last rose of summer, by Thomas Moore
* An tEarrach Thiar, by Máirtín Ó Direáin
* Oíche Nollag na mBan, by Seán Ó Ríordáin
* Mise Éire, by Pádraig Mac Piarais
* The Host of the Air, by W. B. Yeats
* Leda and the Swan, by W. B. Yeats
* A Prayer for my Daughter, by W. B. Yeats
100. All Legendary Obstacles, by John Montague
* Indicates poems that tied for a place in this list