[Longley, Michael] – Minihan, John (*1946 –)

The Poet Michael Longley, photographed by John Minihan at the Listowel Writers-Week, County Kerry, 2018.

Original / Vintage black and white photograph on archival paper. Ireland, 2018. 35.5 cm wide x 38 cm high. From the library of John Minihan, with his blindstamped initials and copyright – stamp on the back. Signed and titled by John Minihan below the photograph and on the back.

Price includes 23% VAT (145.85 €) – Net: 634.15 €

Michael George Longley CBE (27 July 1939 – 22 January 2025) was a Northern Irish poet. In his later years Longley observed: “It’s a mystery where poems come from. If I knew where poems came from I would go there … When I write a poem I am moving into unknown territory and hoping to be surprised by some kind of redemptive eloquence to cast light into dark corners”. Following his death, the President of Ireland, Michael D. Higgins, called Longley “a peerless poet”.

The elder of twin boys, ichael Longley was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, to parents Richard and Connie (née Longworth) from London; he had an elder sister, Wendy. ongley was educated at RBAI and subsequently read Classics at Trinity College Dublin, where he edited Icarus. He was the Ireland Professor of Poetry from 2007 to 2010, a cross-border academic post set up in 1998, previously held by John Montague, Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill and Paul Durcan. He was succeeded in 2010 by Harry Clifton. After teaching for several years in Dublin, London and Belfast, he was a director of the Arts Council of Northern Ireland 1970 to 1991. e was part of the Belfast Group of poets that included Seamus Heaney with whom he became close friends, Derek Mahon and Paul Muldoon.

His wife, Edna, is a critic on modern Irish and British poetry. They had three children, Rebecca, Daniel and Sarah. An atheist, Longley described himself as a “sentimental” disbeliever.

In 1994, Longley wrote his most famous poem, “Ceasefire”. Composed in hope of a ceasefire between the IRA and loyalist forces, it was released only one day before one came about. he poem adapts a famous scene from the Iliad, where King Priam begs for the body of his son back from the warrior Achilles.

In October 2002, Longley opposed a decision by Queen’s University Belfast to end the teaching of Classics and urged the university’s senate to take action. Citing Northern Ireland’s recent troubled past, he asked: “Who can bring peace to people who are not civilised?″

On 14 January 2014, he participated in the BBC Radio 3 series The Essay – Letters to a Young Poet. Taking Rainer Maria Rilke’s classic text Letters to a Young Poet as inspiration, leading poets wrote a letter to a protege. Longley provided readings of his poetry for the Irish Poetry Reading Archive (UCD).

His twin brother, Peter, died in 2013/14. Longley dedicated the second half of The Stairwell (2014), his tenth collection, to him.
Over 50 years, he spent much time in Carrigskeewaun, County Mayo, which inspired much of his poetry.

Longley died of complications from hip surgery on 22 January 2025, at the age of 85. His funeral took place at All Souls Church, Belfast, on 1 February 2025. During the service mourners, including President Michael D. Higgins, were told that he had entered “people’s consciousness”. (Wikipedia)

• Keywords: Irish Literature – 20th Century · Irish Literature – Rare · Irish Poetry · Irish Poetry – Rare · John Minihan · John Minihan Archive · Longley, Michael · Original Photograph · Original Photography · Original Portrait · Photography – Rare · Poetry – Rare · Vintage Photographs 20th century
• Inventory Number: 900134AG

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