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

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