Poetry Ireland’s statement on the passing of poet Michael Longley

27th January 2025

It is with deep sadness that Poetry Ireland heard of the passing of one of Ireland's foremost poets, Michael Longley. His was a long and impactful career, and his most recent collection Ash Keys: New Selected Poems was published in 2023.


Nicholas Grene’s review of Ash Keys in Poetry Ireland Review 144 captures his accomplishment as an outstanding love poet. "He has joked about how he must be the only poet in the world to have written love poems to a critic. Sure enough, Ash Keys opens with ‘Epithalamion’, written for his marriage to his wife Edna, one of the finest interpreters of poetry, and ‘Fifty Years’ celebrates their half-century of companionship. The tenderness of his love poetry, however, extends to a much more general tenderness towards the living world, particularly the young. ‘The Leveret’, written for ‘my grandson, Benjamin’, is the first of many – Longley once said he might not have started writing poems for his grandchildren if he had known just how many of them there would be. He is famous for his lists and inventories of flowers, birds, and animals, caressing their enumerated names. …
‘Anything however small
May make a poem,
he declares.'"


We were lucky to have enjoyed his tremendous company both in his capacity as Ireland Professor of Poetry and editor of the Poetry Ireland Review. We would like to extend our deepest sympathies to his wife, Edna and family. He will be fondly remembered by all of us lucky enough to have read his work and to have crossed paths with him.