Poems on the Underground Celebrating Irish Poetry

The wonderful diversity of Irish poetry from the earliest times to the present day is an enduring source of delight for poetry lovers everywhere.

We hope readers who have met these poems on the tube will enjoy them as they return to the printed page

You can see the poems in their leaflet form here

You can see all the poems from our 2015 leaflet Poems on the Underground Celebrating Irish Poetry in their original poster form below.

Poems on the Underground Celebrating Irish Poetry Leaflet 2
Poems on the Underground Celebrating Irish Poetry Leaflet 1

He Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven by W.B. Yeats

Mise Raifteirí an File I am Raftery the Poet by Antoine Ó Raifteirí

Memory of my Father by Patrick Kavanagh

Memory of my Father, Patrick Kavanagh 'Every old man I see Reminds me of my father When he had fallen in love with death One time when sheaves were gathered.'

Sailing to Byzantium by W.B. Yeats

The Rescue by Seamus Heaney

The Rescue by Seamus Heaney (b.1939) ' In drifts of sleep I came upon you Buried to your waist in snow. You reached your arms out : I came to Like water in a dream of thaw.'

Not Weeding by Paula Meehan

The Language Issue by Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill

Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill, trans. Paul Muldoon The Language Issue 'Ceist na Teangan Cuirim mo dhóchas ar snámh i mbáidín teangan faoi mar a leagfá naíonán i gcliabhán a bheadh fite fuaite de dhuilleoga feileastraim is bitiúmin agus pic bheith cuimilte lena thóin ansan é a leagadh síos i measc na ngiolcach is coigeal na mban sí le taobh na habhann, féachaint n’fheadaraís cá dtabharfaidh an sruth é, féachaint, dála Mhaoise, an bhfóirfidh iníon Fharoinn? The Language Issue I place my hope on the water in this little boat of the language, the way a body might put an infant in a basket of intertwined iris leaves, its underside proofed with bitumen and pitch, then set the whole thing down amidst the sedge and bulrushes by the edge of a river only to have it borne hither and thither, not knowing where it might end up; in the lap, perhaps, of some Pharaoh’s daughter. '

What is Truth by Louis MacNeice

Legends by Eavan Boland

You can see our Poems for this Month at This Month’s Poems