Adrienne Rich dies at 82

American poet Adrienne Rich has died at 82. A widely read and highly regarded poet Rich has featured on the Leaving Certificate course on numerous occasions. As a feminist, her views and ideas proved challenging but rewarding for the young men in Coláiste Éanna. With understanding came respect.

Snow II

With the return of the wintry weather we thought you would like to read another of our favourite poems about snow.

Taken from Emily Dickinson’s Poems, Series 2: III – Nature, this poem entitled The Snow conveys the beauty of the grounds around the Coláiste Éanna today.

 

THE SNOW

It sifts from leaden sieves,

It powders all the wood,

It fills with alabaster wool

The wrinkles of the road.

It makes an even face

Of mountain and of plain, –

Unbroken forehead from the east

Unto the east again.

It reaches to the fence,

It wraps it, rail by rail,

Till it is lost in fleeces;

It flings a crystal veil

On stump and stack and stem, –

The summer’s empty room,

Acres of seams where harvests were,

Recordless, but for them.

It ruffles wrists of posts,

As ankles of a queen, –

Then stills its artisans like ghosts,

Denying they have been.

Snow

With the weather conditions that we have experienced over the past couple of days we thought you might like to read one of our favourite poems by Robert Frost.

It was composed at his house in Shaftsbury, Vermont. Frost had been up all night writing his poem New Hampshire and when he finished he realised that it was morning. He went outside to view the sunrise and was struck with the idea for the poem. Written in the winter of 1922, the poem was published in 1923.

STOPPING BY THE WOODS ON A SNOWY EVENING

Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound’s the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

dlr Poetry Now 2010

The 15th annual Dun Laoghaire Rathdown Poetry Now International Poetry festival runs from March 25th-28th this year. This year’s festival will welcome poets and speakers  from countries such as Albania, Mexico and the United States. Derek Mahon, winner of the Irish Times Poetry Now Award will be among the Irish comtemporary poets in attendance.

The festival also offers workshops to aspiring poets. For more information about events and box office details click here

Review of a new Emily Dickinson biography

This Saturday’s Irish Times carries a review of the new Emily Dickinson biography, Lives like Loaded Guns: Emily Dickinson and Her Family’s Feuds. According to Vona Groarke the biography, written by Lyndall Gordon, gives an insight into the intellectual, humorous and empathetic Dickinson. To read the rest of Groarke’s review click here

Notes for T.S Eliot’s ‘The Waste Land’

Sixth year students preparing for ‘mock’ exams may find this hypertext version of Eliot’s  ‘The Waste Land‘ useful. There are extensive notes and links for ‘A Game of Chess’ here.

Creative Writing Workshop

Great thanks are due to poet Dave Lordan who visited Coláiste Éanna last Monday. Sixth year students enjoyed the creative workshop and poetry readings.

Dave kindly donated a copy of his collection of poetry The Boy in the Ring to the school library.

We wish Dave every success as his new monologue Jo Bangles opens in the Mill Theatre in Dundrum.

Poet Dave Lordan to visit Coláiste Éanna

Thanks to Mr O’ Gorman, prizewinning poet Dave Lordan is to visit Coláiste Éanna on February 1st. He will talk with 6th year students about creative writing and poetry. ‘The Boy in the Ring‘ is Lordan’s debut collection, winning the 2008 Strong Award for the Best First Collection and shortlisted for the Irish Times Poetry Now Award 2008. The poems explore themes of violence, self-harm and survival.

Dave Lordan was born in Derby, England in 1975. He grew up in Clonakilty in West Cork. He took an M.A. in English Literature at University College Cork in 1998 and an M.Phil. in Creative Writing at Trinity College, Dublin in 2001. In 2005 he won the Patrick Kavanagh Award for poetry.