Sunlight was emerging through the clouds on St Brigid’s Day, marking the Celtic start of spring, as they came to honour a poet of the natural world. Up to 300 mourners packed into a Belfast church on Saturday afternoon to pay their respects to Michael Longley, whose poetic eloquence was also inspired by the classics and the Troubles.
Longley died aged 85 in the Royal Victoria Hospital, Belfast, on January 22nd from complications after a hip operation. His funeral service was held in All Souls Church in the city’s university area, not far from his home in south Belfast.
The church styles itself as a liberal Christian community embracing diversity, and the minister Rev Chris Hudson welcomed everyone to what he described as a “liturgically light” celebration of the poet’s life. He added: “Michael the poet was a secular priest. ‘Soul’ and ‘Jesus’ appeared in much of his verse, and several poems are set in churches and cathedrals. He may not have seen too much distinction between a poem and a prayer.”
Chief mourners were his wife Edna, a literary critic; their children, Rebecca, Daniel and Sarah, each of whom read one of his poems; and seven grandchildren. Those attending in an official capacity included the President, Michael D Higgins, who had paid tribute to Longley, referring to him as “a peerless poet”, and the Taoiseach’s aide-de-camp, Cmdt Claire Mortimer. Belfast’s Lord-Lieutenant Fionnuala Jay-O’Boyle represented the British monarchy, while local MP Claire Hanna also attended.
The congregation was made up of many from the artistic community. Poets included Theo Dorgan, Frank Ormsby, Nick Laird, Medbh McGuckian and Leontia Flynn. Among other writers present were Bernard MacLaverty, Martin Lynch, Patricia Craig and Peter McDonald. Also there were Seamus Heaney’s wife, Marie Devlin, Dame Mary Peters, and artist Colin Davidson, who had painted Longley. Members of local organisations such the Belfast Literary Society, the Belfast Natural History and Philosophical Society, and the Ulster History Circle, were also present.
The minister referred to Longley’s Ceasefire poem, published originally in The Irish Times, which marked a significant moment in the declaration of the IRA’s 1994 ceasefire, which he said had become an anthem of the peace process. His poetry, he said, had “entered our consciousness and touched the soul and imagination of many people”.
For a poet moved by the changing nature of the seasons it was an appropriate day, halfway between the winter solstice and the spring equinox. The minister referred to the fact that Brigid is the patron saint of midwives, newborns, fugitives, blacksmiths, sailors and, notably, poets.
[ Michael Longley obituary: Award-winning poet of emotional and intellectual depthOpens in new window ]
Tribute was paid to the poet’s unique voice and style that carried through for many decades, and to how wit and playfulness enlivened his work. Longley’s daughter Sarah, who collaborated with her father on six books, spoke of his love of the natural world, lit a candle, and played a recording of a blackbird.
Mention was also made of a remote townland, Carrigskeewaun, in Co Mayo, which the Longley family have been visiting for more than 50 years. In what the poet had called “this rural Eden”, he found inspiration for a considerable amount of his output – some estimates suggesting that it constituted more than a third of his oeuvre. Reflecting his love of the west, his son Daniel poignantly read his father’s poem Detour, with its first four lines stating:
I want my funeral to include this detour / Down the single street of a small market town
On either side of the procession such names / As Philbin, O’Malley, MacNamara, Kean.
In her eulogy, Dr Fran Brearton, a lecturer in English at Queen’s University Belfast and the author of Reading Michael Longley, told the congregation his poems are part of the fabric of many lives. Sometimes, she said, they were produced in a “happy trance”, but he also understood how important silence was to the muse. His poetry was animated by both the west and the North of Ireland. She spoke of his imagination, his gift of distillation in his poems, his generosity of spirit, and the fact that his work had steered everyone to the possibility of a different future.
Dr Brearton referred to Longley’s eco-poetry, which she said he had been writing all along: “His poetry is a song of the earth with a profound sense of the landscape, some of which has changed immeasurably.” She mentioned that a book of his work, Ash Keys, New Selected Poems, was published last year to coincide with his 85th birthday, while a new posthumous collection is pending.
Classical music and jazz played a huge part in the poet’s life and was reflected in the service, which included the Aria from Bach’s Goldberg Variations, Chopin’s Prelude No I in A major, as well as Fats Waller’s Lulu’s Back In Town and the Billie Holiday song I’ll Be Seeing You.
As the service ended, and as Longley’s coffin was carried from the church, his granddaughter Maisie Rendall piped out the mourners to the strains of The Last Rose of Summer.
The service was followed by a private committal at Roselawn Crematorium.
- Sign up for push alerts and have the best news, analysis and comment delivered directly to your phone
- Find The Irish Times on WhatsApp and stay up to date
- Our In The News podcast is now published daily - Find the latest episode here
