Poems of Love and Ageing

Irish poet Michael Longley, who died on 22nd January 2025, was described by Seamus Heaney as 'a keeper of the artistic estate, a custodian of griefs and wonders.' He devoted a lifetime to the art of poetry and won numerous poetry prizes. He is recognised as a very fine love poet and in this episode of Michael Longley's Life of Poetry, first broadcast in 2024, he reads poems that address the gift of a decades-long love and marriage and the inevitability of ageing. After a lifetime dedicated to poetry, he says, 'I can't imagine that I would be alive now if I hadn't had poetry propelling me forward.' He reads his poems The Pattern, The Linen Industry and Age from his collection Ash Keys: New Selected Poems (Cape Poetry), published to mark his 85th birthday on 27th July 2024, and Foam from his collection The Slain Birds. Presenter: Olivia O'Leary Producer: Claire Cunningham Executive Producer: Regan Hutchins Michael Longley's Life of Poetry is a Rockfinch production for BBC Radio 3.

You can listen to Poems of Love and Ageing online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

Poems of Love and Ageing is an episode from The Essay by BBC.

This episode is 13:26 long.

This episode was published on Feb 13, 2025.

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