Michael Longley
Michael Longley | |
|---|---|
Longley reading his poetry in 2012 | |
| Born | 27 July 1939 Belfast, Northern Ireland |
| Died | 22 January 2025 (aged 85) |
| Education | Royal Belfast Academical Institution |
| Alma mater | Trinity College Dublin (TCD) |
| Notable awards | Whitbread Poetry Prize T. S. Eliot Prize Hawthornden Prize |
Michael George Longley CBE (27 July 1939 – 22 January 2025) was a Northern Irish poet. In his later years Longley observed: "It's a mystery where poems come from. If I knew where poems came from I would go there ... When I write a poem I am moving into unknown territory and hoping to be surprised by some kind of redemptive eloquence to cast light into dark corners". Following his death, the President of Ireland, Michael D. Higgins, called Longley "a peerless poet".