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A Lil’ Bit of Lit. Crit.
What is the place of poetry in modern society? An unoriginal question, I know. But, it is clear that, at best, there is a certain collective ambivalence towards it, evidenced by the shrinking sections of poetry in libraries, bookstores, and on personal bookshelves. Poetry, sadly (or not-so-sadly for others), is often declared to be a…
Continue ReadingValentine’s Day
In honor of St. Valentine’s Day, we at WFU Press have selected three different poems that cover the different spectrums of that confusing but beautiful thing known as love. Michael Longley’s poem “The Scissors Ceremony” depicts the heartwarming image of an old couple that are still very much in love. In contrast, John Montague reminds…
Continue ReadingHarry Clifton: An Irishman Abroad
Though poet Harry Clifton is a native Dubliner and currently lives in Ireland, he has spent much of his adult life on the move. Clifton grew up in Ireland and attended University College Dublin, but left the country when he was twenty-five to teach at a teacher training college in Post-Civil War Nigeria. From there…
Continue ReadingPoem of the Week: “Augury” by Caitríona O’Reilly
This week’s poem is by Caitríona O’Reilly, whose poems are featured in our recent anthology, The Wake Forest Book of Irish Women’s Poetry. Last fall, the Wake Forest community was offered the opportunity to listen to O’Reilly, along with Rita Ann Higgins, Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin, and Leontia Flynn, as the Women’s Anthology tour kicked off…
Continue ReadingA Lil’ Bit of Lit. Crit.: “The Essential Brendan Kennelly”
In their foreword to the Press’s fall publication of The Essential Brendan Kennelly, Terrence Brown and Michael Longley write that “Kennelly’s poetry is instinctively sociable, hospitable as it is the lives, voices, deeds and defining deaths of a host of characters.” Textually, this quality of Kennelly’s work leaps off the page through Kennelly’s written shifts…
Continue ReadingArts & Culture
The cover art on The Wake Forest Series of Irish Poetry, Volume II to the casual observer may seem a tad too modernist or minimalist to garner any serious, long-term reflection. It could be say, a fork and a crumpled foil wrapper, or perhaps a field goal being kicked for those of us (yes, myself included)…
Continue ReadingU2: Brendan Kennelly’s Number One Fans
Like many Irish people, the poet Brendan Kennelly is a fan of the band U2. However, Kennelly has a leg up on his fellow U2 fans: the band is a fan of him. Kennelly is often called “the people’s poet” for his open, accessible style, (Dublin’s Sunday Tribune). Kennelly’s epic poem, The Book of Judas,…
Continue ReadingInterview with an Intern!
This past semester, our new intern Kelly Neubeiser had the opportunity to intern with Simon & Schuster in London. Today, Kelly sat down with us to discuss some of her experiences at S&S, and we realized that while these two publishers could not be any more dissimilar, there are some elements that this publishing powerhouse…
Continue ReadingPoem of the Week: “Bee Orchid” by Michael Longley
The weather in Winston-Salem today is beautiful. It’s warm and breezy, and one can in indulge in tricking him- or herself into believing that spring has come early on this fine day. Hoping to encourage this weather to stay (please!), we’ve chosen a poem from Michael Longley’s A Hundred Doors, wherein the imagery inspires visions…
Continue ReadingArts and Culture: Cover Art for McGuckian’s My Love Has Fared Inland
According to a review by Borbala Farago in The Irish University Review, Medbh McGuckian’s My Love Has Fared Inland takes up “familiar themes of creativity and spirituality” and the poems “trace an introspective trajectory” including themes of “death, writing, nature, and love.” Due to the diverse content of the book, it was important for Wake Forest University…
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