Farewell to Brendan Kennelly and Máire Mhac an tSaoí: We've lost two luminous presences 

Thomas McCarthy pays tribute to two of his fellow poets who passed away in recent days 

Brendan Kennelly and Máire Mhac an tSaoí.

The loss of two wonderful poets in the last few days has come as a great shock to writers, poets especially. Brendan Kennelly and Mhac an tSaoí were leading lights in twentieth century Irish poetry, their luminous presences and personalities so strong that they both shone brightly beyond the narrower boundaries of literature.

We are simply shocked that they are not here anymore, shocked by the very real void left in Irish life by their passing. It’s not that they died young like our beloved Seán Dunne: the one was 85 and the other 99, fine long lives. But their presences were so strong and so adamantly alive that we thought they might live forever.