All changed, changed utterly. These are defining words from another era that described the explosion of violence on the streets around the Easter Rising. But the poetry of WB Yeats poignantly now illustrates a terrible horror rising over our country and planet: Covid-19.

Like many great artists, poet WB Yeats recognised the enduring human need to reconnect with an imagined, probably lost idyll when he wrote The Lake Isle of Innisfree, in 1888: “I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree, And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made; Nine bean-rows will I have there, a hive for the honey-bee, And live alone in the bee-loud glade. And I shall have some peace there, for peace comes dropping slow, Dropping from the veils of the morning to where the cricket sings.”

The playwright John Millington Synge had a great grá for the Irish language, once declaring: “There is no language like the Irish for soothing and quieting.”

What is still to come remains hidden. It may be suspected, but it isn’t known. Nothing could have prepared us for the apparent disintegration of Great Britain.

Many of our planet’s life support systems are on the brink of failing and without them life on Earth may be, at best, bleak, at worst, unsustainable.

A musician in Co Donegal lived on Inishfree for around 20 years up to recently.

IT’S A beautiful day and we look out on a bay full of ferries coming and going and honking and hooting and waking us up earlier than we usually wake: they are going to Barcelona, to Valencia, to the next door small island of Formentera and to Talamanca, a beach across Ibiza Bay, writes Damien Enright.

JUST how long can this farce continue? This is a Government struggling for life and no longer able to guarantee the passage of its legislation.

The arts festival in Galway has a series of talks and discussions on the subject of ‘home’. Here, three of the participants offer Richard Fitzpatrick their thoughts.

Inishmaan, Co Galway, is a glorious place but it can be challenging too.

A poem about the pub’s social importance to rural Ireland is being broadcast to Tube passengers in London this St Patrick’s Day.

Abuse and sexual discrimination have always been part and parcel of the theatre in Ireland, right back to the old days of the Abbey and the Gate, writes Terry Prone

The lives and loves of the Yeats family will be illuminated in letters, works of art and personal effects to be sold at Sotheby’s in London on September 27.

Irish sailors are heading to the Mediterranean this morning on the latest migrant rescue mission.

Justin Keating was Minister for Industry and Commerce in the early 1970s and a man of strong convictions, never afraid to voice his opinions. Ryle Dwyer reads between the lines of his collection of writings. 

In his celebrated poem, “September 1913,” William Butler Yeats condemns the ruthless manner in which workers were locked out by their employers, giving rise to a winter of poverty and deprivation.

THE love affair between Leonard Cohen and Ireland blossomed late but endured until the end, writes Ed Power

WHEN mezzo-soprano Rachel Kelly steps onto the platform of the John Field Room on Friday to open a recital titled ‘Songs of Erin’, in the final week of Composing the Island, it will be very much a family affair. Accompanying her will be her mother, pianist and broadcaster Una Hunt.

Before he died on hunger strike, Terence MacSwiney had a made a huge contribution to the cultural life of his native Cork, writes Marjorie Brennan

Regarding the recent threat of retrospective cuts to tramworkers’ conditions (and with apologies to WB Yeats);

Three leading figures from the 1916 Easter Rising were never awarded a military medal for their role in the rebellion, newly declassified files reveal.

Catherine Shanahan experienced Georgian Dublin at its finest at the Cliff Townhouse on St Stephen’s Green.

The fight will continue, said Ballyhea residents, as the North Cork village wrapped up five unbroken years of weekly Sunday protests against the bondholder bailouts yesterday.

Pension details released by the military archives shows women played a wider role in the Rising than previously thought, says Sinead McCoole

Des O’Sullivan says that 2015 has been a year when records were broken for sales of art and sculpture.

The National Library has warned its collections are deteriorating due to storage conditions and some three quarters of these are stored in premises without adequate fire protection.

Harpist Caitriona Yeats performs this week at her childhood haunt of Thoor Ballylee, the tower house of her grandfather WB Yeats, says Alan O’Riordan

Some of the finest first editions of the work of William Butler Yeats have been made available for researchers and students at University of Limerick.

The lucrative Ballymaloe International Poetry Prize attracts thousands of entries from around the world, writes Colette Sheridan

The focus should first be on water service provision, and if Irish Water is to be seen as a

Three valuable paintings that were stolen from a house in Wicklow last year have been recovered, after a man cutting a hedge found them discarded in a black bag.

Crime victims will have the right to know when offenders are released from jail and seek a review of decisions taken by the DPP under new laws aimed at rebalancing the justice system.

In this week’s column, Kehlan looks at the Ashers Bakery controversy in Northern Ireland and why it has provided a valuable lesson to businesses and business owners.

One could not stop one’s foot tapping.

JUST over 30 years ago, John Hume, Nobel Peace laureate and one of the architects of modern Ireland, realised a new, radical approach was needed to break the cycle of violence in the North.

A rescuer who pulled bodies from the water following Lord Mountbatten’s assassination has said the murder site should be known for the joy it brought the royals, not just the horror.

Des O’Sullivan looks forward to an exciting sale of artefacts featuring the most famous names in Irish history.

The Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall are to visit the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland in May, Clarence House has announced.

Oh no. Uncle Joe dropped the ball.

TV host Graham Norton will return to Irish shores this summer to top the bill at a festival to celebrate literature.

Explore the spectacular coastline along the Wild Atlantic Way, experience hot heritage in the South-East, feast on fabulous food festivals, or immerse yourself in inspiring art and design.