John Donne provided the spark for Isabel Nolan’s exhibition in Bandon, writes Alan O’Riordan

In 1624 John Donne wrote: ‘No man is an iland, intire of it selfe; every man is a peece of the Continent, a part of the maine; if a clod bee washed away by the Sea, Europe is the lesse, as well as if a Promontorie were, as well as if a Mannor of thy friends or of thine owne were; any mans death diminishes me, because I am involved in Mankinde; And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; It tolls for thee....’

One of the fundamentals of contentment, for most people is the rootedness being a member of a family confers.

Northern poet, Paul Muldoon, tells Richard Fitzpatrick about the power of words

One of the many tributes to Nelson Mandela said that he was impressed with the Irish people who travelled to South Africa and volunteered with the Niall Mellon Housing project.

Van Morrison is dismissive of fame, but his music will endure despite his aloofness, says John Minihan

Whence comes the real danger to our freedom, religion and cause? From ourselves, our unwillingness to see the bigger picture, to hear John Donne’s threatening bell tolling for us — and refusal to grasp the nettle.

THE appearance of poets Derek Mahon and Adrienne Rich on yesterday’s English higher level Paper II was welcomed in Kilkenny, where students had made preparations with those in mind.

A MOST unusual annual phenomenon occurs in the village of Lahardane, at the butt of Nephin along the shore of Lough Conn in Co Mayo: the bell at St Patrick’s church rings out across the silent countryside between 2am and 3am on April 15 in remembrance of those lost with the Titanic 500 miles west of Newfoundland at that time and on that date 95 years ago this spring.

THERE is a dispute currently involving Fingal County Council over the ownership of St Patrick’s Island off Skerries in Co Dublin.