Leaving Cert: Poets line up nicely as Paul Durcan pleases plenty

Emily Dickinson, TS Eliot, Elizabeth Bishop, and Paul Durcan were the poets examined in a higher-level Leaving Certificate English paper lasting over three hours.

For ordinary-level students, poems by Bishop, Dickinson, Greg Delanty, and Percy Bysshe Shelley were the choices.

Teachers’ Union of Ireland English spokeswoman Liz Farrell said the large numbers of higher-level students hoping to see Durcan’s name on their second English paper were pleased, but that all the prescribed poetry questions were nice.