Love of Yeats’ poetry may have drawn Leonard Cohen to Lissadell

A 60-year love for the poetry of WB Yeats may have been the lure for Leonard Cohen to visit Lissadell House in Co Sligo six years ago.

Cohen played two concerts at the childhood home of Constance Markievicz and her sister Eva Gore-Booth across the August bank holiday weekend in 2010. WB Yeats, who was friendly with the two sisters, regularly visited Lissadell.

Co-owner Eddie Walsh described the weekend of concerts as one of the proudest moments at Lissadell. During one of his performances, Cohen recited the opening lines of Yeats’ poem In Memory of Eva Gore- Booth and Con Markievicz.