Irish Examiner view: Kennelly and Mhac An tSaoi touched our hearts

Tributes to poets whose legacies will live on

Brendan Kennelly, one the country’s most popular poets and a former professor of English at Trinity College Dublin.

The heartfelt tributes paid to Máire Mhac An tSaoi and Brendan Kennelly are testament to how their work touched the lives of so many people, both in the literary world and outside of it. 

Their writing was the backdrop to different stages of life for so many of us, school days, college, or stolen moments of solitude when their words reached deep into our hearts and minds.

Máire Mac An tSaoi was a formidable woman; a former diplomat, a critic and writer whose writing gave voice to women’s lives at a time when they were practically unheard. Her fierce passion for the Irish language, honed in the Kerry Gaeltacht, was brought to life in her literary and scholarly work.

Brendan Kennelly’s poetry had a lyrical eloquence that captured moments in time, and in Irish life, so perfectly. 

As a teacher to generations of students in Trinity College he was renowned for his warmth and generosity. His sparkling personality and great wit won him a place in the hearts of Irish people who delighted in his poetry and storytelling.

In their work, both Máire Mac An tSaoi and Brendan Kennelly held a mirror up to an emerging Ireland using themes that have as much resonance today as they did when first penned.

They have passed on now, may they rest in peace, and we are left to savour the incredibly rich tapestry created during their lives and a legacy that will not be forgotten.