Close Reading the poetry of Eilean Ni Chuilleanain

Irish Poetry

Join us for a short course of close reading the poetry of Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin. With poet and lecturer Mariah Whelan.

If I produce paralysis in verse
Where anger would be more suitable,
Could it be because my education
Left out the sight of death?

 – ‘Early Recollections’, 1986

Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin is one of Ireland’s most decorated poets. In her numerous and award-winning collections, Eiléan’s poems have explored issues of memory, spirituality and what it means to live as a woman on the island of Ireland.

Join Mariah Whelan for two, two-hour sessions in which we use close reading techniques to discover a selection of poems. Together we will observe, analyse and discuss the technical prowess and arresting ideas that make Eiléan’s poems so popular.

This is the perfect course for those who want to enhance their enjoyment of poems and develop their abilities to analyse and discuss texts in a warm and supportive atmosphere. No prior experience of close reading is necessary to take part.

Sundays, 5 January and 12 January 2025. 2.00 to 4.00 pm British Time (GMT). Please note new dates.

£84.00 full price
£78.00 students and CAMcard holders

Links

Poetry Foundation on Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin.
Carol Rumens on Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin, ‘The Words Collide’, plus the poem. The Guardian, Sept. 2015

Video of Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin reading her poem ’Small’ and ‘Celibates’.

Click on image below for booking page.