Sligo/ Yeats' Country
On May 20th 2002 the class took a day tour of Sligo. William Butler Yeats was the focus of this day trip, as a majority of his poetry was inspired by his experiences in this northern Ireland countryside. The tour guide we had for this trip was a wealth of information on every aspect of Sligo and much of the information I share on this page came from his lessons on the bus that day.
Entry 7: Monday, May 20th, 2002 "Sligo, Ireland and Yeats' Country. On Monday Morning we took a bus ride north of Galway to what is known as Yeats' Country. The area is famous for the land and the scenery that Yeats's wrote about and grew up around. Sligo has a population of about 25,000 people and is the oldest city in Northern Ireland. The area within 10 to 15 miles surrounding Sligo is referred to as Yeats's Country, or "Land of Hearts Desire". William Butler Yeats would come to Sligo on his holidays from Galway to visit his grandparents. He never lived in Sligo for a long period of time, but the memories of his visits created volumes of unprecedented poetry."
The bus tour in Sligo took us all over the land which Yeats describes in his poems and gave us an insight and understanding of his language which many of us lacked during previous readings. Being surrounded by the same natural beauty that Yeats' himself discussed in poems such as The Isle if Innisfree gave me an appreciation of the language and the land. During our bus tour we learned a lot about the history of the area, as well as the mythology of the area. Sligo is made of mostly Limestone mountains but the Ox mountains that tower around the countryside are made of metamorphic rocks: schist's, quartzite and slate. I was amazed how much my Honors Geology 101 came in handy. Our guide throughout the day knew more about the area and relayed more information in one day than I often learn in a week of college lectures. This day trip brought a particular impact on the trip as a study abroad class. After visiting Sligo I really came to understand how study at the site of the subject could have a very different impression on the information from classroom learning. Although the weather during our day trip could have been better, the language and experience of a full day of outside countryside added to the day instead of taking away from it."
During the day we passed by many of the sites of Yeats poems, the most famous of which is the Isle of Innisfree. From up on a hill we looked down upon the smallest island in Sligo: The Isle of Innisfree and of the larger island, Church island. The poem that Yeats wrote in 1890 about the isle, is as follows:
| The Lake Isle of
Innisfree I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree, And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made: Nine bean -rows will I have there, a hive for the honey-bee, And live alone in the bee-loud glade. And I shall have some peace there, for peace comes dropping slow, Dropping from the veils of the morning to where the crickets sings; There midnight's all a glimmer, and noon a purple glow, And evening full of the linnet's wings. I will arise and go now, for always night and day I hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore; While I stand on the roadway, or on the pavements grey, I hear it in the deep heart's core. (1890) |
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 A stop on the bus tour, showed the hillside cows of Sligo,
which we watched all day to catch signs of rain from. |
 The view of the water, on our first stop in
Sligo, gave us the initial understanding of the richness that the countryside
held. |
Despite the weather, the tour guide kept a positive attitude, which helped the rest of us to stay positive. He used a phrase to lift our spirits. He said, in regards to the weather that day :"The Sky is promising to lift," meaning that hopefully we will not get more rain. The Yeats family is famous all over Sligo, and seeing the scenery that W.B.. Yeats describes in his poetry allowed me an additional look into the artwork of W.B.'s brother, Jack Yeats, as well.
 This painting called "The Two Travellers" done
by Jack B. Yeats in 1942. Jack Yeats began his career as an illustrator for
literary subject but began working on painting the west of Ireland scenery and
people shortly after. (Jack Yeats, http://www.infoplease.com ) The print is
taken from the website of the Tate Gallery, in London England. www.tate.org.uk |
 Here Jack Yeats
painted a portrait of his brother, William Butler Yeats, titled W.B
Yeats. |
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 Here is a nostalgic image which Jack Yeats
painted of Rosses Point in Sligo in 1948. The painting titled, Returning
from the Bathe, Mid-Day describes the scene and emotion of childhood in
Sligo bathing at Rosses point. Image taken from the Crawford Municipal Art
Gallery, Ireland at their website, http://www.artcyclopedia.com/artists/yeats_jack_b.html. |
 This image titled, The Liffey Swim, was
made in 1923 and I found at www.artofeurope.com from the Art of
Europe website. |
 This painting I found at the University of
Pennsylvania Archives website for their museum, The Arthur Ross Gallery. The
painting, titled, Off the Donegal Coast was made in 1922. This painting
taken from the University of Pennsylvania archives site at the Arthur Ross
Gallery, http://www.upenn.edu/ARG Jack
Yeats began painting in a group called the Dublin Painting, with Paul Henry and
he changed his focus to Irish coastline and scenery. |
 This painting called Returning to the
Shore was painted in 1948, during the time line of the painting below,
Sea and the Lighthouse, from the website" Rosses Point and Coney Island,
http://www.rossespoint.com |
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The painting to the left is titled, Sea and the Lighthouse and it was done in 1947. Taken from the Rosses Point and Coney Island website. www.rossespoint.com/ |
The scenery that Jack painted at Rosses point and around various parts of Sligo and Western Ireland resemble much of the poetry which his brother wrote about the area. Rosses Point is a seafaring village about 5 miles from Sligo town in North West Ireland and we were fortunate to visit the site during our tour of Sligo. I wrote in my journal about our visit to Rosses point. One of my favorite poems by Yeats seemed to go perfectly with the scenery that surrounded us that day. Although it was written in 1912, slightly late for our course of study, it holds the image of the class perfectly.
 These two images of Rosses point show the
colors which I remember and the wind which Yeats describes in his poem: To a
Child Dancing in the Wind. |
 The innocence and carefree attitude of our
class playing in the intense wind along the water is memorable from that day in
Sligo. |
To a Child Dancing in the Wind Dance there upon the shore; What need have you to care For wind or water's roar? And tumble out your hair That the salt drops have wet; Being young you have not known The fool's triumph, nor yet Love lost as soon as won, Nor the best labourer dead And all the sheaves to bind. What need have you to dread The monstrous crying of wind? (1912) |
Entry 7: Monday May 20th, "My favorite part of the whole day was the time we spent past Coney Island, which is the name New York's Coney Island originally came from, or so the story goes, and at Rosses point. The Shoreline at Rosses's point had the most beautiful crystal blue water I had ever seen, and the wind that day was the most forceful I have ever experienced. Our guide, who has lived in the area for his entire life, explained that he had never experienced wind so fierce! It was truly an endeavor to stay standing upright. Fortunately for us, the wind was blowing from the inland out towards the sea, otherwise we would have been soaked from the surf. The last place that we passed was Glen Carr, which means that the water from the waterfall along the ridge flows upwards. We were lucky enough on our visit to see this image. The wind blows the water from the waterfall on the ridge at a certain angle and with enough force that the water looks as though it is falling upward instead of downward. We drove by Drumcliff, the green valley which lays at the base of Ben Bulben."
 Above is Glen Carr, the waterfall which flows
upward. |
 Here is an image I took of Knocknarea, the Hill of the Moon or
the Hill of the Kings. It is a limestone plateau and the legend says that it is
the burial place of Queen Maeve of Connacht; however, our guide also informed
us that it was more likely built by Neolithic people around 3,000 BC to cover a
passage Tomb. |
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To the left is a photograph I took of William
Butler Yeats' grave in the graveyard in Drumcliff below Ben Bulben. His
tombstone reads: Cast a sold Eye On Life, on Death. Horesmanman pass by! He died on January 28th 1939 at the age of 74. |
We visited two other sites while in Sligo, and although they did not have direct connections to either Jack or William Butler Yeats, or any other literary figure, they made the day trip complete.
The first place we went to was called Hawks Rock. Hawks Rock is the site of a Holy Well, which began as a Pagan Worship site and was eventually turned into a Christian Pilgrimage spot. The last Sunday of June became the yearly ritual day of worship. Hawk's rock, was a spot for nesting hawks as well as pilgrimages, thus the name, but the Clergy stopped supporting the site, because it became more of a drinking spot than a holy spot on religious grounds.
 Above is the well, the site of what was believed to be holy
water. The stone reads: O Mary conceived without sin Pray for us who have recourse to thee. |
 The above crucifix hung at the highest point
of the hill and looks down upon the rest of the site. |
 There was a creek which ran through the site,
and here a small waterfall added to the lush scenery that the site
represented. |
Unlike the many holy sites which I visited while in Paris, this site gave off an entirely different feeling. The site was not only a celebration of Christianity but also of the earth and all that makes her. The site was a place of worship within natural surroundings. The beauty that was celebrated here was not man-made but made by a higher power and yet it still held the magnificence that grand cathedrals hold. Even though it was not a site in direct relation to our study, it was applicable from my angle on the artwork of the trip, for natural beauty and creation is just as sacred as that made by human hands.
 The Last place we visited during our tour was
Park Castle, which was right on the water, and although we entered before we
were welcome, the site was lovely. |
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Webb, Timothy.W.B. Yeats Selected Poem, London: Penguin Books, 1991.
Rosenthal, M.L. notes. Selected Poems and Four Plays Of William Butler Yeats, New York: Scribner, 1996.