The 2025 Annual Joseph Hassett WB Yeats Lecture
Talk and Dialogue in Yeats Poetry
Each year, with the support of lawyer, literary scholar and philanthropist Joseph Hassett, the National Library offers a keynote lecture marking the birth of WB Yeats on 13th June 1865.
The 2025 lecture will first consider the ways Yeats uses talk in his poems: the casual exchanges with the rebel leaders in Easter 1916, and with the rival combatants in The Road at My Door from Meditations in Time of Civil War, the orchestrated conversations of The Folly of Being Comforted and Adams Curse.
The second part of the lecture will focus on dialogues between separate named voices: argument in Michael Robartes and the Dancer, love talk in Solomon and Sheba, ending with the poets internal debates, A Dialogue of Self and Soul, Vacillation, and Man and the Echo.
This year's lecture will be delivered by Professor Nicholas Grene, Fellow Emeritus, School of English, Trinity College Dublin.
Event details:
Over this ten-week course you will explore the world of poetry both reading poems from published poets and also creating your own poetry.
In class we will look at the poetry of published poets and through that find inspiration for our own writing. We will look at some technical aspects of poetry such as metaphors, similes, alliteration, line breaks, and imagery to improve our own writing. During class we will experiment with different styles of poetry such as Haiku, prose poetry, ekphrastic poetry (engaging with a work of art), acrostic poetry (hidden messages) and free verse. You will also be encouraged to share your work with your fellow poets in class in our Poets Corner and explore avenues to getting your poems published.
This course is also about having fun with language and finding your own voice. So, bring your paper and pens or laptop and start creating your own poetry.
Course Day & Time: Tuesday evening 7:30 9.30pm
Start Date: 16/09/2025
Cost: 110
Course Format: In class with tutor
Duration: 10 weeks Maximum of 12 students in class
Enrolment: Enrolment will open online through our website www.malahidecsadulted.ie on Monday the 18th of August at 11am.
Tutor: Angela Kirwan
Angela graduated with a BA (hons) Degree in Art and Humanities from Carlow College, St. Patricks. She has been writing poetry for a number of years and has had poems published in various literary publications. She won 1st prize in Carlow College, St. Patricks literary awards in 2022. She has also graduated with a Level 8 Certificate in Creative Writing (Poetry) from Southeast Technological University (SETU)
