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Top 100 Irish Poems Ranked And Analysis Of Each Poem

By: Author Irish Around The World

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Love Irish poems? Well, thanks to the Irish Times, I have a list of Ireland’s top 100 Irish poems for you today.

Every week I will be picking a random Irish poem and writing a little bit about it, along with the Irish poem itself. 

If you want to get these top Irish poems to your inbox, subscribe to my weekly dose of Irish right here.

Ireland’s Top 100 Favourite Irish PoemsIrelands top 100 favourite Irish poems of all time

  1. The Lake Isle of Innisfree, by W. B. Yeats
  2. He Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven, by W. B. Yeats
  3. Mid-Term Break, by Seamus Heaney
  4. The Song of Wandering Aengus, by W. B. Yeats
  5. On Raglan Road, by Patrick Kavanagh
  6. Easter, 1916, by W. B. Yeats
  7. When You are Old, by W.B. Yeats
  8. Canal Bank Walk, by Patrick Kavanagh
  9. Stony Grey Soil, by Patrick Kavanagh
  10. The Stolen Child, by W. B. Yeats
  11. An Old Woman of the Roads, by Padraic Colum
  12. In Memory Of My Mother, by Patrick Kavanagh
  13. Sailing to Byzantium, by W. B. Yeats
  14. The Wild Swans at Coole, by W. B. Yeats
  15. The Deserted Village, by Oliver Goldsmith
  16. The Ballad of Reading Gaol, by Oscar Wilde
  17. September 1913, by W. B. Yeats
  18. Digging, by Seamus Heaney
  19. A Christmas Childhood, by Patrick Kavanagh
  20. The Wayfarer, by Padraic Pearse
  21. Advent, by Patrick Kavanagh
  22. I See His Blood upon the Rose, by Joseph Mary Plunkett
  23. The Great Hunger, by Patrick Kavanagh
  24. Thomas McDonagh, by Francis Ledwidge
  25. The Mother, by Padraic Pearse
  26. The Planter’s Daughter, by Austin Clarke
  27. Caoineadh i Laoghaire, by Eibhlin Dubh Ni Chonaill
  28. Among Schoolchildren, by W. B. Yeats
  29. The Second Coming, by W. B. Yeats
  30. Inniskeen Road, July Evening, by Patrick Kavanagh
  31. Lines Written on a Seat on the Grand Canal, Dublin, `Erected to the Memory of Mrs Dermot O’Brien’, by Patrick Kavanagh
  32. An Irish Airman Foresees his Death, by W. B. Yeats
  33. Clearances, by Seamus Heaney
  34. Epic, by Patrick Kavanagh
  35. Another September, by Thomas Kinsella
  36. The Lost Heifer, by Austin Clarke
  37. A Disused Shed in Co Wexford, by Derek Mahon
  38. June, by Francis Ledwidge
  39. Snow, by Louis MacNeice
  40. Personal Helicon, by Seamus Heaney
  41. Mise Raifteirí an File by Antoine Ó Raifteirí
  42. Mirror in February, by Thomas Kinsella
  43. Cuirt a Mhean Oíche by Brian Merriman
  44. Cill Chais, by Aodhagán Ó Rathaille(A poem in Irish)
  45. The Fiddler of Dooney, by W. B. Yeats
  46. The Blackbird of Derrycairn, by Austin Clarke
  47. Blackberry-Picking, by Seamus Heaney
  48. Spraying the Potatoes, by Patrick Kavanagh
  49. The Workman’s Friend, by Flann O’Brien

  50. Anois Teacht an Earraigh by Antoine Ó Raifteirí(Spring is now coming)

  51. The Circus Animals’ Desertion, by W. B. Yeats
  52. The Fisherman, by W. B. Yeats
  53. Ecce Puer, by James Joyce
  54. Incantata, by Paul Muldoon
  55. Cúl an Tí By Seán Ó Ríordáin – Irish And English Version
  56. To a Child Dancing in the Wind, by W. B. Yeats
  57. The Tower, by W. B. Yeats
  58. Night Feed, by Eavan Boland
  59. She Moved Through the Fair, by Padraic Colum
  60. Death of a Naturalist, by Seamus Heaney
  61. Requiem for the Croppies, by Seamus Heaney
  62. Autumn Journal, by Louis MacNeice
  63. Dublin, by Louis MacNeice
  64. Dark Rosaleen, by James Clarence Mangan
  65. The Meeting of the Waters, by Thomas Moore
  66. Bean Sleibhe ag Caoineadh a Mhac, by Padraig Mac Piarais
  67. The Ballad of Father Gilligan, by W. B. Yeats
  68. Red Hanrahan’s Song about Ireland, by W. B. Yeats
  69. The Fairies, by William Allingham
  70. Pangur Ban, Anonymous
  71. Follower, by Seamus Heaney
  72. Padraig Ó Conaire, Gaelic Storyteller by F.R. Higgins
  73. To My Darling Daughter Betty, by Tom Kettle
  74. The Fool, by Padraic Pearse
  75. The Splendour of God, by Joseph Mary Plunkett
  76. Sheep and Lambs, by Katharine Tynan
  77. Broken Dreams, by W. B. Yeats
  78. Down by the Sally Gardens, by W. B. Yeats
  79. Under Ben Bulben, by W. B. Yeats
  80. Valparaiso, by Padraig de Brun
  81. A Cradle Song, by Padraic Colum
  82. A Drover, Padraic Colum
  83. Woodman, Patrick Deeley – Poem not available online 
  84. Christmas Day, Paul Durcan
  85. Going Home to Mayo, by Paul Durcan
  86. Death of an Irishwoman, by Michael Hartnett
  87. Postscript, by Seamus Heaney
  88. Station Island, by Seamus Heaney
  89. Father and Son, by F.R. Higgins
  90. For Rita With Love, by Pat Ingoldsby
  91. Pegasus, by Patrick Kavanagh
  92. An Bonnan Bui, by Cathal Bui Mac Giolla Ghunna
  93. ‘Tis the last rose of summer, by Thomas Moore
  94. An tEarrach Thiar, by Máirtín Ó Direáin
  95. Oíche Nollag na mBan, by Seán Ó Ríordáin – English translation: The Night Of Women’s Christmas.
  96. Mise Éire – I am Ireland By Pádraic Mac Piarais
  97. The Host of the Air, by W. B. Yeats
  98. Leda and the Swan, by W. B. Yeats
  99. A Prayer for my Daughter, by W. B. Yeats
  100. All Legendary Obstacles, by John Montague

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Irelands top 100 Irish poems

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Cynthia and David Jenkins

Saturday 5th of November 2022

Excellent selection of precious poems; may I suggest you explore the work of Bernard O’Donoghue of East Cork. With thanks and appreciation, David

Maureen Ferriter

Saturday 13th of February 2021

I was in a very small, wee pub in Ballyferriter and an Irishman closed the doors and songs were sung. And then a man started to recite a poem and we all were very quiet. The first words were,”‘Twas a small hotel in a Dublin”...the repeated stanza that I recall was “Are you the Michael Farrely’” I’d love to get the words to that poem. Does anyone know of it? Maureen Ferriter ‘ ‘

autumnaljourney

Saturday 28th of November 2020

I know "On Raglan Road" by Patrick Kavanagh. It's also a beautiful song found on the album "Tears of Stone."