Top 100 Irish Poems Ranked And Analysis Of Each Poem

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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 Poems

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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What did you think of this list of Irish poems? 

I had a fantastic time putting the list together. Irish poems teach you a lot of things, especially Irish poems about life that seem to resonate with everyday people, including me. Some of the above poems are poems in Irish as well as English. But for each of them, I have included a translation. And many poems are old Irish poems that date back hundreds of years. 

If you loved these poems, then you will love my list of Irish love poems as well; check it out here. 

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