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The Hospital by Patrick Kavanagh is a Petrarchan sonnet about the Dublin chest hospital where he had a lung removed in 1955, and about loving ordinary things. Here’s a plain-English summary, the background, the real Rialto Bridge, the form, themes, techniques, key phrases and exam notes for Leaving Cert English Higher Level 2027, plus a short life of the poet.
Shancoduff by Patrick Kavanagh is a 16-line poem about the cold, north-facing hills of his family’s farm near Inniskeen, Co. Monaghan, which he proudly calls his Alps until passing cattle drovers decide their poet owner must be poor. Here’s a plain-English summary, the real townland and its Irish name, the references explained (Lot’s wife, Glassdrummond, the Matterhorn, the Big Forth of Rocksavage), themes, techniques, tone and exam notes for Leaving Cert English 2027.
Paula Meehan is a prescribed poet for Leaving Cert English at Higher Level in 2027 and 2028, and three of her poems are on the Ordinary Level list. Here’s the official list from the Department’s circulars, a plain-English summary of all ten poems with themes, key images and exam angles, a short life of the Dublin poet, and where to read the poems legally.
Dijeridiú by Louis de Paor is a short Irish poem about listening to the didgeridoo in Australia and not quite understanding it, written during the Cork poet’s years there (1987 to 1996). Here’s a plain-English summary, the instrument and the Australian background, the themes, imagery and techniques, key Irish words with pronunciation, exam notes and Irish phrases for Leaving Cert Irish Higher Level 2027 and 2028, and a short life of the poet.
Ag Tiomáint Siar (Driving West) by Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill follows a drive over the Conor Pass into Dingle, where every bend of the Kerry Gaeltacht seems to have a story. Here’s a plain-English summary, the real folklore of the Carbuncle of Loch Geal, the story of Dún an Óir in 1580, themes, techniques, key Irish words with pronunciation and exam notes for Higher Level Leaving Cert Irish 2027 and 2028, plus a short life of the poet.
Eanáir 1991 (January 1991) by Biddy Jenkinson is a 23-line poem in Irish in which a woman refuses her lover’s kisses and touch while bombs fall, and asks that the two of them stand with the dead. Here’s a plain-English summary (not a translation), the Gulf War background, the St Stephen’s Day wrens, themes, techniques, key Irish words with pronunciation, exam notes and useful Irish phrases for Leaving Cert Irish Higher Level 2027 and 2028, and a short profile of the poet.
Trén bhFearann Breac (Through the Speckled Land) by Colm Breathnach is a four-part poem about travelling through a country where every town has two names, one Irish and one English, and feeling a stranger in your own place. Here’s a plain-English summary, the real signposts behind it, the themes, the chess metaphor explained, key Irish words with pronunciation, exam notes and useful Irish phrases for Leaving Cert Irish Higher Level in 2027 and 2028, and a short life of the Cork poet.
Every Leaving Cert Irish poem has changed for June 2027 and June 2028. Here are the five common poems for Ordinary and Higher Level and the five Higher Level additional poems, with poets, title meanings and rough pronunciations, what replaced An tEarrach Thiar and Caoineadh Airt Uí Laoghaire, the 2(b) optional-course rules, the new prose list and links to the official circulars and free study guides.
In April 1820 Anthony Daly, a one-eyed carpenter remembered as a captain of the Whiteboys, was hanged at Seefin near Craughwell, Co. Galway, and tradition says the blind poet Raftery made a song about it. Here is the full public-domain Irish text from Douglas Hyde’s 1903 edition, a plain English translation, what the 1820 newspapers and folk memory say, the themes, imagery and key phrases, and notes for Leaving Cert Irish Higher Level in 2027 and 2028.
Úirchill an Chreagáin, The Churchyard of Creggan, is Art Mac Cumhaigh’s 18th-century aisling from south Armagh and a common poem for Leaving Cert Irish, Ordinary and Higher Level, in 2027 and 2028. Here is the poem in Irish with a plain English translation, the aisling and the spéirbhean, Creggan churchyard and the O’Neills of the Fews, the poet’s life, themes, key phrases with pronunciation, and exam notes.
Glaoch Abhaile by Áine Ní Ghlinn is a 21-line poem about a young Irishman in London who tells his mother he has a cosy flat and will be home for Christmas, then walks back to the box where he sleeps behind Waterloo Station. Here’s a plain-English summary, the poet’s own account of where it came from, the themes and images, key Irish words with pronunciation, exam notes for Leaving Cert Irish 2027 and 2028, and a short biography of the poet.
Iníon (Daughter) by Áine Durkin is a 16-line Irish poem in which a mother speaks to her teenage daughter just after a row, remembers thinking her own mother a fool, and ends on a love that has grown every day since the girl was born. Here’s a plain-English summary, the three generations of women, the themes, imagery, dialect and rhyme, key Irish words, exam notes and a short biography of the poet, for Leaving Cert Irish in 2027 and 2028.
Deireadh na Feide, a common Leaving Cert Irish poem for 2027 and 2028, is Ailbhe Ní Ghearbhuigh’s poem about the whistled language of Aas, a Pyrenean village whose shepherds once whistled their everyday speech. Here’s a plain-English summary, the real history behind it (including the recordings the poem says were never made), themes, techniques, key Irish words with pronunciation, exam phrases and a short bio of the Kerry poet.
Dínit an Bhróin (The Dignity of Grief) by Máirtín Ó Direáin is a 16-line poem about two women in black mourning clothes walking silently away from a noisy crowd around a tender just in from an ocean liner. Here’s a plain-English summary, the scene, the themes, imagery and techniques, key Irish words with pronunciation, exam notes and useful Irish phrases for Leaving Cert Irish 2027 and 2028, and a short life of the Aran poet.
A classic Irish trifle recipe for Christmas, in metric and US measures: sherry-soaked Swiss roll, raspberries set in jelly, proper custard and whipped cream with glacé cherries and hundreds and thousands. Plus Jell-O, pound cake and Bird’s custard swaps for American kitchens, an alcohol-free version for the kids, a Christmas Eve timetable and food-safety advice, the honest answer on Irish vs English trifle and the jelly argument, and trifle’s history from Thomas Dawson’s cream of 1596 to Hannah Glasse, Mrs Beeton and a 1930s Halloween supper in Rathkeale.