John Hewitt
'John Hewitt outstrips the categories we keep invoking for him, such as “doyen of Ulster poets” or “conscience of the Planter tradition”. He becomes, instead, the universal poet, servant of the medium, renewer of the forms, discoverer of the nugge of harmony in the language and in ourselves.’ Seamus Heaney
'The constant subjects of his poetry are historical isolation and private loneliness. When he uses one as a metaphor for the other, he writes with an unforgettable mixture of courage and perception.' Eavan Boland
‘John Hewitt the poet made himself heard in a land of bellowers without raising his voice. He held out the creative hand rather than the clenched fist.’ Michael Longley
John Hewitt, father figure to a generation of poets such as Seamus Heaney and Michael Longley, is widely acknowledged as a poetic icon and creative catalyst within the canon of Irish poetry. Edited, with a new introduction, by acclaimed poets Michael Longley and Frank Ormsby, Selected Poems is testament to Hewitt’s remarkable legacy, and a celebration of a unique, compelling and still urgent voice in Irish poetry.
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