Yeats Nobel Centenary video series

The National Library of Ireland (NLI) and  Seanad Éireann have launched a video series to mark 100 years since the award of the Nobel Prize in Literature to WB Yeats. The poet and dramatist, who was a member of Seanad Éireann from 1922 to 1928, received notice of the award on November 14th 1923. 

A collaboration between Seanad Éireann and the NLI, the ‘Yeats Nobel Centenary’ series is a collection of 12 short videos featuring readings of a selection of Yeats’ poems and excerpts from his Seanad speeches.

Readers include current and former senators, past winners of the NLI’s Poetry Aloud poetry speaking competition for schools, WB Yeats’ granddaughter Caitriona Yeats, and others across the cultural spectrum with a link to WB Yeats. Featured pieces include Yeats' Seanad debates about Irish manuscripts and divorce, as well as readings of his poems. 

The videos will be published online via NLI and Oireachtas social media channels and will be broadcast on Oireachtas Television, with the first video releasing on November 14th. The videos will be published in the chronological order of publication date with the exception of Caitriona Yeats' reading of  The Song of Wandering Aengus (1897)  which will close out the series on December 10th, the centenary anniversary of the Nobel Prize Award ceremony.

For more details see press release.

To view the published videos online directly, please see reading list below.

1. The Lake Isle of Innisfree  (1890)– Luke Dolan 

2. When You are Old (1892) – FELISPEAKS 

3. He wishes for the Cloths of Heaven (1899) – Lisa Lambe 

4. Red Hanrahan’s Song about Ireland (1904) – Susan O’Keeffe 

5. The Wild Swans at Coole (1917) – Michael Tient 

6. The Second Coming (1920)– Paul Muldoon 

7. Seanad Speech from 19th April 1923 | Excerpt from the debate about Irish Manuscripts, Seanad Éireann, 19^th 1923 Volume 1, No. 21 – Senator Jerry Buttimer 

8. Divorce speech, 11 June 1925 | Excerpt from the debate on Divorce, Seanad Éireann 11^th June 1925, Volume 5, No. 7 – Senator David Norris 

9. The Road at my Door (1928)– Oein DeBhairdúin 

10. Coole Park, 1929 (1931) – Senator Lynn Ruane

11. An Acre of Grass (1936)– Sarah Joyce 

12. The Song of Wandering Aengus (1897)– Caitriona Yeats