Threshold- Listening Library

Patrick Kavanagh’s poem explores themes of memory and imagination. He explores the magical world of childhood and the mourning of its passing. He uses amazing colourful and figurative language to adequately paint a picture of his youth and what it means to be a child.

Some time in the 1800s, there was a house, and in it Mrs. Byrne, Séamus, the old master, Captain Legend, and Gus the Goose, with whom Sheila the Maid had an empathetic affinity. Innuendo anybody? A tale of romantic passion, and salacious goings-on in Ballyeggs - in generous, dooble-entendre-laden, saucy Christmas helpings.

Before we cast old words aside, let us consider the sublime beauty and profound oddness of the ancient tongue that has been spoken on this island for almost 3,000 years. In Thirty-Two Words for Field, Manchán Magan meditates on these words – and the nuances of a way of life that is disappearing with them.