Ash Keys

Michael Longley is a lyric poet with perfect pitch. His formal elegance seems effortless... A master in an old, great tradition * Times *
A keeper of the artistic estate, a custodian of griefs and wonders -- Seamus Heaney, author of Death of a Naturalist
His poems rest on the page like driftwood, seasoned and made beautiful by an ocean of experience -- Helen Dunmore, author of Ingo
One of the most perfect poets alive. There is something in his work both ancient and modern. I read him as I might check the sky for stars -- Sebastian Barry, author of Old God's Time
Michael Longley’s poems have matched a sense of history and the brutal present with a recurrent feeling for the lyrical moment and the fragility of experience -- James Fenton, author of Yellow Tulips
Michael Longley is a great poet whose work will endure while the English language does -- Donald Hall, author of Ox-Cart Man
Longley has all the necessary gifts – precision, the celebrant’s tongue, and that touch of mystery that sets certain poets apart -- George Mackay Brown, author of Magnus
This new selection of his [Longley’s] poetry, drawing on his 13 published collections, shows his range and power. He is one of the great poets of landscape, as well as a powerful, pained commentator on Northern Ireland’s troubled history * Herald *
With Ash Keys we gain access to the past and relive its colour…Now, more than ever, Longley’s work deserves to be widely read and treasured * Sunday Times *
Michael Longley’s latest lines are just as restless and as promising as his first * Times Literary Supplement *