Galway and Thoor Ballylee

W. B. Yeats is one of the primary poets I have been studying in Ireland, and his works have always interested me because of their acute political and social resonances. His relationships with women are particularly interesting; it is arguable that his work would never have amounted to much had it not been for the women (especially political revolutionary Maud Gonne) who scorned his advances. It would seem that this heartbreak and misery inspired much of Yeats's best work.

After trying to visit one of the museums in Dublin and finding it closed for the day, I stumbled across the National Library of Ireland by accident. This is when I got really lucky: there was a temporary exhibit of the world's largest collection of Yeats material! I spent hours in the exhibit, paying special attention to the poet's drafting process and the nearly indiscernable nature of his handwriting.

These are the final lines of the poem "Under Ben Bulben." Yeats wrote
his own epigraph, and these words are now engraved on his
tomb near the mountain Ben Bulben.

The Yeats exhibition provided valuable insight into the poet's life and his relation to the people and events that surrounded him. This was the perfect way to prepare for my brief journey to the west coast of Ireland. After finally adjusting to Dublin, it was time to travel to County Galway in pursuit of Thoor Ballylee, the stony Norman tower in the countryside that was the summer home of Yeats in his later years. The tower is Yeats's self-proclaimed symbol, and it appears in many of his works of poetry, my favorite being "Meditations in Time of Civil War." This poem is included in a collection of poems called, well, The Tower, published in 1928.

I was nervous for this journey due to the necessity of coordinating three different types of public transportation in one day to arrive at a site situated in the midst of miles of farms and country estates. I took a coach bus from Dublin to Galway (only about 2.5 hours to travel across the entire country!), a city bus from Galway to a small town called Gort, and then a hackney cab from Gort to Thoor Ballylee. A local Irish guy about my age offered to call the taxi service for me, which was nice until he offered me some weed and suggested we get a drink together later that evening. He gave me his contact information, which I willfully forgot as soon as I got into my cab.

Thoor Ballylee was beautiful, and the people who volunteer there were wonderfully hospitable. I loved walking up the winding staircase and seeing the very rooms where Yeats lived with wife George and their two children. I was even offered a complimentary cup of tea and some cinnamon toast just for visiting.

Yeats's wife George used to hold a fishing pole out of the tower
windows to catch fish from the river.

This is the winding staircase that appeared as a symbol
in many of Yeats's late poems.

The lovely reception room brings guests from all over the world
to discuss their journeys over tea and toast.

When I finally got back to Galway city, I was relieved for successfully navigating and not getting lost/stranded somewhere. Galway is a beautiful, small coastal city known for its great food scene and its nightlife. I spent most of my time sitting in Eyre Square park and breathing in the fresh ocean air.

I sat along the bay for a while, which earned me a nice sunburn.

I left Galway without having had much time to explore the city, but it was nice to get back to Dublin. Next I'll be going to a few other museums and exploring the modern resonances of my favorite Irish writers.