Alcoholism claimed the well-loved Limerick native at 58, 25 years ago next month, but his legacy is celebrated in his home town in annual festival, writes Liam Collins Michael Hartnett photographed at a launch in Kenny’s Bookshop, Galway Michael Hartnett in pensive mood by the river Arra in Newcastle West. Photograph courtesy of Limerick Leader Archive This portrait of Michael Harnett by Edward McGuire was purchased recently by the Limerick City Gallery of Art. It was previously at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington DC The poet Michael Hartnett famously abandoned English to write exclusively in Irish and returned to his native west Limerick after many years in Dublin.
A decade later he recanted and moved back to the capital, where he died of alcoholism 25 years ago next month. All these years later he is now regarded as the poet laureate of Munster and his life and work is still celebrated. He is commemorated by a bronze statue in the square of his home town of Newcastle West and Éigse Michael Hartnett, a yearly tribute to him, takes place there every October.
“Meeting him about the town was like stepping into a zone of myth and learning and lore. He shared his knowledge of poetry, of the natural world, of history and of the human heart so generously,” said the poet Paula Meehan last week. He reconciled a generation of poets to the mother tongue and helped us decolonise our minds “He was hilarious company and a true cosmopolitan.
A wounded and fey creature hi.