Books

First Yeats summer school programme discovered

Unique find highlights academic calibre of original event

WB Yeats and the newly discovered first summer school programme. Photograps: NLI; Julien Behal

Ellianne Rosochacki
Thu Jun 15 2017 - 15:40

The only known surviving programme from the first Yeats Summer School in 1960 has been discovered in near-perfect condition in the Ulysses Rare Books store in Dublin. Michael Keohane, a former president of the Yeats Society in Sligo, found the programme and recognised its significance. It included a handwritten note from Prof David Clarke, of the University of Massachusetts, one of the original speakers.

The eight-page booklet, with an image of Thomas Sturge Moore’s unicorn on the cover, is seen as significant as it describes the aims and aspirations of the summer school from its inception21 years after the death of WB Yeats. The programme was on sale for €175 but a discount was negotiated.

“It brings us back in a very tangible way to the first summer school,” said Martin Enright, president of the Yeats Society. The programme will now be put on display at the Yeats Memorial Building in Sligo. “It’s particularly gratifying to know that it belonged to Professor David Clarke, some of whose books were bequeathed to the Yeats Society and we have them on display in Sligo,” said Enright.

The only known surviving programme from the very first Yeats Summer School. Photographs: Julien Behal

The brochure sheds fascinating light on the event and a long forgotten Ireland. It included the ticket price (£9), details of accommodation at Sligo Grammar School as well as at “approved private houses” and a note about Sligo’s many attractions including quiet sandy beaches, sea angling and golf at Rosses Point.

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As well as Prof Clarke, notable visiting academics included Frank Kermode; TR Henn, who was then president of one of Cambridge University’s most eminent colleges, St. Catharine’s, and a Sligo native; Prof AN Jeffares, head of English literature at the University of Leeds – at the time the foremost Yeats expert.

This year’s International Summer School will run from July 20th to 27th and feature a reading by Colm Tóibín, lectures on themes such as “Nationalism versus Cosmopolitanism” by Yeats scholar Prof Ronan McDonald from the University of New South Wales and a poetry workshop by Colette Bryce. Nicholas Allen, Prof of English and Director of the Willson Center for Humanities and Arts at the University of Georgia and distinguished Yeats scholar and author Terence Brown will also be contributing.

Chair of the 2017 International School Damien Brennan said: “We already have students coming from Russia, Estonia, Tunisia, Romania and all across the United States. The summer school is suitable for all ages and backgrounds, for people who are interested in Yeats and Irish literature. We are delighted that this year’s school will be directed by Nicholas Grene, Emeritus Professor of English at Trinity College Dublin. We have some places left; applicants can check www.yeatssociety.com for information.”