In 1994, when rumours of an IRA ceasefire began to circulate, Michael Longley sat down and wrote what came to be regarded as one of the most prescient and significant poems of the Troubles era. Called Ceasefire, it was published originally in the Irish Times and had an immediate impact, with its much-quoted final couplet standing as a symbol of hope and reconciliation in fraught times: “I get down on my knees and do what must be done / And kiss Achilles’ hand, the killer of my son.”
In this poem, Longley, who has died aged 85, drew on his classical background: a constant source of inspiration, along with the first world war, the flora and fauna of the west of Ireland, the Holocaust, love and friendship, and – obliquely – the conflict in Northern Ireland. His range was wide, and his approach distinctive. With his first collection, No Continuing City (1969), Longley showed himself to be a poet of exceptional poise and eloquence – but with a sardonic streak to temper his technical accomplishment.
