Kildare festival to celebrate world-famous poet

It is that time of year again when Monasterevin honours one of the greatest poets of the English Language who was a regular visitor to the town in the 1800s.

Gerard Manley Hopkins spent many vacations at Monasterevin House in Co Kildare as a guest of the Casssidy sisters, and for nearly 40 years now the Hopkins Association has been celebrating the poet’s association with the town.

The 2025 edition of the annual festival, from Saturday and Sunday, July 25 to 26, features lots of cultural activities to mark the poet's link to the Kildare town.

The organisers say the weekend has taken on a new dimension with the community rowing in to put on an "extravaganza of multi-faceted entertainment" which will have something for everyone.

Proceedings commence on Friday at 3.30 pm in the local Community Centre with music by the Fireside Singers and Irish dancing with Beth-Anne Miller.

Local poet Kathleen Doyle and renowned national poet Anni Wilton Jones will recite for the first time two new poems.
This will be followed by a talk by Irene Kyffin entitled 'Dreaming-Art & the Cosmos'. Irene, who holds a degree in Drama Teaching and a Masters in Anthropology, will officially open the festival.

At 8pm Emer Dunne will perform in St John’s Church of Ireland on Main St. The organisers say this should prove to be an entertaining event.

Emer is an Irish Folk singer from Mountmellick, who has been enchanting audiences with her vocal purity and her repertoire blends together traditional and contemporary folk songs. She had a sell-out tour in Australia last year.

On Saturday at 10am, Katarzyna Stefanowicz, a Polish national, will deliver her lecture on 'The Peacock’s Eye', one of Hopkins Pre Raphaelite poems. There will be a short interlude, and at 11.30 am Dr Derek Coyle will deliver his lecture 'This Remarkable Form' in which he discusses the comparisons between Hopkins and Patrick Kavanagh’s sonnets.

Following lunch it will be on to Monasterevin House, where Hopkins spent vacations as the guest of the Ms Cassidys. Here it will be the turn of poet Ann Fitzgerald to read from her works. Ann has a Law Degree from Trinity College, Dublin and an MA in Creative Writing from Queen’s University Belfast.

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At 3.30, following Ann’s lecture, it will be an Open Call 'My Favourite Hopkins Poem'. The organisers say this is an opportunity for any of the audience to recite their favourite Hopkins poem.

There will be an art exhibition over the two days of the festival in the Community Centre. It's open on Friday, July 25, from 12 noon to 6 pm and on Saturday, July 26, from 11 am to 5 pm

Art will be exhibited by young and old, amateurs and professionals.  It will include a variety of art forms from straight painting to mixed medium, wood turning by members of Midland Wood Turners Association and individual craftspeople, people who work in ceramics, wool, embroidery, willow etc.

The group responsible for this segment of the programme is 'Artists for Peace' under the direction of Angelina Foster, Blueways Art Studio. Anyone wishing to exhibit please contact Ann at 087-9089484.

The County Council hall will be the venue for painting classes by internationally renowned artist Jean Ryan Hakizimana who will also be exhibiting.

The poet describes the sad predicament of his years in Dublin and of his Irish exile, in the 'terrible sonnets'. The poet who converted to Catholicism and became a priest died in Ireland aged just 44 years and is buried in Glasnevin Cemetery.