Programme 7: 22nd October 2005
Australian poet, Les Murray, who is Pat Boran's guest this week, is universally recognised as one of the finest poets writing in English today. His name is spoken of in the same breath as Seamus Heaney, Derek Walcott and Joseph Brodsky.

The writer and critic, Margaret Drabble, has written of Les Murray:
"At the heart of Murray's poetry is a profound response, expressing itself through a rich visual imagination and meticulously crafted language, to the Australian bush and the ideals and values of the pioneer settlers."

Born in 1938 in New South Wales, Les Murray was the only child of an impoverished farmer and a nursing mother who died when he was only 13 years old. He was mercilessly bullied at school and grew up a lonely, socially isolated young man. He discovered poetry at 18 but challenged "high art" and saw Keats and the canon of revered English poets as the enemies of poetry. Though widely regarded as Australia's national poet, he sees himself as a pariah, outside the country's literary establishment.
New Collected Poems by Les Murray is published by Carcanet.

The Enchanted Way is presented by Pat Boran and produced by Seamus Hosey.

Programme 6: 15th October 2005

Programme 5: 1st October 2005

Programme 4: 24th September 2005

Programme 3: 17th September 2005

Programme 2: 10th September 2005

Programme 1: 3rd September 2005
In the first programme of the new series, Pat Boran's guest is poet and Professor of English at Trinity College, Dublin, Brendan Kennelly. This year marks a milestone in Kennelly's life as he retires after nearly 50 years of lecturing to generations of students in the English Department, students whom he inspired, delighted, entertained and befriended over half a century.

As he cleared out his office Brendan rediscovered a favourite volume of his which he brings into studio - 1,000 Years of Irish Poetry by Kathleen Hoagland which was first published in 1957. This book of poetry provides the basis for a fascinating programme which brings to life some of the enduring favourite poems that have shaped and influenced him as a reader and as a poet.

Brendan Kennelly believes very strongly in keeping in circulation the treasures of Irish poetry that may be in danger of being overlooked or lost in the frantic and frenetic obsession with the new. He loves the translations from the Irish like My Dark Rosaleen and The Woman of Three Cows in versions by James Clarence Mangan which he reads with great sensitivity and skill.

In this half hour of magical readings and chat with presenter Pat Boran, Brendan dips into the deep well of Irish poetry and comes up with such treasures as A White Rose by that neglected poet and revolutionary, John Boyle O'Reilley.

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