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LAST UPDATE | 1 Feb
THE FUNERAL OF acclaimed Belfast poet Michael Longley will take place later.
Longley died in hospital at the age of 85 on 22 January.
His funeral is to take place in All Souls Church in Belfast followed by a private committal at Roselawn Crematorium.
The poet won a number of awards throughout his life including the TS Eliot Prize, the Feltrinelli International Prize and the Whitbread Poetry Prize, and he was made a CBE in 2010 as well as being awarded the freedom of Belfast.
Among his best-known work is the 1994 poem Ceasefire, inspired by the then-ceasefires in his native Northern Ireland and the search for peace and reconciliation.
Longley met the Queen of England when she visited Hillsborough Castle in Co Down last year for a poetry event.
Irish President Michael D Higgins led the tributes to Longley after his death, stating he would “be recognised as one of the greatest poets that Ireland has ever produced, and it has long been my belief that his work is of the level that would be befitting of a Nobel Prize for Literature”.
A funeral notice for Longley stated: “Michael will be remembered widely for his warmth, humour, friendship, intellect and his many contributions to the arts on the island of Ireland, in the UK, and across the world.
“In particular, his wonderful poems will remain with us always, providing comfort and a continuing close connection to him.
“His words will live on forever.”
Roisin McDonough, the chief executive of the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, said the poet had been a “towering figure” of Northern Ireland arts for 60 years.
She added: “He was one of our truly great poets, one of the most respected and influential of his generation, his name spoken alongside Heaney, Carson and Mahon, all of whom are sadly now no longer with us.
“We have lost a guide, a friend, an inspiration. But his poetry will last. And it will be cherished by generations to come.”
The poet is survived by his wife Edna and children Rebecca, Daniel and Sarah.
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“Many remarked that just as the Arab Spring has started to replace unelected old men with democratic leaders, the European autumn is replacing democratic leaders with unelected old men.”
Andrew Gilligan
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