Uachtarán na hÉireann, President Michael D. Higgins this morning conferred the honour of Saoi of Aosdána on the poet Paul Muldoon.
At the ceremony, the President presented Paul Muldoon with the symbol of the office of Saoi, the gold Torc.
Speaking at the ceremony, the President said:
“With poetry, we may seek fulfilment in a world where relationship and meaning take precedence over consumption, accumulation and the quest for power and profit. It is only by accepting our fragile material condition that we may hope to attain something higher – through artistic creation, human connections, solidarity, the seeking of harmony, of love, of beauty in our lives given our existence as what I have called ‘migrants in time’.
Paul Muldoon’s poetry allows us to undertake such a journey of emancipation. His is a form of poetry known for its many and varied gifts. Some readers have recognised its use of paradox, with Paul’s poems being both playful yet serious, intangible yet direct, innovative yet traditional.
Reflecting upon a lifetime of outstanding creative work, which continues, it is such a pleasure to congratulate Paul Muldoon on being chosen by his peers in the world of arts and culture for this honour and, mar Uachtarán na hÉireann, to thank him for all that he has given, and all that he continues to give to us and to the world of Irish literature.
Traoslaím leis agus guím rath agus beannacht ar a chuid oibre agus ar a shaol.”
The honour of the Saoi is for singular and sustained distinction in the arts. Members of Aosdána may receive the honour of Saoi, which is an honour conferred only on artists whose body of work is considered by their fellow members to be of significant merit and distinction. Not more than seven members of Aosdána may hold this honour, which is held for life, at any one time. A Saoi is elected by fellow members of Aosdána.
At the ceremony, the Chair of the Arts Council Maura McGrath said:
“The creative arts play a vital role in bringing together the diverse and complex strands of Ireland’s past, present and future. We are fortunate to have so many talented creative practitioners in the country, and the Arts Council is committed to promoting, developing and championing creative communities and creative expression.
There have been 21 Saoithe, and today, the happy occasion of Paul Muldoon’s election brings the number to 22 across Aosdána’s 44 years. Paul Muldoon is the thirteenth Saoi in the discipline of literature. Today, he joins the august company of George Morrison, elected in 2016; Roger Doyle, elected in 2019 and most recently Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin, who was elected in 2022; with others, I hope, soon to follow.
I would like to pay my respects and remember with great fondness and sadness those very dear Saoithe who we lost in recent years: Edna O’Brien, Imogen Stuart, Camille Souter and Seoirse Bodley. All lives well lived. Titans of creativity in their disciplines, they are sorely missed.”
Paul Muldoon is an Irish poet and professor of poetry, as well as an editor, critic, playwright, lyricist and translator. Born in 1951 in Portadown, Co. Armagh, Muldoon is the author of twelve major collections of poetry, including One Thousand Things Worth Knowing (2015), Maggot (2010), Horse Latitudes (2006), Moy Sand and Gravel (2002), Hay (1998), The Annals of Chile (1994), Madoc: A Mystery (1990), Meeting the British (1987), Quoof (1983), Why Brownlee Left (1980), Mules (1977) and New Weather (1973).
He has also published innumerable smaller collections, works of criticism, opera libretti, books for children, song lyrics and radio and television drama. His poetry has been translated into twenty languages.
THE TORC
Paul Muldoon
Ever mindful of the coefficient of drag
and my compulsion to streamline
my operation, I ventured out along that muddy track
to Pergamon. Not only would I lean
into my role as newly-minted seer and sage,
ever mindful of the coefficient of drag
as well as the need for such
groundedness as might allow for a battle trick
that would leave the rank and file awestruck
and of which they would, as connoisseurs of the kill,
be ever mindful. Of the coefficient of drag
that brought down the Dying Gaul
I will say that he may have been overly quick to put
himself out there wearing only a thick torc
of gold rather than one he might to airy thinness beat,
ever mindful of the coefficient of drag.