At 81, Michael Longley is by now the most senior remaining member of the Belfast Group and his new collection 'The Candlelight Master' is riven through with laments for now departed friends like Seamus Heaney and Ciaran Carson. Longley's characteristic marriage of form, vivid imagery and allusions to classical mythology are all on display here, but what marks this collection out over all previous is perhaps a recognition that the torch (or candle) has now been passed to a new generation of Irish writers. This does not make Longley wistful, but rather, he is joyful in transition - hopeful for a future where people have learned from the true masters of his generation.

Beautiful poems - about childhood memories, endings... There is a sense of someone putting things in order before leaving, which was very sad and very moving - it reads like a farewell.

Excellent new collection from Michael Longley with a huge range - art, the Holocaust, birds, ageing, writing, childhood, memory, grief. "Key-Changes" might be my favourite with its tracing of a developing love of music from childhood. The poems about his twin brother are also moving. Very grateful to have had the opportunity to read The Candlelight Master.

3 stars.

Though it was a tough read for me but i personally enjoyed some of the war topics the poet shared and will liketo share my favourite poem below:-

I am the candlelight master
striking a match in the shadows
a smoky wick then radiance
i am the candlelight master

An absolutely stunning collection of poetry. I very wrongly assumed that Longley was a debut poet but oh how mistaken I was. The fact that I finished it off in an afternoon is testament to how intensely readable and consuming Longley's poetry is. I can't wait to delve into his archive.

This is the first time I encountered the poems of Michael Longley but this collection has now awakened my interest in his other works, too.

The central themes of the volume are loss and art, often entwined. Longley evokes poets (Wilfred Owen, Hanuš Hachenburg, Yeats) and painters (Matisse, Bonnard, Orpen) who are no longer with us, he paints with his words and sings with his lines. Ancient Greece and Rome also come to life in several of his poems, and we cannot help but realise how intensely our pain and loss resemble that of the people of these civilisations. War and armistice, the fallen and the pain of the survivors - it is the fragility of human life that connects us. Hector's mad grief when his brother is murdered, the brutality of the First World War and the unbelieveable horrors of the Second World War, the pain of George Larmour whose brother was shot dead by the IRA, the loneliness of the poet whose own twin brother died before him - through all the ages, humankind is constanty in mourning.

The volume contains other poems and introduces other motives, too, but it was this subject that touched my heart and it was these lines that my mind and soul dwelt on.

This is a glorious set of poetry framed around different types of War and the affections that come from the loved ones for those who have died, From Achilles to Wilfred Owen, to Pieta and the image of Christ... It really is a delight to read and easy to consume in one sitting. It is also possible to pace this the reading over time, and dip back in and out as you please.

The words just sing, the images linger. Each poem filters into the next like a narrative song.
This is the first poetry collection I have read of Michael Longley, but it certainly won't be the last.