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The Land of Yeats
The episode begins in Sligo town, steeped in the history of Nobel Poet Laureate William Butler Yeats. Yeats' scholar Susan O Keeffe discusses Yeats' connection to the county, his importance in literature and his beautiful poetry in a tour of the Yeats Center, where Aileen Mythen sings 'Down By The Sally Gardens' written by Yeats himself. Michael drives south to Thoor Ballylee where Yeats summered and a constant in his poetry. Michael heads on to the town of Mohill, to visit the gravesite of legendary blind composer Turlough O' Carolan, meets Seamus O Flaharta who plays O'Carolan music on the Harp. He then visits the sprawling medieval estate of Lough Rynn and finishes with a trip to the world-renowned Belleek Pottery, founded by a local landlord to create employment during the Great Hunger.
