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In the early 1950s (1950-1955) the English poet Philip Larkin lived in Belfast, where he was working as Librarian in Queen’s University. While there he made a number of visits to Dublin.During this time he wrote many of the poems which made up his first major collection The Less Deceived (1955). The proposed collection was rejected by several English publishers, leading Larkin to submit it to the Dublin based Dolmen Press in 1954. But they also declined to publish it. Despite this rejection and a generally negative view of Dublin, expressed on a number of occasions to friends (“I prefer Belfast to Dublin - not architecturally of course, but architecture isn’t everything.” Selected Letters of Philip Larkin, P182), he retained enough memories of the place to evoke it in a later poem ‘Dublinesque’. The poem was written in the summer of 1970 and published in his final full-length collection High Windows (1974). It describes the funeral of a woman, possibly a prostitute - at least many of the mourners are characterised as “a troop of streetwalkers” - and captures the somewhat maudlin atmosphere of the occasion with its “air of great friendliness ... And of great sadness also.”In common with several later Larkin poems the dynamic of the poem moves from an exact description of a mundane, even banal scene, to another dimension where a sort of transcendence is achieved; in this case by the fading sound of a mourner’s voice “singing/Of Kitty, or Katy,/As if the name meant once/All love, all beauty.”

I was delighted to discover that this year's One City, One Book, If Ever You Go, A Map of Dublin in Poetry and Song, includes one of my favourite poems, entitled Dublin by Louis MacNeice. This poem may seem like an odd choice, as MacNeice paints a picture of a city in decline, however, Dublin at this time, with 'her seedy elegance', (p. 8) holds a great fascination for me.Anyone with an interest in genealogy, who has used census returns or street directories such as Thoms, will immediately recognise MacNeice’s Dublin. His description of a Dublin tenement with its,…bare bones of a fanlight,over a hungry door. (p. 7)highlights the poverty and depravation of many city dwellers at this time.  MacNeice was not a native of Dublin (he was born in Belfast) but he shows a great fondness for the city, and like Patrick Kavanagh (Collected Poems p.150) he romanticises the Liffey when speaks about,…the brewery tugs and the swanOn the balustrade stream (p. 7)When MacNeice wrote this poem in the 1930s Nelson’s Pillar was a famous landmark, not only with Dubliners but also  with country people who used it as a meeting place. Many a first date started out there under the gaze of Admiral Nelson. At the time of writing, MacNeice could not have foreseen that O’Connell Street with,…Nelson on his pillarwatching his world collapse (p. 7)would change so dramatically.  An explosion in 1966, fifty years after the Easter Rising, (Irish Independent 08/03/1966) destroyed the Pillar and Nelson lost his head, however, visitors to the Reading Room of the Dublin City Library and Archive will find that Admiral Nelson is still keeping a watchful eye on proceedings and who knows maybe romance can still blossom under his gaze.

If ever you should go in search of a song or a poem it is incredible for such a small nation how rich and diverse and consistently good Irish output has been and thus, it is fitting that 2014’s Dublin: One City, One Book title is devoted to celebrating that rich heritage. Available in all Public Libraries and good book shops it is called If Ever You Go – A Map of Dublin in Poetry & Song after the poem by Patrick Kavanagh.From Dean Swift to W.B. Yeats to J.M. Synge and James Joyce and Patrick Kavanagh to Brendan Kennelly, Dermot Bolger to Eavan Boland, the variety and sensitivity of the Irish poets’ voices have inspired many even beyond our shores. Anyone who has ever heard the late Seamus Heaney reading his poetry can only ever hear his voice reciting thereafter.This quotation from Padraic Colum’s ‘Dublin Roads' could have been written for Francis Ledwidge, a staunch nationalist and poet whose sensitivity remained even as he fought in World War I which eventually, tragically claimed his life at just 29 years old.Ledwidge’s father died when he was 5 years old and consequently a young Francis was forced to look for work at just 13:When you were a lad that lacked a trade,Oh, many’s the thing you’d see on the wayFrom Kill-o’-the-Grange to Ballybrack,And from Cabinteely down into Bray,When you walked these roads the whole of the day.'In France' by Francis Ledwidge:The silence of maternal hillsIs round me in my evening dreams;And round me music-making rillsAnd mingling waves of pastoral streams.Whatever way I turn I findThe path is old unto me still.The hills of home are in my mind,And there I wander as I will.

A new collection from the Royal Dublin Fusiliers Association Archive is now available to view in the Dublin City Library and Archive Reading Room and available online through Digital Repository Ireland. The collection, ‘The Gunning Brothers: Gallipoli and the Somme’, contains the records of two Enniskillen brothers, George Cecil and Frank Douglas Gunning, who fought at the battle of Gallipoli during the First World War.  Their diary, entitled ‘Gallipoli Memories’ provides a blow-by-blow account of their experiences during the Gallipoli campaign and reflects a shift from their sense of adventure and excitement to sorrow, hopelessness and despair.Prior to the War, the brothers worked as bank clerks. George Cecil enlisted into the ‘D’ Company, 7th Battalion of the Royal Dublin Fusiliers following the outbreak of war in 1914, and his younger brother Frank, followed him shortly after, for fear of missing out on the adventure.  The two men trained at the Curragh and in 1915 they fought in the Gallipoli campaign. The conditions they faced were very harsh, with a severe water shortage exasperated by the intense heat of the sun.Frank wrote that ‘we would take a mouthful of water every hour or so….and you could brush a fine powder of dried saliva from our tongues’.  The men were forced to drink muddy water, from which Frank contracted dysentery and was hospitalised for a number of weeks. Having recovered, Frank was transferred into the 6th Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers where he became second lieutenant.  In June 1916, Frank went to France where he fought at the battle of the Somme and was killed. His body was never recovered. George Cecil wrote, having heard the tragic news of his brother ‘Being the eldest of the two brothers, I always felt a certain responsibility about him. Now that responsibility ceases to exist.’George Cecil, like his brother Frank, also contracted dysentery in 1915. George Cecil was brought to hospital in Alexandria in Egypt where he remained until 1917. It is during his time here that George Cecil compiled a very rich photo album which contains over 100 photographs. These photographs include images of the local people, the pyramids and Cairo.  In 1918, he was transferred to the Royal Air Force; however, by the time he training was completed, the Armistice was signed. In 1919, George Cecil returned home and continued his work at the Belfast Saving Bank. In 1930, he married Muriel McKinney and had two children. George Cecil died on 17 March 1974. His daughter Wendy was given the belongings of her father and uncle after his death, which she donated to the Royal Dublin Fusiliers Association.This collection is a fantastic addition to Royal Dublin Fusiliers Association Archive held at Dublin City Library and Archive, particularly this year being the centenary of outbreak of the First World War. The collection contains a variety of artefacts, photographs and letters and would without doubt be of immense value to anyone with an interest in the First World War. A descriptive list cataloguing the contents of the collection was prepared by Rachel Richardson, Dublin City Archives InternRachel Richardson, Dublin City Archives Intern (March 2014)

This weekend many people around the world will be wearing the Shamrock, a tiny plant symbolising the Irish nation. Taoiseach Enda Kenny will present a bowl of Shamrock to the President of the United States, Barack Obama, today.

The following is a transcript of the fifteenth Sir John T. Gilbert Commemorative Lecture by Brendan Twomey at Dublin City Library and Archive on 23 January 2012.Audio.Welcome to the Dublin City Public Libraries and Archive Podcast.

Alleys, annals and anecdotes: a new look at Gilbert's History of Dublin given by Séamas Ó Maitiú, on Thursday 23rd January 2014 at 6.00pm, at Dublin City Library & Archive, Pearse Street, Dublin 2.

The following is a transcript of the seventeenth Sir John T. Gilbert Commemorative Lecture "Alleys, annals and anecdotes: a new look at Gilbert's History of Dublin", given by Séamas Ó Maitiú, on Thursday 23rd January 2014.

Parks are our breathing spaces in the city and this gallery recognises the beautiful green spaces around Dublin. Although it does not include every park and green space in Dublin, we hope it will provide an introduction to those places were Dubliners can take a moment to enjoy nature and to relax.

The Irish International Exhibition of 1907 happened because of the vision of one man, the commitment of another and the management skills of a third. Their names are William Dennehy, William Martin Murphy and James Shanks, together with many people who helped in the creation of the Exhibition, they made the Exhibition the sensation of 1907.