S5E22: Dan Mulhall - Check-In - The Pilgrim Soul of WB Yeats
When we last talked with Dan Mulhall, he was Ireland’s Ambassador to the United Stares. Since then, he retired after a 44-year career in diplomacy, but he’s been busier than ever as we learn in this check-in episode with Martin Nutty focused on his new book on W. B. Yeats.
Recent invitations to New York University, Cambridge, and Harvard, provided opportunities to engage with students and pursue research into Yeats, a poet that he’d turned to throughout his diplomatic career. Early on, Dan realized the power of Yeats’s poetry, how the words of one of Ireland’s most important cultural icons could open diplomatic doors that were closed to other nations.
Dan’s love of Yeats’s words and his understanding of the poet's role in Irish history is now told in “Pilgrim Soul: W. B. Yeats and the Ireland of His Time.”
Join us as Dan explores the many aspects of the enigmatic poet’s life and how his legacy continues to be relevant in a turbulent world.
Links
- Twitter
- Pilgrim Soul: W. B. Yeats and the Ireland of His Time
00:00 - Introduction
02:44 - The Past 2 Years
06:23 - Yeats' Nationalism and Parnell
10:20 - Understanding Yeats as an Irishman
19:33 - Yeats and the Irish Language
22:34 - Yeats' Embrace of Anglo Ireland
30:21 - A Book Inscription
33:54 - How to Write a Book on Yeats
36:56 - Yeats' Impact on Indian Independence
40:06 - The Pivotal Decade
43:01 - What's Next for Dan Mulhall?
48:03 - Recap
49:18 - Credits
Dan Mulhall
Irish Ambassador to the United States of America
Daniel Mulhall took up duty as Ireland's 18th Ambassador to the United States in August 2017. He was born and brought up in Waterford and undertook his undergraduate and post-graduate studies at University College Cork where he specialized in modern Irish history.
Ambassador Mulhall joined the Department of Foreign Affairs in 1978 and had his early diplomatic assignments in New Delhi, Vienna (OSCE), Brussels (European Union) and Edinburgh where he was Ireland's first Consul General, 1998-2001. He served as Ireland's Ambassador to Malaysia (2001-05), where he was also accredited to Laos, Thailand and Vietnam. In 2005, he was conferred with an Honorary Fellowship by the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland for his work in connection with the Asian tsunami. From 2009 to 2013, he was Ireland's Ambassador to Germany.
Before coming to Washington, he served as Ireland's Ambassador in London (2013-17). During his time in Britain, he was a regular speaker on political, literary and historical topics at Universities all over the country, including at Oxford, Cambridge, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Manchester, Durham, King's College London and the London School of Economics. He also spoke at the Oxford Literary Festival, the Newbury Festival, the Liverpool Literary Festival and the Edinburgh International Book Festival. He was a regular speaker at the University of Liverpool's Institute of Irish Studies and is an Honorary Fellow at the Institute. Before departing for Washington, he was made a Freeman of the City of London in recognition … Read More
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