This virtual geocache will bring you to the statue of W.B Yeats which is located outside the Ulster Bank on Stephen's Street Sligo.
William Butler Yeats (13th June 1865 – 28th January 1939) was an Irish Poet and one of the foremost figures of 20th Century literature. A pillar of the Irish literary establishment, he helped to found the Abbey Theatre, and in his later years served two terms as a Senator of the Irish Free State. He was a driving force behind the Irish Literary Revival along with Lady Gregory, Edward Martyn and others.
Yeats was born in Sandymount, Ireland, and educated there and in London. He spent childhood holidays in Sligo and studied poetry from an early age, when he became fascinated by Irish legends and the occult. In 1923, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.
As Sligo was one of Yeats' favourite places to spend time in & was the inspiration & theme to some of his most famous poems it was named "The Land of Hearts Desire" after another one of Yeats' poems. The Irish Tourism Board or Failte Ireland also adopted this name & used it in numerous marketing campaigns to help promote tourism to County Sligo. This is the basis for the name for my virtual geocache.
To log this Virtual geocache you will need to take a photograph of yourself in front of the statue (you can turn your back so your face isn't visible if you prefer) Please upload your photograph with your log. NO PHOTO WILL MEAN YOUR LOG IS REMOVED no warnings. If you are part of a group then ALL member names must be posted with your photo. Do not send any photos etc to me via the messaging system. Photo logs only.
********* Let's see if you can be creative with your photos which I think Yeats' himself would've liked *********
Don't forget to visit the other geocaches placed in Sligo in honour of the great W.B Yeats, especially at his place of rest in Drumcliffe.
The Land of Heart's Desire is a play by Irish poet, dramatist, and 1923 Nobel laureate William Butler Yeats.. First performed in the spring of 1894, at the Avenue Theatre in London, where it ran for a little over six weeks, it was the first professional performance of one of Yeats' plays.
In this theatrical lament on age and thwarted aspirations, a faery child encounters the newlyweds Shawn and Mary Bruin at their home, shared with Maurteen Bruin and Bridget Bruin, Shawn's parents. The child, who at first is thought of by the Bruins as of gentle birth, denounces God and shocks Father Hart. She expounds on the ephemeral nature of life, in a bid to entice the newly-wed Maire to leave with her to the world of faery:
You shall go with me, newly-married bride,
And gaze upon a merrier multitude.
White-armed Nuala, Aengus of the Birds,
Feacra of the hurtling foam, and him
Who is the ruler of the Western Host,
Finvarra, and their Land of Heart's Desire,
Where beauty has no ebb, decay no flood,
But joy is wisdom, Time an endless song.
I kiss you and the world begins to fade.
(Credit to Wikipedia for blurb)
Virtual Rewards 2.0 - 2019/2020
This Virtual Cache is part of a limited release of Virtuals created between June 4, 2019 and June 4, 2020. Only 4,000 cache owners were given the opportunity to hide a Virtual Cache. Learn more about Virtual Rewards 2.0 on the Geocaching Blog.