Romantic Ireland alive and well in Paris as stars recite the poems of Yeats

By Fergus Black
Wednesday September 19 2012

HE is probably better versed in berating world leaders for not doing enough to help find more solutions to world hunger and poverty.

But global campaigner Bob Geldof cast off his more familiar public image last night as he turned all poetic to help celebrate a special birthday of Irish culture in Paris.

The scene was the courtyard of the restored Centre Culturel Irlandais -- better known as the Irish College in the French capital.

Geldof, the high-profile former Boomtown Rats singer, joined Irish actress, Sinead Cusack; singer Marianne Faithfull; and actress Charlotte Rampling before a captivated audience of around 800 who had gathered to hear the special guests read from some of the works of WB Yeats.

The 'Live Aid' creator, who was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II for his continuing efforts to eradicate world hunger, read six of Yeats' poems, including his 'September 1913' poem with its immortal line: 'Romantic Ireland's dead and gone.' Moar