It is not just fossils that inspire poems, but geology/nature/landscapes in general. So I thought I’d post part of William Butler Yeats’ poem, Under Ben Bulben, inspired by Ben Bulben, Co. Sligo, Ireland.
Ben Bulben
This imposing feature of the Irish landscape is made of Carboniferous limestone beds, which have been uplifted and dissected by faulting.
“Under bare Ben Bulben’s head
In Drumcliff churchyard Yeats is laid.
An ancestor was rector there
Long years ago, a church stands near,
By the road an ancient cross.
No marble, no conventional phrase;
On limestone quarried near the spot
By his command these words are cut:
Cast a cold eye
On life, on death.
Horseman, pass by!”
Under Ben Bulben, 1938
William Butler Yeats (1865-1939)
Not Just Science 