The Cliffs of Moher

One of Ireland’s favourite visitor experiences, the Cliffs of Moher on the west coast of Ireland (along Ireland’s famous Wild Atlantic Way), tower over the rugged west Clare coast. Walk the safe, paved pathways and view the famous Cliffs on Europe’s western frontier and enjoy the spectacular vistas over the Atlantic Ocean and the Aran Islands. Their natural beauty has inspired artists, musicians, and poets for generations, as well as absorbing scientists and geologists, drawn by the unique landscape in which they sit. The Cliffs of Moher, the most famous cliffs in Ireland, will leave you awestruck, creating memories that will stay with you forever. The Cliffs of Moher host major colonies of nesting sea birds and are one of the country’s most important bird-breeding sites. The area has been designated a Special Protection Area (SPA) for Birds. The Cliffs reach 214m (702 feet) in height at their highest point.

Standing atop the Cliffs of Moher, everything I had heard and read about Yeats finally began to make sense. Behind the cliffs and myself laid Ireland’s lazy pastures, where rolling hills and mountain tops served as the backdrop to Moher’s transcendental mystique. The roads that winded through the scenery made their way to the entrance of the cliffs and served as the line that separated the pastoral country from Ireland’s edge.

It’s hard to imagine just how opposite these two sights were, yet they are dependent on one another in culminating the emotions they evoke. I’ve never been the biggest fan of Yeats, but until his “Symbolism of Poetry,” I had never heard or read anything that explained so flawlessly the power of nature to extract the emotions it does, the freeing experience that occurs when nature and poetry collide. The Cliffs of Moher owned this disembodied power; its sounds, its colors, its varying landscape were at once one form, and through this unified form, evoked within me an unparalleled sense of euphoria and serenity.Read more